Thursday, August 4, 2011

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me (Book 1)
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Pages: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: November 15, 2011
Source: ARC from Publisher for Review
Official TUBL Rating: A+

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old-girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.
Poignant, real, and beautifully descriptive, Shatter Me pulls hard on every single heart-string and oozes depth and unparalleled adventure. The world of Shatter Me is part dystopian and part paranormal; but nonetheless brutal and gritty. Mafi contrives a harsh, atmospheric beauty when describing Juliette's world. Readers will be lulled into an intricate road of deception and unpredictability with Mafi's powerful, magnetic prose. Shatter Me is beautiful as it is painfully evocative.

From the very first chapter, Juliette's true essence of imprisonment and longing is infused with the tone of the novel. The jagged descriptions and the strike-throughs make Juliette seem all the more real. Every word carries a heavy weight and holds a larger impact. Juliette's perspective of the ruthless environment that cages her heart is so genuine and real. The strike-throughs lessen as the book goes on; adding a callous and raw factor to her character.

The passion in Shatter Me is truly tangible. The tensions and attraction between Juliette and Adam is electrifying from the very beginning. Because the novel is set against a seemingly hopeless backdrop, the romance between Juliette and Adam is the light in the cruel reality they live in. Even though the romance is a large part of Shatter Me, it doesn't dominate the plot.

Mafi's prose in Shatter Me is completely unrivaled. The distorting reality that she manages to make hopeful and the beautiful imagery she manages to make raw and disturbing. The metaphors used in Mafi's novel only amplifies the beauty of her writing. The element of unpredictability always harbors in the book. And as Juliette and Adam teeter on the edge of survival, so does the reader.

The Bottom Line: Shatter Me blew me away from the very first page. It's a tumultuous journey that I did not regret on going. Juliette, Adam, James, and even Warner are characters in their own right; good or evil. There's a lot of gray area, and that made Shatter Me even better. There are no words to express the ordeal that I've just gone through. No words for reading a book as amazing and unparalleled as Shatter Me. Tahereh Mafi has a new lifelong fan (or stalker =D).

4 comments:

Mary @ BookSwarm August 4, 2011 at 11:10 PM  

I can't believe this author is only 23. Amazes me -- good for her! And I truly can't wait to read this one.
Mary @ BookSwarm

Amber August 5, 2011 at 12:14 AM  

Great review! I'm so glad to hear that this novel was good. It's always awesome to meet a main character that you can relate to from page one. Definitely can't wait for this one to be out!

Nikki (Wicked Awesome Books) August 5, 2011 at 1:41 AM  

Woohoo, join the Tahereh stalking party!! I kinda love her and her writing. If I could swim in her words I would because her writing style is unparalleled in its beauty. Shatter Me is seriously one of the most evocatively-written books I've ever read and I'm glad to hear it affected you just as much.

Post a Comment

Comments are ALWAYS appreciated! Thanks for taking the time to comment!

Related Posts with Thumbnails

All content © Reggie Cruz from The Undercover Book Lover 2009-2014 |   © Blogger templates The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP