Shatter Me

Shatter Me is a young adult dystopian novel by Tahereh Mafi. The book was first published in 2011 and soon afterward 20th Century Fox bought the rights for a film adaptation. Exploring the themes of physical and emotional isolation, resistance to tyranny, and hope and resilience, the novel has become a best-seller in young adult fiction. It is followed by two other books, Unravel Me and Ignite Me, and the series also includes two e-novellas, Destroy Me and Fracture Me.

Shatter Me opens with Juliette Ferrars, a 17-year-old-girl, being locked in a small cell of an asylum because of her lethal touch. After she accidentally killed a little boy, Juliette has been kept in various detention centers, and although she is not dangerous for the society, she has been isolated for so long she begins to doubt her sanity. The totalitarian government that has taken over the country, The Reestablishment, put Juliette in an asylum because it wants to use her lethal touch as a weapon in the fight against the underground forces. One day Juliette learns that she will have a cellmate. She is stunned and confused when she realizes that her cellmate is a boy named Adam and he is of the same age as her. Juliette has a feeling that she had seen him somewhere before by she can’t remember exactly when and where it happened. At first, she avoids talking to him, and Adam behaves aggressively, taking away Juliette’s blanket and pillow. Yet with time, the two start to talk, and Juliette teaches Adam how to survive in the asylum, while Adam, seeing that Juliette is cold, gives her his blanket.

One day soldiers storm into the cell and take Juliette away. They take her to Sector 45, one of the areas under control of The Reestablishment, where she finds out that Adam is a soldier who was sent to spy on her. There she also meets the leader of Sector 45, Warner, who wants to use Juliette’s lethal touch in his fight against the rebels. He tries to recruit her by promising a life of ease and abundance in exchange for her willingness to cooperate with him. In order to show Juliette what her life could be like if she agrees, Warner gives her an exquisitely decorated room in one the compounds and assigns Adam as her guard.

Although Juliette’s room in the compound is much more comfortable than her cell in the asylum, where she was deprived of even basic necessities, she refuses to cooperate with Warner. When she finds out that Adam was beaten for her refusal, Juliette decides to play along in order to protect him. One day she finds the notebook that she used to have in the asylum and deduces that Adam must have secretly brought it for her. Realizing that Adam truly wants to help, Juliette begins to remember that she and Adam used to be classmates and that he was the only one who protected her from bullies. Juliette also realizes that Adam is immune to her touch, and eventually the two secretly start a romantic relationship. Warner continues to push Juliette to join his side, and she is horrified to see what he is capable of in his hunt for power.

Juliette and Adam begin to draw up an escape plan. When they try to run away, Warner attempts to stop Juliette and touches her, and she learns that he too is immune to her touch. She and Adam escape and find a tank that Adam hid a long time ago. They drive to his house where he introduces Juliette to his 10-year-old brother James. Soon after they arrive at the house, they receive a visitor, a soldier named Kenji, who explains that he ran away after Warner had tortured him to get information about Adam and his whereabouts. Just as they all decide to flee, soldiers arrive at the house and Adam, Juliette, James, and Kenji run away, but they don’t manage to get far. Warner finds them and shoots Adam.

Warner captures Juliette and continues to push her to join his side. He expresses his excitement to be able to touch her and Juliette begins to kiss him and pull him close to be able to reach for a gun in his inner pocket. She shoots Warner and starts looking for Adam, eventually finding him severely injured. The two steal a car and drive to a safe hideout Kenji knows. There Adam is taken to a hospital wing, and Juliette is given sedatives to recover.

When Juliette wakes up, she learns that she is at Omega Point, a resistance headquarters. She meets a man named Castle, who is a rebel leader, and he explains that they have been looking for her for a long time because of her gift. Castle also tells Juliette that at Omega Point there are 56 people who have different powers, and they all use them for a good cause. Because of their healers, Adam is fully recovered from his injuries within a few days. Juliette also learns that Kenji has been secretly working for the underground for many years now and he joined the army to keep an eye on Warner and his plans.

At Omega Point Juliette receives a custom-made suit that allows her to touch other people. Wearing the uniform and surrounded by like-minded people, Juliette regains her confidence and feels ready to join the resistance.

Tahereh Mafi is an Iranian-American author known for writing young adult fiction. Shatter Me is her first novel, and the series is followed by another trilogy set in the same universe and with the same cast of characters. Mafi’s next book, A Very Large Expanse of Sea, was published in 2018 and the same year was long-listed for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.