Review by barsiebeth - Unravel Me

barsiebeth 's review for:

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

3.0

dark tense medium-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

I am SO INVESTED in the premise of the Shatter Me, but I am SO OVER the will-they-won’t-they, (lack of) romance, love triangle debacle and Juliette’s self-loathing. I truly do not understand- Winston is a psychologist so I know they still exist- why can’t we get this girl some therapy?? I understand the use of repetition and poetic language from Mafi, as she states at the beginning of the first book that she uses it to demonstrate Juliette’s mental state, but for most of this book, Juliete was *unwell* and therefore, so was I. There are several passages I read and thought halfway through, “how many questionable metaphors can you make about this situation,” and, “wow, for a girl who focuses on her institutionalization and lack of interpersonal relationships so often, she sure has a lot of ways to describe things she’s never experienced before.”

As far as romance, I wouldn’t even consider this a slow burn- the sparks never actually start a fire to burn anything. The flip flops between the love interests are (reluctantly) understandable for a 17 year old who can only make physical contact with two people who both happen to be hot guys who are in love with her. But it’s still annoying when she morally abhors one and the other is… kind of boring. The spice levels are appropriate for the 14+ recommended age group however, but as a 30-something who thoroughly enjoys spice, it’s kind of insufferable and the false starts are infuriating.

Unravel Me continues the character development and relationship evolution started in Shatter Me and I love the way new characters are introduced- they are all unique, diverse, and intriguing- and how existing characters don’t become static- I especially enjoy Kenji’s backstory and plot progression. The pace of the writing is sporadic, the plot coming in bursts of excitement and plot twists mixed with slower parts that focus on Juliette’s inner thoughts and personal processing. The story is pretty equally plot and character driven, and it discusses themes of physical isolation, self-esteem and identity, power and control (literal and metaphorical), and teenage romance.

I almost contemplated DNFing this one in favor of something else from my TBR, but I need to know how this specific teenage girl who is *dIfFeReNt* and her rebellious but super hot boyfriends save the world from the evil government! (just like all the other 20teens YA dystopian fiction novels) I don’t know that I’ll read Fracture Me (Book 2.5) or Ignite Me (Book 3) next, or neither, though Mafi does do a tremendous job ending on an exciting unanswered question to make you want to pick up the next one.

Content Warnings