Shatter Me Collector's Deluxe Limited Edition (Shatter Me, #1)

by Tahereh Mafi

• ISBN10: 0063419408
• ISBN13: 9780063419407
• Publish Date: 5 November 2024 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kim Deister]

I have had this book on my TBR pile for too long. Why did I wait so long to read it?! I loved just about everything abou this book! The premise was unbelievable, albeit terrifying.

The world that the author has create is bleak, very bleak. The environment is almost a wasteland, changed and damaged almost beyond hope. Society is almost unrecognizable to what we know, ruled now by what is essentially a global conglomerate. The world is so damaged that it has even begun to genetically change the living organisms that inhabit it. Those humans affected are hunted down, locked up or even killed for their newfound abilities.

The beginning of this book was horrifying, setting the mood for the way the world is now. Juliette is one of those changed people, now hovering on the brink of insanity. She is lost, confused, and desperately alone. Until she unexpectedly meets a boy, a boy from her past. The way they initially interact truly shows just how isolated Juliette really is and it is heart wrenching.

The characters are simply amazing. None of them can be clearly delineated as good versus bad. Most have moments of both. What makes them good or bad is how they feel about the things they have done. It makes for some real depth and emotion. That's the thing... despite the bleak world, this is truly a beautiful book. The world of Shatter Me is just enough like our own to be terrifying with the possibilities. But some of these characters still have hope and spirit and that is a beautiful thing.

My absolute favorite thing about this book was the writing style. At first, it threw me... the use of strikethroughs, choppy phrases, run-on's, and lack of punctuation from time to time. But you quickly realize that those things are deliberate and perfect. They completely underscore Juliette's state of mind as she goes through some of the things that she does. It's a brave choice and an absolutely effective one.

Things to love...

--The depth of the world. Bleak, yes, but totally able to be envisioned.
--The writing style. Such a great way to create mood.
--The characters. There are no clear-cut good versus bad.

My Recommendation

This is a fantastic and unique take on the dystopian/post-apocalyptic genres! The writing style is creative and the characters are absorbing.

[bookishzelda]

listen to the audio while working. It was pretty good.

[celinenyx]

Shatter Me elicits extreme feelings in my fellow reviewers. Some absolutely loved it, and others are disgusted by it. I personally take a more average position; I enjoyed Shatter Me, though it wasn't my favourite.

We meet Julliette in a prison-like environment, where she hasn't talked to anyone or touched anyone for months. On one day, a boy is placed in her cell, and everything changes.

It's probably the writing style that divides most readers. The writing is utterly crazy. Every sentence is filled with metaphors and similes and strange groupings of words that truly don't make any logic sense. It's written from Julliette's perspective, and there will often be sentences like "My jaw drops on the floor and my face beams like a light in the dark sky" (truly, I made that up, but I'm sure it could have been in the book). The narrative is full of crossed-out words and other quirkiness that doesn't make the reading experience any easier. Reading Shatter Me was tiring. After a while I started reading faster, so I could just get past all the metaphors and just get on with the story.

The story was fun. You know, there isn't much to work with - the planet is screwed since we polluted her too much, and it seems as if some weird military guys are in power now. They control the food supply, and want the ordinary peoples to behave like sheep. Of course Julliette tries to get out of the clutches of the military dudes and is well on her way to save the world. It's not a very new story, it's basically standard dystopian meets crazy superpower girl, but I liked reading it nevertheless. The ending packed a twist that really makes me wonder about what direction this series will take.

Don't trust the weird cover with the white dress. That one has absolutely NOTHING to do with the story. Read a teaser before you buy Shatter Me - crazy writing is crazy.

[boghunden]

Shatter Me. Det er svært for mig, det her. På den ene side har jeg lyst til at sige, det er en af mine nye yndlingsbøger, for jeg nød den faktisk ca. lige så meget som The Hunger Games. På den anden side har jeg aldrig nogensinde læst noget, der var så elendigt skrevet!

I forhold til sproget, så havde jeg godt hørt det med, at den benyttede sig af overstregede ord, og det var jeg helt okay med. Lige indtil jeg begyndte på den, altså. Hold. Nu. Op. Hvor var det bare ringe! Det var så overdrevet. Det virkede lidt som om, det bare var tilfældige ting, Mafi havde overstreget. Det skulle være det, hovedpersonen tænker, men som hun ikke ”må” tænke. Onde ting f.eks. Det holder bare slet ikke og lige pludselig virker det bare fuldstændig tilfældigt, hvad der er overstreget.
Som om det ikke var nok, så har Mafi heller ikke fulgt helt med i grammatikundervisningen. Jeg tror ikke helt hun ved, hvad et komma betyder. Der er sætninger på fem linjer uden et eneste komma eller andet tegn. Nu skal jeg ikke være hellig, for jeg glemmer da helt sikkert også et par stykker selv, men fem linjer?! Det betød, at jeg var nød til at læse en del af sætningerne et par gange, for at finde ud af, hvordan den skulle forstås. Lange opremsninger med tillægsord, som man ikke helt ved, hvor hører til. Det var virkelig belastende. Normalt lader jeg mig ikke forstyrre af skriftsproget, jeg betragter faktisk mig selv som let at please, men der er altså grænser. Faktisk var jeg ved at opgive lidt efter bare 40 sider. Det gjorde næsten helt ondt i mine øjne…

Heldigvis bed jeg ”smerten” i mig og fortsatte og det er jeg godt nok glad for, at jeg gjorde. Jeg havde slet ikke forventet, at blive så fanget af den her bog. Jo jo, jeg forventede selvfølgelig at kunne lide den, ellers havde jeg jo ikke begyndt på den, men jeg regnede altså ikke med, at jeg ville komme til at elske den. Den måde hele den her fremtidsverden er opbygget på er virkelig, virkelig fantastisk god! Den foregår engang i fremtiden, i en verden hvor Jordens økosystem er begyndt at lide under den menneskelige belastning. Det, at vores måde at behandle Jorden på er skyld i, hvordan den her verden ser ud, gør det hele lidt mere realistisk og let at forholde sig til. Det føles virkelig gennemført. Samtidig er der et oprør mod systemet, en model der efterhånden er godt kendt, men det fungerer bare rigtig godt i den her bog. Bedre end i de fleste andre jeg har læst.
Der er selvfølgelig også kærlighed med i bogen, det hører sig jo næsten til i genren, og det er ret hurtigt klart, hvem det er, vores hovedperson kan lide. Og hvor var det skønt, at det ikke endte med at udvikle sig til endnu et irriterende trekantsdrama! Nu håber jeg så det varer ved i de næste to bøger i serien. Jeg har allerede reserveret toeren på biblioteket og håber sådan på, at de snart får treeren til udlån også. Den her serie kunne godt være en, jeg gik ud og købte selv, for jeg skal helt sikkert læse den igen, på trods af, at sproget irriterede mig så meget.

[Mercy]

Para mí Shatter me es otra distopía del montón, muy normalita, personajes que no son exactamente planos pero tampoco trascendentes, historia mal aprovechada y es que bueno, ya casi no recuerdo nada.

Reseña: http://thebooksaremylife.blogspot.com/2014/10/resena-shatter-me-tahereh-mafi.html

[Stephanie]

I went into this book expecting myself not to like the writing style, with all the weird metaphors and all, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

That being said, the writing style did bother me at times. I found myself skipping over the strange metaphors and the striked out text towards the end because I didn't care anymore and I feel that after a certain point it doesn't offer a lot to the story anymore. The writing is very smooth and easy to read, though. So that was a plus.

There was one part in the beginning when Juliette first meets Adam (I don't have the book with me anymore or I would find the pages) when quotations marks seem to just disappear. I was very confused and had to go back and reread it, and the quotation marks came back after only 2 pages. I understand Juliette is crazy and she's the one writing the story, but why did the quotation marks stop for that one scene?

The ending was much stronger than the beginning. The beginning was very boring to me, with Juliette in her cell with Adam. And it didn't make much sense. I wish there was more of an explanation for how Juliette figured out the ways of the place. Like, how did she figure out that when her cell door randomly opened, that that was her time to go find the showers? And how did she even find the showers if the place was pitch black and then find her way back to her cell? Did she even bother trying to find a way to escape? Juliette stressed the point to Adam that they only had a certain amount of time to shower before her cell door shut again and that it was very important for them to get back in time. So what happens if the door shuts before they get back? Why is none of this explained?! I can't accept the 'because Juliette is crazy' reason because I feel like that is just lazy writing.

Once Juliette gets out of her cell and is confronted with what is happening with the world and how she can 'help', it gets a lot more interesting. I really liked where the story was going at the end, and made me want to pick up the next book, but I'm going to wait a while and give myself some space from all the metaphors before I jump back into it.

[KitsuneBae]

I love Warner. And Adam also interested me. I have some slight problems with Juliette. Could have easily gotten a 4.5 star rating if not for those freaking metaphors.

Full review to come soon!

[tellemonstar]

I really enjoyed this one. A great dystopian world and an interesting plot. Glad I finally finished it.

[ladygrey]

I loved this book from the first chapter. I love [a:Tahereh Mafi|4637539|Tahereh Mafi|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1299027546p2/4637539.jpg]'s sense of language. I love the unorthodox verbs she uses and the way she shapes metaphors to describe emotions and the world around Juliette in poignant ways.

And I love insane Juliette. I love the way Mafi completely decimates grammar in the most beautiful ways. The fragments and the run on sentences and the simple incorporation of numbers and thoughts linked with so many consecutive ands were lyrical. If I liked nothing else in this book, I would have liked the way it's written.

But I do like other things. I like the characters a lot. I feel like they weren't quite developed as much as I wanted which makes me more interested to read the sequels and get to know these people better. I liked Juliette's power and the way she struggled with it and the way her perspective evolved through the story.

The plot was kind of sparse. All of the time in the asylum didn't bother me because I enjoyed the writing so much. And then it was interesting as the world expanded. Though in places it reminded me of [b:Taken|12866426|Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls, #3)|C.C. Hunter|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320918098s/12866426.jpg|17575444] (which was published after Shatter Me but I read first) and in places it reminded me of [b:Mind Games|12578294|Mind Games (Mind Games, #1)|Kiersten White|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1342210560s/12578294.jpg|17589076] (again published after) but the comparisons in setting or dystopian set up didn't bother me. But then at some point it was Adam and Juliette almost have sex then things happen - then they almost have sex - then things happen and then... But again, the writing and the characters really eliminate any criticism because even though the plot was thin, it was so much fun to read.

And I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

[Amber]

Shatter Me was not good. Prior to picking it up, I had heard a lot of mixed things about this book but I wanted to give it a go since I had heard a lot about the unique writing style, and the slightly crazy main character. Those always draw me in. Also, Judith told me that Warner was evil and also slightly crazy. Obviously, I assumed we were meant to be.

Full review on Books of Amber