'Shatter Me' by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi (3)

This is a young adult novel somewhat in ‘The Hunger Games’ genre (young girl in a dystopian future fighting the Establishment).  I liked the beginning of this book – the main character, Juliette, has been in isolation in an asylum for 264 days. She seems to have been put there because her touch literally ignites anyone who comes in contact with her and she has apparently done something very bad.  While not being insane to begin with, after 264 days of isolation proceeded by a lifetime of being untouchable, she is now holding on to her sanity with a very thin thread.  Her coping mechanisms and inner voice are very interesting.  My biggest disappointment with this book is probably the same reason it is written for tween girls – the love interest (a young man she knew in grade school brought into share her cell) is too typical. One of the things that made the love story in ‘The Hunger Games’ so fresh was the complexity of it.  Except for the initial ‘is he bad or good’, the concept of Adam and his feelings for Juliette are both flat and predictable. I think this will resonate with ‘Twilights’ fans – lots of hungry looks and relatively chaste embraces (who can touch her?).  The ending was quite disappointing as it became very X-Men like and never actually finished, obviously setting up for books 2 and 3. I’m giving this a ‘3’ for it’s unique concept and interesting writing for the first 50%.