Reading level: Ages 14 and up
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (November 15, 2011)
Language: English
Buy the book: Amazon
Buy the Audio: Audible
Visit the site: Tahereh Mafi
"You can't touch me," I whisper.My daughter Abigaile has been begging me to read this book for the longest time. Well I finally read it, and I was speechless when I finished. I closed the book and sat there for a solid five minutes. I had no idea what to say. It was that good! Let me just say, in my opinion... this blows ALL dystopians right out of the water.
I'm lying, is what I don't tell him.
He can touch me, is what I'll never tell him.
But things happen when people touch me.
Strange things.
Bad things.
No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon.
But Juliette has plans of her own.
After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.
Tahereh Mafi is one brilliant author! She took a concept that has been told before, and gave it such a twist. I thought I knew where the story was going, but I actually had no idea. At the end of the book, I thought "Ah-ha, so it's kinda like X-Men, but then it isn't at all". Mafi writes this story about Juliette being closed up in a cell for over 200 days without touching or talking to anyone. She seems kinda psycho at first, but then you realize, she is just trying to survive.
Juliette is by far one of my favorite heroes. She had every right to be hurtful, mean, bitter and nasty to everyone around her. However, she wasn't at all, she was so driven to be a good person. Everyone was so mean to her, it was so sad to read at times. What happens to Juliette though in Shatter Me, will blow your mind, bring you to tears, jump and cheer, all within pages of each other. There is one scene that shook me up pretty badly, tears streaming down my face. Yeah, this book is not for the faint of heart. It will bring emotions out of the toughest of readers.
Adam is another great character to mention, along with Warner and Kenji. Adam was a great lead guy role, he was smart, and just plain awesome on a page. *bats eyelashes* Warner was the best bad guy ever, in the history of evil sinister jerks! I hated that I love his character so much. And Kenji was so funny/witty. He just added a little more depth to this amazing storyline.
I don't want you to think this book is depressing in any way. Shatter Me is a book that pulls you down to the bottom of nitty-gritty, then pulls you up until you are beaming with satisfaction. Over and over and over. You know this book is good, when three out of five of our reviewers have read it, and gave it the highest of ratings. So don't forget to check out Andye and Abigaile's reviews as well! Links up top.
 |
| 6 out of 6 |
Violence: Moderate
Profanity: Heavy
Sexual: Heavy sexual tension
For full content of Shatter Me GO to Parental Book reviews.
Interesting! Thanks for the review. This author is coming to town soon for a signing and I was debating about going. I think I'll have to now! :)
ReplyDeleteI love how differently you viewed this book than we did. See, this is why I love YA...everyone experiences it differently. My fellow YA-blogger, Gracie, and I did not enjoy Shatter Me at all...but I LOVE that you loved it! You made me reconsider a few of my grumblings about this one. If you have a chance to check out any of our other reviews, we'd love to hear your opinion if you feel differently about a book that we did. Happy reading!
ReplyDelete(Our review: http://www.yaketyyaks.com/2012/01/shatter-me-by-tahereh-mafi/)
~Madeleine of the YAkety Yaks (www.YAketyYAks.com)
Great review!! I absolutely loved this book too. Juliette is such a great character, and Adam...swoon. I can't wait for the next book!
ReplyDelete(slight spoilers)
ReplyDeleteAt times when Adam was telling her (and us) about all the times she'd been nice as a kid I just thought to myself "Really?... Why?" She just seemed TOO nice in her past, she had every reason to be angry when people treated her like she was inhuman but she just took it. At such a young age and going on to be a teenager, these things can GET to you, how could she have been so calm? And yet when she was pulled out of prison and beaten by the guards for being rude to Warner, she answered and fought back. Why? What had changed? All that time in her cell she kept going over how many days/hours it has been, not how she planned on taking revenge on those who had locked her up. And as far as she knew Adam didn't remember her, if anything he had betrayed her. So how come she's suddenly kick-ass? Don't get me wrong, it was THOSE kick-ass moments I loved her for, but without them she would've just blended in with the background for me.
Love Warner as a bad guy. Being 19 and THAT evil? Someone give the boy an award.
I kinda saw it as Adam gave her a reason to fight/live. Even if he had betrayed her, she got a taste of what a friend is like. Maybe it gave her hope, and helped in her finding her inner kick-ass!
DeleteI only really liked Kenji in this book. Sure the book was a good book but it was far from blowing me away with the writing and characters. There was somethings I liked but I just couldn't love this one for the X-men rip off it was in the end. I hope I feel differently once book two comes around in 2013.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great review.
YAY! I'm so happy to hear you loved it!! I LOVE this book!! It's one of my all time favs. from 2011!
ReplyDelete