Jacket Copy spoke with Tahereh Mafi about Shatter Me, the first book in her young-adult trilogy. Mafi discusses how the idea for the main character’s “girl-with-the-lethal-touch” idea arose and whether there are similarities between the character and herself:
“She kills people when she touches them. So that’s a huge difference between the two of us. When I wrote the book, I didn’t think that any of the things I was writing had anything to do with me, and it wasn’t until I finished the book and looked back on it that I realized that some of it was certainly inspired by things I felt myself many times, but again I think that’s why it relates to a lot of young readers because we all go through that on some level.”
One response
Shatter Me is one of those books that I couldn’t wait to read. Not only has it been incredibly hyped online, but it has an incredibly compelling concept and a great blurb that screams “Read me!” Being touted as the Hunger Games meets X-men, Shatter Me boasted some of the most unique marketing I’ve ever seen for a YA novel, despite its unknown author and not-incredibly-compelling cover. Being the dystopian nerd that I am, I was completely pulled in by the incredible blurb and was beyond exciting for this title.
Shatter Me was strangely difficult for me to get into. First, Juliette spends much of the first half of the novel being completely obedient to the horrible regime that locked her away and seemed completely resigned to her terrible fate. It also doesn’t help that she spends far too much time feeling sorry for herself, calling herself a “monster” and dripping with angst. There were times I wanted to tell her to just get over it. Thankfully, throughout the novel Juliette’s adventures help to meld her into a stronger, better person who is more confident and empowered.
I’ve also read some interesting reviews that have discussed how much they loved the writing style in Shatter Me. I’m not sure I like it -in fact, I was torn for much of the book. Most of the writing is done in stream-of-conscious style that really gets into Juliette’s head, but left me out of breath by the end of most sentences. It didn’t seem that polished or crisp to me. Again, this did get better as the book went on, but I wouldn’t rave about the writing style here. However, some sentences here were amazing emotional gems that really were beautiful.
I wouldn’t call Shatter Me the best dystopian novel I’ve read this year, but it’s still worth reading. It’s certainly something different in the genre with a unique style approach that’s unlike anything else I’ve ever read. Recommended for fans of dystopian romance.
Have a nice day,
Sara
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