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

Summary: 

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.

Release Date: November 15, 2011

Age Group: YA

Source: Purchased

Review:

I've had Shatter Me on my Amazon "Books I Want" wishlist for a while now, but it wasn't until I got really sick with strep throat and a virus that I gave in and treated myself to this book.  I'm so glad I waited to read Shatter Me, because I was able to read it, the novella Destroy Me, and Unravel Me all in one wonderful weekend.  Well, actually it wasn't wonderful because I was so sick, but Mafi's story provided a wonderful escape from reality for me.

I loved Shatter Me.  I thought the premise was unique, and the characters were easy to relate to.  I really loved everything about this book except for one thing.  Mafi uses a lot of strikeouts in her writing.  I've never read a book with strikeouts featured at regular intervals throughout the story.  It really threw me for a loop and slowed down the flow of the book for me.  The other thing that I didn't love was that Shatter Me is written in a stream-of-consciousness writing style.  While it served the purpose to really acquaint the reader with Juliette's thoughts, I find stream-of-consciousness writing to read slowly.  I would have preferred a traditional first-person narrative.

My two complaints were overshadowed by the unique premise and the fast-paced plot which was full of surprises.  I really loved Shatter Me and would recommend it to fans of dystopia and magical realism.