Bookish Mardi: A Book Review of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
"It's nearly impossible to beat gravity when no one is willing to give you a hand." - Tahereh Mafi
"It's nearly impossible to beat gravity when no one is willing to give you a hand." - Tahereh Mafi
Even before I finish the very first dystopian I ever had, the Divergent Series, I already had with me the next dystopian that I was planning to indulge myself with. Tehereh Mafi's Shatter Me series caught my attention because of the books' symbolic covers, the eye.
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But other than the covers the books are having, what made me choose the series to read next was this:
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It was the very first time wherein I found lines from a book that perfectly describe me entirely and because of it, the series right away earned a very special place in my heart. I may sound bias, however I can never contradict if that's what both my mind and heart say. I then told myself that I will be surely investing my time and money with this author and her books.And so I did. ^_^
Book Review/ Reflection
As I engaged myself to the story Tahereh is introducing to me, I am glad, in a way, that I dived headfirst in the story without any second thoughts. Tahereh's intriguing premise and unconventional writing style snagged my interest as fast as lightning. I've learned to admire one among the many styles she did use, strinkingthrough the words which are of minute yet heavy importance. I find it annoying at first but unique.
Her writing style isn't just SOLELY unique. I find her ability to make full use of metaphors fascinating as well as her ability to manipulate words meaningfully. Her diction as well is truly exquisite that whenever I encountered those every single symbolism being eludicated I was never never left jaded. Though most of the writing are in stream-of-consciousness way, which other do not prefer, it just made me heightened my liking for the series.
So much for the structure of the novel, Tahereh's well-made-up and easily-to-love characters are a turn-on for the series. As I tried to scrutinize the characters, I found out one common ground for all, mostly the main characters ( Adam, Warner, Juliette ). They all are into sacrificing something. Adam does whatever it takes just to protect his younger sibling, Warner hurts and lets go of the girl who he loves the most just for her to grow, and Juliette decides to not minding herself so as to help their kind live.
Though Adam and Juliette's love may be labeled as "instant", their connection is ultimately geniune even with the intrusion of Warner. Both chemistry , Adam and Juliette and Warner and Juliette, were so quite palpable that I can never contradict Juliette to whoever she had chosen no matter how hard I try to dictate my mind to.
Their story or better yet Tahereh's debut novel taught me the value of forgiveness, selflessness, and sacrifices. There may come a time in our lives wherein we have to choose things which may harm us or may not do any good to us yet will benefit our significant others. And being the reasonable us, we always gamble ourselves just to be of great help and purpose.
Our sacrifices, though not as much as Juliette's, are beyond our success. We treat them as our bitter sweet accomplishments. We sacrifice not seeing our family and work far from them to be able to provide them the better lives they deserve.We set aside ourselves when it comes to buying things we long to have just to bring something that may cause one great happiness for the people we love. We choose, most of the time and most of the painful things we can ever hope to imagine, give up our own battle, surrender in our battlefield, just to be able to give them a life that may offer them some new and great beginnings. In simpler way we aren't really afraid of taking the bullets straight into our hearts just to see them live.
These, I come to believe, are our most conventional yet bizarre ways of showing how we value and love the people around us. We call them SACRIFICES. But sometimes when we are all carried away by the worst case scenarios we are facing, we oftentimes forget to realize that these acts of making them happy is actually what we called LOVE. It's love cloaking itself as sacrifice. And believe me, when we sacrifice consciously and unconsciously knowing for the sake of love, we become selfless and we easily forget what pain others have brought into our lives.
Hence, with these insights I was able to ponder through Tahereh, I'm never giving up the place she has not only in my shelf but in my heart as well. I thank her for successfully having this masterpiece which has brought me to these realizations. Truly, her eccentric way of writing paired with the story's exemplary plot and fascinating characters which captivated me effortlessly.
Shatter Me, not to mention the twists present in the story, as a whole is an invigorating one which had captured my mind and heart and it may do its spell to other readers out there the way it did to me. So to those who love dystopian and supernatural YA Books, include this series in your list,too.
Book Summary
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I have a curse
I have a gift
I am a monster
I am more than human
My touch is lethal
My touch is power
I am their weapon
I will fight back
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, bird's 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 the cell. Now so many people are dead that 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.
Remarkable Lines from the Book
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"I know the sky falls down everyday." - Juliette
"The sun drops into the ocean and splashes browns and reds and yellows and oranges into the
world outside my window.A million leaves from a hundred different brances dip in the wind, fluttering with the false promises of light. The gust catches their withered wings only to force them downward, forgotten, left to be trampled by the soldiers stationed just below." - Juliette
"Someone picked up the sun and pinned it to the sky again, but every day it hangs a little lower than the day before. It's like a negligent parent who only know one half of who you are. It never see how it s absence changes people. How we are different in the dark." - Juliette
"My hope is exhausted. My eyes are unfocused and aching." - Juliette
"Sometime I think that lonelinessis going to explode through my skin and sometimes I'm not sure if crying or screaming or laughing through the hysteria will solve anything at all." - Juliette
"If time stands still nothing can go wrong." - Juliette
"The world id flat.I know because I was tossed right off the edge and I've been trying to hold on for 17 years. I've been trying to climb back up for 17 years but it's nearly impossible to beat gravity when no one is willing to givw you a hand." - Juliette
"We were killing ourselves by trying to stay alive." - Juliette
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"Truth is a jealous, vicious mistress that never ever sleeps." - Juliette
"Convictions priorities preferences prejudice and ideologies divided us. Deluded us. Destroyed us." - Juliette
"Selfish needs, wants, and desires needed to be obliterated. Greed, overindulgence, and gluttony had to be expunged from human behavior. The solution was in self-control, in minimalism, in sparse living conditions; one simple language and a brand-new dictionary filled with words everyone would understand." - Juliette
"People used to want hope. They wanted to think things could get better. They wanted to believe they could go back to worrying about gossip and holiday vacations and going to parties on Saturday nights." - Juliette
"My eyes are two professional pickpockets, stealing everything to store away in my mind." - Juliette
"Political headquarters camouflaged among the masses." - Juliette
"So many people must've died to sustain. . . luxury." - Juliette
"Don't confuse stupidity for bravery." - Warner
"The mechanics of fear are simple. People are intimidated by me, so they listen when I speak. Empty threats worth very little these days." - Warner
"Life is a bleak place. Sometimes you have to learn how to shoot first." - Warner
Warner: Go to sleep.
Juliette: Go to hell.
Warner: "I'm working on it."
". . .my heart if so full of confidence and wonder and peace and possibility that it's about to burst." - Juliette
"My heart cracks. My eyes flash. I'm so hurt so angry so horrified so humiliated and burning with indignation so raw that it's like fire raging within me, a wildfire of decimated hopes." - Juliette
"The human imagination is often disastrous when left to its own device." - Juliette
"My mind is a maze of possibility." - Juliette
"The possibility of losing him is 100 years of solitude I don't want to imagine. I don't want my arms to devoid of his warmth." - Juliette
"Realization is a pendulum the size of the moon. It won't stop slamming into me." - Juliette
"I am a rock. A statue. A movement frozen in time." - Juliette
"It's been me and you against the world forever." - Adam
"Seasons change. Stars explode." - Adam
"I don't if saying "I love you" is code for "mutually exclusive". - Juliette
". . . moving forward is the only way to survive." - Juliette
"Rumors are more likely to kill you." - Juliette
"Fear is a great motivator." - Castle
"There is still a chance to change." - Castle
"Inspiration is a bleak world with nothing to offer." - Juliette
"It's never a good idea to believe everything you hear." - Castle
"We all have to learn how to harness our abilities in the most effective manner possible." - Winston
"I don't think it's interesting to be able to kill someone by accident. I don't think it's interesting to be afraid to touch someone." - Juliette
But other than the covers the books are having, what made me choose the series to read next was this:
It was the very first time wherein I found lines from a book that perfectly describe me entirely and because of it, the series right away earned a very special place in my heart. I may sound bias, however I can never contradict if that's what both my mind and heart say. I then told myself that I will be surely investing my time and money with this author and her books.And so I did. ^_^
Book Review/ Reflection
As I engaged myself to the story Tahereh is introducing to me, I am glad, in a way, that I dived headfirst in the story without any second thoughts. Tahereh's intriguing premise and unconventional writing style snagged my interest as fast as lightning. I've learned to admire one among the many styles she did use, strinkingthrough the words which are of minute yet heavy importance. I find it
Her writing style isn't just SOLELY unique. I find her ability to make full use of metaphors fascinating as well as her ability to manipulate words meaningfully. Her diction as well is truly exquisite that whenever I encountered those every single symbolism being eludicated I was never never left jaded. Though most of the writing are in stream-of-consciousness way, which other do not prefer, it just made me heightened my liking for the series.
So much for the structure of the novel, Tahereh's well-made-up and easily-to-love characters are a turn-on for the series. As I tried to scrutinize the characters, I found out one common ground for all, mostly the main characters ( Adam, Warner, Juliette ). They all are into sacrificing something. Adam does whatever it takes just to protect his younger sibling, Warner hurts and lets go of the girl who he loves the most just for her to grow, and Juliette decides to not minding herself so as to help their kind live.
Though Adam and Juliette's love may be labeled as "instant", their connection is ultimately geniune even with the intrusion of Warner. Both chemistry , Adam and Juliette and Warner and Juliette, were so quite palpable that I can never contradict Juliette to whoever she had chosen no matter how hard I try to dictate my mind to.
Their story or better yet Tahereh's debut novel taught me the value of forgiveness, selflessness, and sacrifices. There may come a time in our lives wherein we have to choose things which may harm us or may not do any good to us yet will benefit our significant others. And being the reasonable us, we always gamble ourselves just to be of great help and purpose.
Our sacrifices, though not as much as Juliette's, are beyond our success. We treat them as our bitter sweet accomplishments. We sacrifice not seeing our family and work far from them to be able to provide them the better lives they deserve.We set aside ourselves when it comes to buying things we long to have just to bring something that may cause one great happiness for the people we love. We choose, most of the time and most of the painful things we can ever hope to imagine, give up our own battle, surrender in our battlefield, just to be able to give them a life that may offer them some new and great beginnings. In simpler way we aren't really afraid of taking the bullets straight into our hearts just to see them live.
These, I come to believe, are our most conventional yet bizarre ways of showing how we value and love the people around us. We call them SACRIFICES. But sometimes when we are all carried away by the worst case scenarios we are facing, we oftentimes forget to realize that these acts of making them happy is actually what we called LOVE. It's love cloaking itself as sacrifice. And believe me, when we sacrifice consciously and unconsciously knowing for the sake of love, we become selfless and we easily forget what pain others have brought into our lives.
Hence, with these insights I was able to ponder through Tahereh, I'm never giving up the place she has not only in my shelf but in my heart as well. I thank her for successfully having this masterpiece which has brought me to these realizations. Truly, her eccentric way of writing paired with the story's exemplary plot and fascinating characters which captivated me effortlessly.
Shatter Me, not to mention the twists present in the story, as a whole is an invigorating one which had captured my mind and heart and it may do its spell to other readers out there the way it did to me. So to those who love dystopian and supernatural YA Books, include this series in your list,too.
Book Summary
I have a gift
I am more than human
My touch is power
I will fight back
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, bird's 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 the cell. Now so many people are dead that 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.
Remarkable Lines from the Book
(Another reason why I loved the book was seeing one of my personal favorite poems in it.)
"I know the sky falls down everyday." - Juliette
"The sun drops into the ocean and splashes browns and reds and yellows and oranges into the
world outside my window.A million leaves from a hundred different brances dip in the wind, fluttering with the false promises of light. The gust catches their withered wings only to force them downward, forgotten, left to be trampled by the soldiers stationed just below." - Juliette
 |
| "I am a raindrop." - Juliette |
"Someone picked up the sun and pinned it to the sky again, but every day it hangs a little lower than the day before. It's like a negligent parent who only know one half of who you are. It never see how it s absence changes people. How we are different in the dark." - Juliette
"My hope is exhausted. My eyes are unfocused and aching." - Juliette
"Sometime I think that lonelinessis going to explode through my skin and sometimes I'm not sure if crying or screaming or laughing through the hysteria will solve anything at all." - Juliette
"If time stands still nothing can go wrong." - Juliette
"The world id flat.I know because I was tossed right off the edge and I've been trying to hold on for 17 years. I've been trying to climb back up for 17 years but it's nearly impossible to beat gravity when no one is willing to givw you a hand." - Juliette
.jpg) |
| "The moons understand what it means to be human." - Juliette |
"We were killing ourselves by trying to stay alive." - Juliette
"Truth is a jealous, vicious mistress that never ever sleeps." - Juliette
"Convictions priorities preferences prejudice and ideologies divided us. Deluded us. Destroyed us." - Juliette
"Selfish needs, wants, and desires needed to be obliterated. Greed, overindulgence, and gluttony had to be expunged from human behavior. The solution was in self-control, in minimalism, in sparse living conditions; one simple language and a brand-new dictionary filled with words everyone would understand." - Juliette
"My eyes are two professional pickpockets, stealing everything to store away in my mind." - Juliette
"Political headquarters camouflaged among the masses." - Juliette
"So many people must've died to sustain. . . luxury." - Juliette
.jpg) |
| "I spent my life folded between the pages of the book." - Juliette |
"Don't confuse stupidity for bravery." - Warner
"The mechanics of fear are simple. People are intimidated by me, so they listen when I speak. Empty threats worth very little these days." - Warner
.jpg) |
| ". . .power and control can slip from your grasp at any moment and even when you think you're most prepared. These two things are not easy to earn. They are even harder to retain." - Warner |
Warner: Go to sleep.
Juliette: Go to hell.
Warner: "I'm working on it."
". . .my heart if so full of confidence and wonder and peace and possibility that it's about to burst." - Juliette
"My heart cracks. My eyes flash. I'm so hurt so angry so horrified so humiliated and burning with indignation so raw that it's like fire raging within me, a wildfire of decimated hopes." - Juliette
"The human imagination is often disastrous when left to its own device." - Juliette
.jpg) |
| "There are secrets everywhere. There are answers nowhere." - Juliette |
"My mind is a maze of possibility." - Juliette
.jpg) |
| "Laughter comes from living." - Juliette |
"The possibility of losing him is 100 years of solitude I don't want to imagine. I don't want my arms to devoid of his warmth." - Juliette
"Realization is a pendulum the size of the moon. It won't stop slamming into me." - Juliette
"I am a rock. A statue. A movement frozen in time." - Juliette
"It's been me and you against the world forever." - Adam
"Seasons change. Stars explode." - Adam
"I don't if saying "I love you" is code for "mutually exclusive". - Juliette
". . . moving forward is the only way to survive." - Juliette
"Rumors are more likely to kill you." - Juliette
"Fear is a great motivator." - Castle
"There is still a chance to change." - Castle
"Inspiration is a bleak world with nothing to offer." - Juliette
"It's never a good idea to believe everything you hear." - Castle
.jpg) |
| "Healing is a delicate process. It can't be interrupted or influenced by erratic emotions." - Castle |
"We all have to learn how to harness our abilities in the most effective manner possible." - Winston
"I don't think it's interesting to be able to kill someone by accident. I don't think it's interesting to be afraid to touch someone." - Juliette
Thank you and keep updated for the book's sequel, Unravel Me. ^_*
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