Destroy Me By Tahereh Mafi

       While I was underwhelmed by the first book of the insanely popular dystopian series, Shatter Me, I cannot say the same for its first novella, Destroy Me. After Shatter Me’s virality in 2022, I knew I had to read it; unfortunately, that day came a few years late.

        I knew going into this series there wasn’t initially going to be a lot of action, as with any 11-book saga, but I wasn’t expecting to be bored out of my mind for the first 200 pages of this novel. Along with the boredom came confusion. After years of being a social media sensation, I had received my fair share of spoilers, which was why I was so confused about her love interest. I felt like I was missing something. Why was everybody obsessing over Warner when Adam was right there? There was no possible way that Juliette could ever fall for this heartless man. The final third of the book was a little easier for me to stomach; it felt like I had finally gotten past the world-building and was getting into some action. Unfortunately, as soon as the book was getting good, it came to an abrupt end, and since I’m reading these books through a digital library, it’ll probably be five weeks before I can read the second book. Fortunately, the novella Destroy Me was featured at the end of Shatter Me to tide me over. Had it not been, I may not have read it, but I’m so glad I did. 

          Destroy Me offers the unique perspective of Aaron Warner, whom I had previously despised. And while I’m not quite ready to start calling Warner “the good guy,” I think this brought me a lot of clarity about his past, family, motives, thoughts, personality, and feelings, which I had previously thought he was devoid of. It also brought to my attention why he loves Juliette, and I as I was reading, I could almost feel some empathy for the poor guy. Another unique piece of this novel is the narrator. I don’t usually read things narrated by such a morally gray character, but this facet of his personality kept me engaged and provided many interesting quotes and scenes.

           If I had one critique of this book, it would be the lack of plot, which would usually be a deal-breaker for me, but because of the nature of this novel, I wasn’t too bothered by it. The purpose of this novella was to build up Warner’s character and really humanize him, and I think it did a great job of that, but it was just that. There wasn’t a goal that was achieved or conflict that was resolved; it was more of a narration of his life after Juliette’s disappearance. While we did experience some conflict—namely between Warner and his father—it wasn’t major, which I think is fine. This wasn’t meant to be a full book, hence why it is called a novella, and I think it served its purpose very well.

             I think if you were to skip this novella, you would be missing out on some great writing and some vital information about Warner and his obsession with Juliette. So if you were on the fence about continuing the series after the first book, I would give Destroy Me a shot; it’s just over 100 pages and a great read.

And now, some of my favorite quotes from Aaron Warner:

“I’ve developed a reputation as a cold, unfeeling monster who fears nothing and cares for less. But this is all very deceiving. Because the truth is, I am nothing but a coward.”

“Friendship is not a thing I have ever experienced. Not as a child, and not as I am now.”

“I almost forget that she still hates me, despite how hard I’ve fallen for her. And I’ve fallen. so hard. I’ve hit the ground. Gone right through it. Never in my life have I felt this. Nothing like this. I’ve felt shame and cowardice, weakness and strength. I’ve known terror and indifference, self-hate and general disgust. I’ve seen things that cannot be unseen. And yet I’ve known nothing like this terrible, horrible, paralyzing feeling. I feel crippled. Desperate and out of control. And it keeps getting worse. Every day I feel sick. empty and somehow aching. Love is a heartless bastard.”

Thanks For Reading!

Published January 28th 2024