review; shatter me

Shatter Me
by Tahereh Mafi

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.

Review:
I started this novel because Aims (a friend on tumblr and twitter) posted a quote and was raving about the book and I wanted to see what it was all about. So I went to the library, picked the book up – and was hard-pressed to put it down again. I had to continually force myself to put the book down and focus on my assignments and school.

The writing style of the novel gave me pause. The first-person narrative is a hit or miss for me – I either love it or I hate it, depending on the character. Juliette though? Juliette is a character I am completely invested in. Her thoughts are a rambling mess and the words just drip out, and it is completely believable that we are hearing her unfiltered thoughts. Her fears, her pain, her anger – I could feel it as though it were my own.

Adam and Warner are equally as compelling characters, and though we only know them through Juliette’s point of view, I think that’s what makes them so interesting. Juliette knows they are layered, she’s fascinated by them both in different ways. She’s frightened of them both in different ways. Mafi builds complex characters and relationships, establishing lines that are already becoming blurred.

Okay, there are things that irked me – Juliette spent how long in an asylum and still comes out looking (apparently) like a model? Adam and Juliette have had feelings for each other since they were kids without having actually talked? (But this was cute and I liked their relationship so I let it slide.) HOW MANY ABILITIES DOES JULIETTE HAVE? And is she the only woman in the novel? (A: till the near the end? Yes, yes she is.)

But I figure I have more books to get a better feel of the characters and their dynamics and their situations so I cannot wait to read on and find out why Adam and Warner are the only two who can touch Juliette without getting hurt (so far). I cannot wait to learn more about Kenji and Castle and the Omega Project. I cannot wait to find out whether Adam and Warner are more alike than anybody knows.