Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

120 reviews

spatterson7's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Medical content, and Murder

green_mm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

The prose in this story was delightfully unique and added much depth to Juliette’s mental state throughout the novel. However, although the writing was strong and plot seemed like it was moving forward, it somehow felt like nothing truly significant happened until the last third of the book. Up to that point, the reader spends most their time trying to understand Juliette’s circumstances and parse out the intentions of the people around her. This made the book feel meandering, and I kept wishing Mafi would have offered more clarity as to what was going on. I understand the reader is stuck with as much information as the protagonist had, which was not much in this instance, but I was left with this feeling of wanting them to get on with it already. The conclusion was definitely interesting, though, and piqued my interest in what happens next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Child abuse

eyeleash's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization

dramagirl2003's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i sped through this in a day!

thoughts while reading

p10: it’s taken me a whole 10 pages to realise she’s writing all this down

p17: well it was either gonna be adam or kenji

p36: omg it’s uno reverse tower of babel

p45: this’ll be warner

p46: oh shit

p85: oh me the arguing is getting kinda funny considering

these two are apparently endgame. i mean i know why, cause everyone loves a good enemies to lovers, but i’m also loving trying to work out why

p93: so

we hate adam

why?

p108: warner touching her might well be because he’s attracted to her but it’s definitely a power play too. he knows she’s starved for attention and will unconsciously cling to any intimacy

p116: adam better not start power playing too. i should probably just ignore my preconceived notions based off spoilers otherwise they may spoil the experience

p120: 19? bloody hell warner must’ve had a tortured childhood to be this calculating already

p147: KENJI

p165: damn girl, you are powerful

p176: adam is so brave

p184:

WARNER CAN TOUCH HER TOO???

how?? what is the science behind this?

p222: 😂 james is really cracking me up

p254: warner is so delulu

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual content

chaptermaggot's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Alcoholism

evarinya's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Good:
It was a quick read - I managed to get through the book with surprising speed, it never felt like it dragged too much or got boring, which was very refreshing after just having read a bunch of books that just felt "too long".
Also the plot itself was... fine? Not too much yet, clearly setting up something bigger, but... it does make me want to read more!
And (spoilers for the last few chapters)

I rather liked the whole Omega Complex X-Men style idea, even if there wasn't too much done with it so far. And Kenji was fun, admittedly.

The Bad:
Some actions felt a bit contrived, like how there always seemed to miraculously be something around Juliette that would help her solve her current issue.
Also - but that's a very personal thing for me - I just don't like dystopian settings too much. Especially those that (spoiler for the last few chapters)

end up becoming "big evil group of people/fascists has all the power but small team of heroes will fight to take them down!" - too many similarities to certian space operas, I presume.

The Ugly:
I, for the love of anything, cannot understand how people hype up Warner that much. I know that there probably will be something up with him in later books, but in this book? He's just a horrible human being. With some depth, sure, and probably his own family trauma, but... That doesn't mean he should get a free pass as to how he constantly manipulated Juliette to turn into what he believes/wants her to be!
And that she partly even accepts this already just because he's good-looking and she sometimes feels sorry for him - just to then in the next paragraph be absolutely disgusted by him again... I don't know. Doesn't really make me want to root for them at all, so far.

I worry how this will turn out in the later books, as a proper redemption arc is really difficult to pull off, but I'm willing to at least check out the next book to see how things will develop.

And again, I didn't hate this book, not by a long shot - I just, perhaps, expected something a little different based on what I have seen fans of this series discuss online... But oh well. I'll see how it goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

greenknightemrys's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

embodyingmysticalmac's review against another edition

The writing style was not done well enough to warrant it imo and appeared like the author was trying to be stylistic but came across as simply gimmicky. A book that does what this tried to do but actually succeeded is Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I have also seen who the love interest was gonna be (thanks book tok 😅) and he is irredeemably abusive which I am just not interested in. Unless the abuse serves an actual purpose for a redemption arc it simply didn’t need to come from the love interest, even if it is necessary, then it’s up to the writer to not create a character that is genuinely irredeemable. I am over YA books encouraging young women to end up with their abusers. This series can stay far away from my romance shelf 🙅🏻‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization

guy who ends up with her sees her as an object and as a means to an end. He is endlessly creepy and predatory towards her and even incites violence against her but they end up together anyway 😒

hoops_literary_library_life's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

anjh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

i had high hopes for this book considering how popular it is. it was really good, the writing is incredibly poetic and i think that’s part of what makes it so good. 

i’m not usually that into fantasy and dystopian books but this wasn’t bad, i did enjoy the magical element and didn’t find the world too confusing which i often do. 

i was kind of surprised how much smut was in this lol. as someone who is generally incredibly bored by smut and romance n such i kind of skimmed over it or skipped it but if you are into smutty stuff i def recommend it lol. 

but omg the writing. the crossing out of sentences really added to the poetic style - i loved it. i think the main highlight of this book was the writing style. it was just beautiful 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic