264 Days In Shatter Me

264 days. 264 days of isolation, with nothing but a small notebook, a broken pen and the numbers to keep her company. 4 walls, 144 square feet of space, and 26 letters in the alphabet that she hasn’t spoken in 264 days of isolation. 6,336 hours since she has touched another human being. Juliette Ferrars has a touch that doesn’t just make contact. It kills. Thrilling, intense, and dangerous, “Shatter Me,” by Tahereh Mafi, combines presents a world as enthralling as The Hunger Games, and a superhero story as exciting as The X-Men. It is the first book in the “Shatter Me” trilogy and is sure to captivate the attention of fans of dystopian, young-adult literature.

Seventeen-year-old Juliette Ferrars can unexplainably kill others with a single touch. Juliette has been cast off from society and placed in an insane asylum after an incident in which she embraced a child, resulting in the child’s death. After spending 264 days in isolation, Juliette is clearly losing her grasp on reality, and struggling to prove to herself that she is not the monster that society believes she is, but she uses numbers and the written word to keep herself sane. In a hidden

journal, she records facts she remembers from the past. She remembers a time before people, animals, and plants started to die out; she remembers a time before the skies turned gray, a time when birds flew, and more importantly, she remembers a time before the Reestablishment took over with their false promises to restore the world. However, Juliette lived a harsh life long before the imprisonment. Alienated in her own home, Juliette’s parents only provided her with basic necessities; limiting her to shelter, food, and clothing, nothing more. She always felt unwanted and detested by her parents, as her mother was often telling her that she was a disgrace to the family, that she was a horrendous child. If that weren’t enough, she was forced to keep away from other children growing up, as so many feared her “curse”. Being isolated in a cell far from her estranged parents, Juliette gets a cellmate. Someone familiar, someone who seems trustworthy, and possibly the only person who can accept her as a human being: Adam.

When the Reestablishment comes for Juliette, it is revealed that Adam is a soldier for the leader of Sector 45 of the Reestablishment. The leader, a nineteen-year-old darkly possessive Warner, gives Juliette an offer that includes Juliette’s freedom from the asylum, but with the freedom comes a high price: Juliette will be used as a weapon, by torturing any rebels of the Reestablishment with her touch. Suddenly, Juliette’s world is turned upside down as she desperately fights to climb her way out of the realm of darkness that has always surrounded her. Juliette will not be a weapon. She will be a warrior.

What truly separates this story from other dystopian novels is definitely the writing style that Tahereh Mafi uses. This loneliness makes Juliette’s narration more powerful; though there is repetition in it, the use of strikethroughs in the text is Juliette’s stream of consciousness surfacing. When Juliette feels she reveals too much, she scratches out her thoughts, hoping to hide her true feelings, even from herself. She has an obsession with words and numbers, and counts everything she can find, in order to root herself to reality. She has been left with nothing but a small notebook; she writes things down, crosses them out, repeats things too many times, which reflects her fractured state of mind. I believe that this truly helps us understand Juliette’s vulnerable state of being, and the incoherent thoughts prove show that her days in the asylum have definitely scarred her, physically and mentally. I also noticed that as Juliette grows as a character throughout the story, the writing stabilizes, the strikethroughs decrease, and the language develops a slight elegance. Tahareh Mafi’s prose is a great visual representation of Juliette’s journey to becoming a strong individual. I also believe that Tahereh did an amazing job of creating an antagonist. As the son of the leader of the Reestablishment, Warner is a dangerous enemy to Juliette. He is a walking contradiction, handsome and possessive. He is often seen as cruel, yet darkly compelling to Juliette. Despite his composure, there is something seemingly rebellious about his actions, and he is able to relate to Juliette’s nature (which he describes as “A poorly tamed inner monster”). Warner seems to see through Juliette’s defenses, and he encourages her to embrace her “gift” rather than attempt to get rid of it.

I was drawn to Juliette’s character because Juliette is a fighter, and she stopped at no means to gain her freedom, despite all the physical and mental torture that she had to endure. Even when trapped in solitary confinement, she proved her feisty and independent nature. While others in the asylum were described screaming and attempting to break through the walls, Juliette remained still and huddled in a corner, finding her escape within words, and desperately trying to remain sane, as she knew that it would be the only way to break free. She travelled to the darkest places of her mind, and slowly climbs her way out. I admired this heroine as, despite her anger and frustration when she was forcefully taken to be a part of the Reestablishment, she never used her powers against those who opposed her. I loved and admired this heroine’s strength and resilience. The following is an excerpt from the Shatter Me, in which Juliette displays her feisty nature and her desire to break free. It takes place after Juliette is taken to the headquarters of sector 45.
“I only know now that the scientists are wrong. The world is 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 give you a hand. I’ve been neglected, abandoned, ostracized, and dragged from my home. I’ve been prodded tested and thrown in a cell. I’ve been studied. I’ve been starved. I’ve been tempted with friendship, only to be left betrayed and trapped into this nightmare. I’m expected to be grateful. For my parents. My teachers. Adam. Warner. The Reestablishment. I’m expendable to all of them. They think I’m a doll they can dress up and twist into prostration.
But they’re wrong.”
This excerpt truly shows that Juliette is no longer the lonely, tormented girl with a curse, and she will no longer allow society to control her. It describes the various types of torcher that she had gone through, as people had only examined her lethal touch, and had never taken the time to truly understand her generosity and selflessness.
I would rate this novel a 4.8 out of 5 because it was truly a captivating story, and felt as though I was truly following Juliette on her journey from being lonesome and afraid of her own abilities to gaining moral strength and becoming a strong and independent young woman.

The writing style definitely added to this, as the strike through method and repetition showed that Juliette is human, and allowed me to understand her chaotic thought processes. One thing that I was interested in learning a bit more about was the history of the Reestablishment, as well as how Anderson (Warner’s father) had managed to have the world under his grasp. However, this is just a minor detail in comparison to the various inventive ideas that this story has to offer, as well as the unique and uncommon writing style for dystopian

novels.

I would definitely recommend “Shatter Me,” to anyone who loves to read dystopian, young adult literature, as well as anyone who enjoys reading romance novels. I believe that anyone who was enjoyed reading the Divergent, Hunger Games, Maze Runner, or Mortal Instruments series will enjoy this novel. This was definitely a very captivating novel as, not only did I finish this novel in one day, but I also finished the two remaining novels in the trilogy within the next two days.