Book Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #1)

I love pretty books with lots of metaphors.  I love having to work through a book and struggling a bit to read it.  That's what makes some books so polarizing and can make people hate them but hey, I like to have to work to understand sometimes.  This book combines elements of Divergent with a Stephen King novel.  It's creepy in some ways and you never really know what the full extent of Juliette's powers are.  You want to root for her but I know I hesitated, just because she holds back as a narrator and I never trusted her.  Another reason to love the book.  It keeps you on your toes.

This cover is wonderful.  It picks up on so many elements of the book.  

The crossing out of words or phrases like at the top happens constantly but somehow, I ended up loving it.  It shows the inside workings of someone who is fighting her natural inclinations in order to stay alive and stay sane.  

The eye, I think, is Adam's and Juliette fixates his eyes a lot.  It is how she recognizes him and one of the ways that she connects to him.  The eyes are the window to the soul, you know.

The branches/veins/ice coming off of the eye also reflects a lot of the style of this author.  She is symbolic.  She is poetic.  There are lots of metaphors and allusions.  It is like reading the better version of high school creative writing where everybody is trying to be profound and just ends up sounding like a jackass.

"I spent my life folded between the pages of books.
In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction."

I find that beautiful.  You don't see authors these days really working to make stuff sound pretty.  I feel like an audiobook of this would be absolutely wonderful to listen to, especially with the right narrator.  I think the words would just roll off the tongue.

This is the story of a broken world.  Old things are idealized and glorified, like birds flying or normal sunsets.  The world that exists in Shatter Me is a wasteland.  It is controlled by a sort of Big Brother type government that puts the "useless" people in society in asylums and basically enslaves the rest.  It is supposedly to protect the world but Juliette has her doubts.  She is unerringly positive throughout the book that maybe there is something else out there and maybe the sky isn't falling like the government claims it is.

Onto the characters.

Juliette

This girl is damaged and it is obvious.  She isn't the most reliable of all narrators but she seems like she is just barely maintaining her sanity at times, especially towards the front of the book.  Juliette is stronger than her surroundings though (in more ways than one) and she does what she has to in order to stay well adjusted.  I like her.  I admire her strength and how she can protect herself if necessary.  She is also extremely moral and weighs the consequences of her actions.

Adam

Adam is honestly the only character I didn't connect with in this book.  He is just too flipping nice.  Now, I hate being that girl that only loves the "bad boys" but in this case, I am being her.   Adam is too gentle and doesn't really show any edge.  He is strong. He is loyal. He is the Prince Charming of this book and never does a damn thing wrong and never gets truly angry.  I want some edge. I want action and tension.  He didn't do that for me.

Warner

My poor broken antagonist.  He really is the pathetic character of the book and I adore him for that. I just want to help him.  It's obvious that he isn't really a cruel person, just a lonely one.  He is just as damaged as Juliette and when he finally finds someone that he thinks he can connect with and love, she pushes him away.  I want someone to reach out to him!  He is the bad boy that doesn't want to be bad.  He is the big pit bull chained to a tree that barks when people get close but cuddles in their laps when they hold him.  At least, that is the impression I get.

I'm looking forward to the next book and my goal is to not burn through them quickly.  These are books to be savored I think.

4/5 stars.  I took off a star just because Adam is too nice and I want him to not be.