Shatter Me

EDIT: for clarity
I bought this book very cheaply on the Kindle, for book group. We're reading it for Unusual Styles, because one of the quirks of its narrative is that every so often words are crossed out.

This is going to be the kind of post I was dreading when I decided to write something about every book I read this year. Lord knows Tahereh Mafi doesn't need my approval. Shatter Me has been a massive best-seller, with two sequels, and (I gather) is going to be made into a film, so she will be crying all the way to the bank when I say that... it wasn't really my cup of tea!

This is the kind of book that gives YA a bad name. It was drenched in high emotion, rendered in the purplest of prose, with an improbable, dystopian setting and high action scenes to break up the heavy breathing love drama. It was like reading an extended Year 8 creative writing exercise -- not that there's anything wrong with that when you're in Year 8 and still learning. And I suppose Mafi was only 23 when this was published, so I'm prepared to make some allowances. But it was not fun (for me) to read. It was all on one (very intense, melodramatic) note.

To pluck out an example at random:

I'm embarrassed and excited and anxious and eager. My stomach is filled with drums pounded into synchronicity by my heart. I'm practically humming with electric nerves…

If 300-odd pages of this kind of thing sounds good to you, then you will love this book (and plenty of people do!) But it's not for me, I'm afraid.