“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.”

― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1)Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Summary from: goodreads.com
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.
 
 
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My rating of Shatter Me would HAVE to be:



for some OBVIOUS reasons....FIRST is because its #1 on my FAVORITE BOOKS list:

1. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi


2. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter (series)


3. The Host by Stephanie Meyer


4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (series)


5. Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (series)


6. Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes


7. Everneath by Brodi Ashton


8. The Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter (series)


9. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

10. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer (series)

11. Heist Society by Ally Carter (series)


12. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (series)


13. Unwind by Neal Shusterman (series)
ETC (this is not all of them.....)



You probably didn't need to know the whole list but I felt the need to emphasize this books GREATNESS!
I'm sure NOW you want to know WHY it is at the top of my list? All in good time my friends, all in good time..... (nah, I'm actually going to tell you now.....I've just always wanted to say that.)
 
 
 
what REALLY worked: (I feel this book review should get special titles like the one right here....because it's just that good)
The writing style. It was just beautiful. the most creative/different/grabbing/interesting/wonderstruck-full thing EVER. Honestly I don't think anyone has every had such fluid similes, descriptions and fluid-ness that Tahereh was able to produce for this. The descriptions were evenly peppered around as though not to draw a reader away from the scene. It was very emotional and connected you to Juliette on a deeper level than most takes on explaining a story (especially a background story)


With the strikethroughs i felt like i was second guessing most of my thoughts while reading and that was a new feeling....i really liked it...there was almost a "forbidden thought" vibe hanging around with the idea that she didn't want to say that or shouldn't say that and that was why it was crossed out. Also when she would repeat words over and over "I shouldn't shouldn't shouldn't shouldn't"



"I want to be angry angry angry."



"As long as he's not touching my skin. As long as he's not touching my skin. As long as he's not touching my skin."
It goes like this throughout the book and it's so different. I love the way Juliette thinks.





I think really the best part, writing wise, was the beginning....when Juliette only looked down on herself and had such beautifully composed thoughts....she was poetic and modest.
In the book, the strike through looks like someone took a pen to it and crossed it out. Like Juliette wrote her life story and crossed out things she thought she probably shouldn't say, because she's so "good" as Adam describes her. SPEAKING OF ADAM.....we will get to him later.





The flashbacks were exquisite. I loved how she would flashback for half a moment, only telling a part of the story....and slowly adding onto it each time she flashed back, until it created one final product. (a huge backstory too.)



I can honestly say that I never predicted a single piece of this story. It was never predictable in anyway. Actually multiple times...I was astonished. It made for quite an interesting piece of writing.
Tahereh Mafi is someone I can look up to as a writer because her writing is indescribable. Sometimes I wonder how on earth she comes up with such beautiful things....Things I'm pretty sure I could never write... That's why she is one of my favorite authors.
An example of her crazy brilliance:


~~~~~~~~~~
"Killing time isn't as difficult as it sounds.





I can shoot a hundred numbers through the chest and watch them bleed decimal points in the palm of my hand. I can rip the numbers off a clock and watch the hour hand tick tick tick its final tock just before I fall asleep. I can suffocate seconds just by holding my breath. I've been murdering minutes for hours and no one seems to mind."

~~~~~~~~~~
You can find more quotes from an older teaser tuesday here. (there are some GREAT quotes there so check it out)
NOW BACK TO ADAM. Well if it isn't easy to tell, I AM TEAM ADAM. As xXParamorePanicXx said on YouTube:
~~~~~~~~~~
"you only have two choices, warner or adam
warner- he only has is his looks, and he is crazy, he kills people on a daily basis
or
Adam- a really sweet guy who is hot, respects people, and treats Juliette properly"
~~~~~~~~~~




I honestly don't understand why anyone would be Team Warner (he is sick and gross and totally psychotic.) I mean...ok I've seen pictures and WOAHHHHH...........





Since we are talking pictures now here is a few more:

Alexandra Genis, Shatter Me's Cover Model!
See the resemblance? It's totally her....she would be PERFECT!

I Think that Zac Efron would make an EPIC Adam.....*sighs*
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi I am TEAM ADAM...because he is amazing.....there are so many great characteristics about him....he's...."good"....not evil...one of the only of his kind left on the planet.
In a summary...everything worked...there was NOT A SINGLE PART where I was bored or I didn't like it....
 
 
 
what kinda didn't work:
yeah well...I almost feel like this shouldn't be here....because I'm having a SUPER hard time finding anything to put here...

So I'll give you this awesome bonus stuff now:
It's an awesome fan made movie poster (if there's ever gonna be a movie....this would be a GREAT movie.)
Made by skellingt0n on deviantART.

WAIT......I thought of a bad thing.....it really has nothing to do with the book itself...but the covers.

I HATE THAT THEY CHANGED THEM!...I mean I LIKE the new covers...BUT I MY COVERS HAVE TO MATCH!!!!! UGHHH...I think they could have went in a good direction with these covers....but...oh well..


Now for the Spoiler-y Discussion:

...................................................................................................................................

Highlight between the brackets to view the spoilers

{ well.... let's start with the poem at the very beginning... :



Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.

—ROBERT FROST, "The Road Not Taken"

This poem is just the right fit. Most of the time (for me at least) the poems and quotes used in books...have no really full connection to the upcoming text....so I normally don't read those, I just skim and nothing relates...but THIS POEM....well it is a cardboard cutout of what Juliette really fulfills in the book....I can't explain it enough.

Another thing, here is a video of Tahereh and well...I find it super funny for some reason...it's really the Destroy Me reveal but there's on part that's just so true...so look at 0:49 it's true!!



How about Omega Point? I didn't think that's the direction the story was taking..but I gotta say....I really like it.


I really love the relationship Adam and Juliette have...it's as though they've had this unspoken connection forever and they finally talk about it and realize how in love they are.....because they were the only ones each other had at the time......they've always been most important to each other and now it's finally out. (it's so unique!)

Lastly, PoopieCocoa on Youtube recently said:


"i think the secret to be immune to her touch is to love her."



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Let me know what you think!

Here are both book trailers. My favorite is the first one.

http://youtu.be/pT1KL-wmNyU

http://youtu.be/UHApCwLkVU0

Sorry that they are only links....I really want to add the direct video but Blogger apparently is only letting me add one....I tried embedding it but it didn't recognize the HTML...if anyone knows the answer to that PLEASE tell me....

ANYWAY,



one of our newer features is adding music to our books. (you can find it under the "playlist" tab here.) So a great song, I believe, for Shatter Me would be White Glag by Dido because it's about not giving up, and now bowing down....and it's sort of like Juliette talking to Warner (and sometimes Adam in the begining.) Juliette is willing to do anything for her cause.




 "I'm in love and always will be" is sort of a diss at Warner because he is in love with her but she is in love with Adam.




It's a great song...anyone have any good songs to go with Shatter Me?


Dido – White Flag



Tell me what you guys thought/think/are going to think (I don't really know about the last one.....) about this book!








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