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.
RATING: ★✰✰✰✰
This book is just a huge....
Shatter Me is by far the greatest personification of "don't judge a book by its cover."
Honestly, before I even knew what this book was about, I was attracted by it... Because of the cover. I don't even know what I was expecting from Shatter Me . Of course, what I did not expect was atrocious writing, gross metaphors and similes, horrible protagonists, and an extremely stupid plot.
And, if I'm to be honest again , the synopsis actually drew me in after I got it. You know, the one that's like " I am a monster. I'm more than human. "
Before I start on this book, I just want to say that I really, really wanted to like this book. I'm sorry. It just couldn't happen. I actually reread it to see if I could reevaluate my opinion on this book, especially since a majority of my Goodreads friend liked this atrocity. Couldn't happen.
1) The writing
Aww hell no, don't even get me started on the writing.
For one, it's shit:
"I blush."
"He looks at me. Stops."
"He touches me. Stops."
Please please please please please please please
please stop!! Oh yeah, did I mention Tahereh does that crossing out
thingy every three sentences?? I thought it was original, but it just
got plain annoying.
And it makes no sense
"I catch the rose petals as they fall from my cheeks, as they float around the frame of my body, as they cover me in something that feels like the absence of courage."
"Hate looks like everybody else until it smiles. Until it spins around and lies with lips and teeth carved into semblance of something too passive to punch."
Jesus fucking Christ, THIS IS NOT A POETRY BOOK. AND IF IT WERE A POEM, IT'D MAKE NO SENSE.
This is something I would rather not imagine right now
"Every organ in my body falls to the ground"
"My stomach drops onto my knees."
"My mouth is sitting on my kneecaps."
"My spine is conducting enough electricity to power a city."
"My jaw is dangling from my shoelace."
"There are 400 cotton balls caught in my windpipe."
These similes and metaphors appear numerously throughout the entire book
I just can't even can't even can't even can't even can't even with Tahereh's writing style.
2) The characters
Let me start off with Juliette. She's supposed to be a kick-ass dystopian female protagonist, but NOPE.
I'll just break down the characters:
Juliette - I'm a bad ass character in a bad ass dystopian world and I'm going to fucking kill Warner because he messed with--wait, OH MY GOD ADAM'S SO FUCKING HOT.
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.
RATING: ★✰✰✰✰
This book is just a huge....
Shatter Me is by far the greatest personification of "don't judge a book by its cover."
Honestly, before I even knew what this book was about, I was attracted by it... Because of the cover. I don't even know what I was expecting from Shatter Me . Of course, what I did not expect was atrocious writing, gross metaphors and similes, horrible protagonists, and an extremely stupid plot.
And, if I'm to be honest
Before I start on this book, I just want to say that I really, really wanted to like this book. I'm sorry. It just couldn't happen. I actually reread it to see if I could reevaluate my opinion on this book, especially since a majority of my Goodreads friend liked this atrocity. Couldn't happen.
1) The writing
Aww hell no, don't even get me started on the writing.
For one, it's shit:
"I blush."
"He looks at me. Stops."
"He touches me. Stops."
And it makes no sense
"I catch the rose petals as they fall from my cheeks, as they float around the frame of my body, as they cover me in something that feels like the absence of courage."
"Hate looks like everybody else until it smiles. Until it spins around and lies with lips and teeth carved into semblance of something too passive to punch."
Jesus fucking Christ, THIS IS NOT A POETRY BOOK. AND IF IT WERE A POEM, IT'D MAKE NO SENSE.
This is something I would rather not imagine right now
"Every organ in my body falls to the ground"
"My stomach drops onto my knees."
"My mouth is sitting on my kneecaps."
"My spine is conducting enough electricity to power a city.""My jaw is dangling from my shoelace."
"There are 400 cotton balls caught in my windpipe."
These similes and metaphors appear numerously throughout the entire book
I just
2) The characters
Let me start off with Juliette. She's supposed to be a kick-ass dystopian female protagonist, but NOPE.
I'll just break down the characters:
Juliette - I'm a bad ass character in a bad ass dystopian world and I'm going to fucking kill Warner because he messed with--wait, OH MY GOD ADAM'S SO FUCKING HOT.
I can't even with her description of Adam's eyes
"Midnight moment filled with memories, the only windows into my world.”
"2 buckets of rainwater; deep, fresh, clear.”
And trust me, she goes on and on with ridiculous descriptions of his eyes... and like the metaphors and similes in this book, THEY MAKE NO FUCKING SENSE WHATSOEVER. "His eyes are blue like the ocean/sky" would have sufficed. Two buckets of rainwater... wtf?
Seriously? Half of this book is just:
Yes, it's a good idea to make out every five minutes while we're on the run from crazy-ass idiots who are trying to kill us.
Oh - I'm surprised Juliette supposedly looks like a runway model when she's been locked up with little resource for 200+ days???
I forgot to mention HOW CONSISTENTLY JULIETTE WHINES AND CRIES ABOUT HER LIFE. All she EVER does throughout Shatter Me is complain, cry, whine, make out with Adam, think about Adam, thinks about Warner, thinks about the other hot males in the story, AND WHINE.
Adam - I swear I will protect Juliette to my dying breath; I will never let harm come to her--God, she looks so sexy when she cries and I have to kiss her
Kenji - *stares* Juliette... you sexy little lady :O
Yes, let's make every male character in this book fall in love with Juliette, the sexy girl who's been locked up for 200 days without much food or water. Of course, she would look like a fucking Victoria Secret model after getting out.
Warner - Worst. Villain. Ever. Oh, and he thinks Juliette is hot, too.
3) The plot
I've watched enough of X-Men (even if I never finished any of the movies) to see that Shatter Me is just a rip off from X-Men's plot. With a shit ton load of romance mixed in the middle. No, wait, Shatter Me IS a romance, not a dystopian. I don't even think it's a dystopian. Yeah, it's set in the future and everyone's dead and shit, but like I said, the entire book consisted of Juliette and Adam making out with each other while Warner--the pathetic villain--chases after them so HE can make out with Juliette.
Overview: Juliette is lost until she meets Adam, the bird in her dreams and now she can fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
"Midnight moment filled with memories, the only windows into my world.”
"2 buckets of rainwater; deep, fresh, clear.”
And trust me, she goes on and on with ridiculous descriptions of his eyes... and like the metaphors and similes in this book, THEY MAKE NO FUCKING SENSE WHATSOEVER. "His eyes are blue like the ocean/sky" would have sufficed. Two buckets of rainwater... wtf?
Seriously? Half of this book is just:
Yes, it's a good idea to make out every five minutes while we're on the run from crazy-ass idiots who are trying to kill us.
Oh - I'm surprised Juliette supposedly looks like a runway model when she's been locked up with little resource for 200+ days???
I forgot to mention HOW CONSISTENTLY JULIETTE WHINES AND CRIES ABOUT HER LIFE. All she EVER does throughout Shatter Me is complain, cry, whine, make out with Adam, think about Adam, thinks about Warner, thinks about the other hot males in the story, AND WHINE.
Adam - I swear I will protect Juliette to my dying breath; I will never let harm come to her--God, she looks so sexy when she cries and I have to kiss her
Kenji - *stares* Juliette... you sexy little lady :O
Yes, let's make every male character in this book fall in love with Juliette, the sexy girl who's been locked up for 200 days without much food or water. Of course, she would look like a fucking Victoria Secret model after getting out.
Warner - Worst. Villain. Ever. Oh, and he thinks Juliette is hot, too.
3) The plot
I've watched enough of X-Men (even if I never finished any of the movies) to see that Shatter Me is just a rip off from X-Men's plot. With a shit ton load of romance mixed in the middle. No, wait, Shatter Me IS a romance, not a dystopian. I don't even think it's a dystopian. Yeah, it's set in the future and everyone's dead and shit, but like I said, the entire book consisted of Juliette and Adam making out with each other while Warner--the pathetic villain--chases after them so HE can make out with Juliette.
Overview: Juliette is lost until she meets Adam, the bird in her dreams and now she can fly fly fly fly fly fly fly
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
I read Shatter Me on May 10, 2014, and reread it in October 2014 to write this review.
Great review! Thats basically what I felt about this book too XD However, the 2nd & 3rd book are awesome. Juliette shuts the hell up and stops whining about stupid things (that annoyed me so much), she stopped being so useless, they stopped making out (at least in the 3rd book they did, I don't really remember the 2nd) and she did some SICK stuff in the 3rd book which was totally badass, so it worked out in the end. Also the poetry-like-writing and crossing-out stuff stopped so.
ReplyDeleteBasically everything to complain about in the 1st book was gone by the 3rd XD thats what I call a good series close.
I never read the second book XD
DeleteIt's mostly because my brain was still recovering from Shatter Me and my library didn't have the book. I'll definitely read it and the third book and write reviews on both of them if you want me to :) I'll have to find a PDF version of it, though, since most of the books I read now are in PDF form XD
Thank gods she stopped doing the crossing out stuff. That really bothered me ;_;