Title: Shatter Me
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Edition: Hardcover, 352 pages
ISBN: 0062085484
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: November 15th 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Supernatural, Science Fiction
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.
Review: Well written, intriguing plot, cliffhanger ending
Shatter Me was a total surprise. After reading the first few pages I already saw the author's writing style shine through. I actually thought she paralelled the way the world is today with what could happen in the future. The only annoying part of the book was the strike text throughout the whole book. Example: My parents emptied their pockets of me and left me to evaporate on a concrete slab.” Now, maybe I'm just, dare I say not a young adult O-o That could of been the reason that I found this element of the book to be annoying and distracting. I'm sure others will not have a problem with this, but I found it to be an element that I could do without.
Juliette is a young girl who has lived her existence with power. A power to kill with her touch. She has lived as a "freak" of sorts in a seemingly normal world. Her parents disown her, they are afraid their daughter is an insane monster. Juliette is then locked away, alone, in a strange underground, building. She sees no one, talks to no one and is isolated from everything, and everyone. She is confined to a cell and is allowed one meal and one shower a day. The world is empty for her and the only solstice she has is her notebook , her diary of everything she feels, experiences, are scrawled into this one thing she has left from her past.
Meanwhile, life above ground has changed as the world has gone through a Apocalypse. Loss of homes, business, everything is now a battle to survive. Food is scarce, death has succumbed many. Now people are kept in groups under watchful eyes of a group of leaders who control everything. These leaders have formed a Communism, and rule with an iron fist. With soldiers who are trained and armed.
They have agendas with what they want from people and control food rations, and life in this "new" world.
Adam is one of the solders who is thrown into Juliette's cell. The first person Juliette has seen or talked to in almost a year. She is surprised, confused, and believes he is sent to her cell to kill her.
But, of course things are not what they seem.... He may just turn out to be the only person, able to help her.
I really enjoyed reading this book! Tahereh has a way with words that have you thinking about the world we live in today and what could happen in the future, though I doubt any of us will have supernatural powers! This book reminded me of X-Men, but only because of the supernatural powers.
The characters in this book will have you wondering what agenda's they have, and who really is the good guy/bad guy. It had mystery, action, suspense, and a pretty good kick a** chick in it, that I can only see getting more and more powerful as she learns what and how to use the powers she has.
This story had twist and turns and although the ending was getting soo good it ended with a cliffhanger!! Oh, whoa is me, I have to wait till what, like next year to find out what happens... :(
4/5 Stars
Memorable Quotes:
“The sun drops into the ocean and splashes browns and red and yellows and oranges into the world outside my window.” A million leaves from a hundred different branches dip in the wind, fluttering with the false promise of flight. The gust catches their withered wings only to force them downward, forgotten, left to be trampled by the soldiers stationed below."
"There is still a chance to change things. We can provide fresh drinking water to all people. We can make sure crops are not regulated for profit; we can ensure that they are not genetically altered to benefit manufactures. Our people are dying because we are feeding them poison. Animals are dying because we are forcing them to eat waste, forcing them to live in their own filth, caging them together and abusing them. Plants are withering away because we are dumping chemicals into the earth that make them hazardous to our health. But these are the things we can fix.
"We are fed lies because believing them makes us weak, vulnerable, malleable. We depend on others for our food, health sustenance. This cripples us. Creates cowards of our people. Slaves of our children. It's time for us to fight back."
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