Review: SHATTER ME by Tahereh Mafi

A gorgeous piece of art. I've read a lot of reviews complaining the prose is all over the place--too literary, too off-base. But I have zero complaints with this book. I felt like Mafi wrote her story while hovering below a blanket, because everything felt so personal, so intimate, so beautiful, so fresh. My favorite part was the beginning, and I loved the strike-through text indicating her most personal thoughts, the ones she almost didn't want to admit to herself. This is another dystopia, but beautifully done. Such gorgeous, inventive writing. And I think Mafi seems as incredible in person as the words in her book.

The romance sizzles, and the protagonist is the most likeable I've read in a long time. I feel like her abuses and insecurities are right out in the open, but so beautifully expressed that they don't come off as whiny or pathetic. She shares all her feelings, but I shake with her, clutch on to the faint hopes of her hopeless situation.

The pacing was spot-on. The echoes she injects in her writing simultaneously haunting and delightful. Mafi is an author I will most certainly be keeping my eye on.

A few questions: is Tahereh Mafi her pen name? If she was born with it, God bless her parents. Also, did Jodi Reamer find her in the slush? I wouldn't be shocked if she did--just curious. Finally, I'd like to look into the future and see the types of books Mafi will pen in the future. I'm pretty sure this is a trilogy, but I mean after that. What will Mafi write next?