Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

124 reviews

spicycronereads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

This was an entertaining read. The story of Juliette Farrars, a girl who cannot be touched because her touch is lethal. The book opens with her institutionalized and unfolds as she meets Adam, a figure from her past. In this dystopic future, everyone wants something from Juliette. And wants to use her for their own ends. Except Adam, who sees her for who she really is.

The writing takes some getting used to as there is an interesting narrative convention where a lot of text is crossed out. It kind of seems like you’re reading her notebook, but not all the time. Sometimes it just seems like her thought process is impacted by all of the trauma she’s been through. The characters are sweet together, even if the Insta love is not my favorite thing. This is a YA book so, as to be expected, it’s not really spicy. There’s a little bit of kissing and lots of swooniness. 💖💖💖

Going in, I knew it was the first in a rather long series. So I wasn’t really surprised when it ended at a point where things were just getting started. In fact, the digital copy of the book includes a novella about one of the other characters and the actual book itself is only 75% of the kindle file.

Interestingly, you get really far into the book before Juliette is ever described. There’s a compelling narrative reason for this, but the descriptions of other characters are also pretty thin. So from a diversity perspective, there’s lots of wiggle room for you to impose your own vision. But for readers who default to imagining white characters it means this will end up not seeming very diverse. There’s one person who has a clearly Japanese name and another person with dreadlocks, but whose skin tone is never described. 

Overall, the book kept me entertained. I will likely read the next one in the series but I don’t feel compelled to rush out and download it right away. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 / 💖💖💖

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kalyn_c's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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mariareviews's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

it was something, that’s for sure. i don’t really know if i liked it or not to be honest. the beginning was horribly underwhelming, the middle was nice, and the end went back to being horribly underwhelming.

also, why was the suit purple? considering her abilities are supposed to be used at a close range -that i know of- why is she looking like a walking highlighter? ‘cause i’m imagining the shade of purple is like #7600bc or #7f00ff which is… rough.

anyways, i’ll keep reading because warren is the epitome of delulu is the solulu

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mcloysmom's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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irenemayblack's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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lillllyyyy33's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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tabea1409's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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notbambi's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It has a lot of potential, but it's not great so far. I liked enough about it that I'll probably read the next one. The dystopia plot and worldbuilding take a backseat to romance, which isn't always a bad thing, but I did feel like what was there outside of the romance was very thin and moved too quickly to care much about. 

I liked a lot about the protagonist and the erratic voice of her narration (I know that this is apparently a polarizing aspect of the book, but it really worked for me!). I preferred the early chapters where she is dealing with her isolation and loneliness, something that I feel like isn't addressed in a satisfying way later in the book - she just sort of feels better because she's got Adam. On the other hand, he is the first person to be able to touch her, and this is the first in a series, so maybe something will happen later to make her realize that being in love doesn't magically fix trauma.

I know from the TikTok stans how this love triangle is going to play out, and I'm very curious to see how Mafi is going to play it. 

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apolen's review against another edition

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4.75


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kathleenn224's review against another edition

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funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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