Opinion: Couldn't Read It At First But Loved It On A Second Try!

So I have a small big confession to make... There is a very well loved book series that I actually hated when I first tried to read. I know this may come as an enormous shock for you but that series is the "Shatter Me" series by Tahereh Mafi. In case you don't know what I'm talking about here are the covers and the synopsis of the first book (no one likes spoilers).


Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.
The first time I tried to read this book was a couple of years ago during a summer vacation. Since the first moment I opened the book I was a little bored with the story. I have to admit that futuristic dystopian wasn't really my thing but still I decided I should try to read this book everyone was talking about.
Maybe it was my immaturity or my lack of taste for that kind of story and scenery but I started to really hate it! I was actually a die-hard fan of love at the first sight and the romantic aspect of the book wasn't going where I wanted it to go. It also could have been the theme of abandonment and loneliness it talks about and hoow close to home it actually hit in my heart.
Many things have changed since that time. My sense of romance and romantic relationship changed, my life canged, I grew up, my taste in books evolved and expanded... Between these things I really don't know which was more preponderant in changing my opinion about these books but it has changed indeed.
Last week I decided that I should pick this series up again. Very slowly I started reading them again. I actually started to appreciate the beautiful writing and relating to the struggles that it describes. Recognition that Tahereh Mafi is one of the best writers I have ever known also hit me, the lyrical feeling her words transpire is beautiful and original, it is a very subtle lyrical prose.
What this experience has taught me is that books, just like people, deserve a second chance. You may not enoy them at the first try but you change and maybe past some time you'll come to like them. Tastes change and sometimes you're just not ready to read them at a certain time.

I hope this post makes you take a look inside yourself, just as writing it made me.

Love, Ana

2 comments

  1. I gave the series a shot this year and it really wasn't for me. The tropes just killed me. Still, I read all of them and the last book felt a bit better. Usually, I devour YA SFF series, but this one just didn't work me for. Ah well!
    Rebecca @ The Portsmouth Review
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    1. I think that is a very particular thing. We can't and souldn't force ourselves to like a book (or book series) just because many people like it.

      Love, Ana

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