Shatter Me Book Review

1/16/26

By: Hazel Nava

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is a dystopian book that contains themes like drama, suffering and romance, with a main character on the verge of insanity. This story contains an underlying structure that relates to the real world. One way it does this is by showing how terrible our world could be if we don’t take care of it and the species that inhabit earth. It presents a dystopian universe in which the government is no longer democratic, but an autocracy, where citizens must do what they are told or be severely punished.

However, aside from Shatter Me giving a wake up call to its readers about continuously keeping people in positions of power, and the conflicts that will arise if this happens. The story gives its readers an entirely new perspective on how cruel and cold innocent lives can be, an example being that from a young age, Juliette (the main character) had been put in prison for so long she nearly went insane. Shatter Me does this by giving the reader a perspective of someone who hasn’t purposefully done anything wrong, but is still isolated from society and treated with barely any of her basic needs.

Throughout this story, you will be taken through the life of Juliette, a girl whose skin kills anything and everything she touches. After accidentally hurting someone, people view her as a monster, and because of this, she is isolated from society. With nothing but a notebook and pen, Juliette dreams from her cell of the day she will get to go outside again. As her isolation continues, it eats away at her sanity from the lack of her human connection, and Juliette is left to wonder if she ever will escape.

A final component I particularly enjoyed from this book was the magical elements incorporated into it. People with powers, like Juliette, are hunted down by the government either to be killed or exploited. So as the government gets stronger, Juliette must find her place in this everchanging world, one set out to treat her with cruelty.

So, as part of a bigger series, Shatter Me leaves many open ended questions about the world it’s based in, which make it hard to not read the rest. If you enjoy a dystopian story with incredible character development and plot twists, I highly recommend this book.