Audio Review ~ Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Publication Date: November 15, 2011
Publisher: Harper Audio
Source: purchased

Goodreads  ~  Amazon 

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.

My Review:

Let me take a quick second to gush over this cover.  The original cover of Shatter Me did nothing for me and I almost passed over the book just because of it.  When the cover was redone, I had to stop and take another look. It is absolutely stunning. I am so in love with it and the covers from the rest of the series.

Okay, now about what was inside that beautiful cover, or in my case...on the recording.

I think that had a read the physical copy of this book I may not have liked it. In fact, I am fairly convinced I would not have liked it. Why? Well, Juliette thinks in prose and metaphor.  Almost exclusively.  She also has an obsession with numbers, counting and eyes.  She is always, always, always counting and thinking about eyes. Oh, and breathing.  She thinks about breathing a fair amount as well.  Then there is the weird striking out of thoughts. In the physical book there are lines that are actually crossed out, on audio it is just a bizarre zipper sound and I had to figure out what the hell was happening.  I think all these things would truly have annoyed me if I had been reading rather than listening.

“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.”

However, Kate Simses does such an amazing job performing this read that I easily slipped into the crazy mind of Juliette.  Simses should win some sort of award for this read. Do they have audio book awards? They should, and she should win one.  She took me to a place I don't know I would have gone in my own head.

Juliette has been imprisoned in a mental institution, left in solitary confinement, for 264 days.  She has not spoken to anyone and she has not touched anyone.  But not touching is a good thing since her touch is a killer.  It's how she ended up in a small dank cell with only a tiny window to peak at the outside world.  An outside world that has fallen to rot and famine and severe military control.

Juliette lives inside her mind, within this cell.  Her mind and a scruffy notebook she scribbles thoughts in are her only companions here. Until Adam is tossed in the cell with her.  Adam with beautiful eyes that hide from Juliette his true intentions on being in the cell with her.

Adam's arrival triggers a series of events that lead Juliette out of the institute and into the military where she is to be a weapon. A tool. A destructive and dangerous torture device.  A device that Juliette desperately does not want to be.

Juliette is an interesting chick.  She likes to believe she is not insane, but I kind of think she is.  I love her none the less.  She's caring and she's brave while she's terrifying and powerful beyond what she even knows. Her every day struggle to live without touching anyone or being touched, is one wild ride.  She thinks she's a monster, she's been told she is by everyone but at her heart she is just a selfless girl trapped inside a venomous body.  Mafi has done an extraordinary job of writing Juliette, the way her mind works and where it goes. Utterly breathtaking.

Adam and Warner are opposites in many ways yet completely the same in others. Yes, this does appear to be the beginning of some sort of love triangle.  Adam being a sweet guy would be the obvious choice for a love interest.  He would be a good pick but my money says there is much more to Warner (the bad guy) than his militant tyrant mask portrays. I think he's going to be breaking his fair share of young hearts by the time this series is over.  My scales are slightly tipped in his favor.

On a side noet ~ Some of the other characters are fantastic.  I'm a tad bit in love with James & Kenji.

“I’ve come to believe that the most dangerous man in the world is the one who feels no remorse. The one who never apologizes and therefore seeks no forgiveness. Because in the end it is our emotions that make us week, not our actions.”

The pacing, action, drama and trauma in Shatter Me kept me at the edge of my seat.  I was constantly anxious to see what would happen next and pleasantly surprised at how I rarely saw what was coming.

I know this is a love it or hate it type of book and I would suggest that if you are apprehensive about reading it, sample the audio.  I have fallen face first into this series and look forward to its future; counting, breathing and eyes eyes eyes included.

4.5 Stars