Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

“Dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense. I dare you to stop reading.” Tahereh Mafi, composes her ideas into words that brings out emotions of different kinds. A power to shake up the world, a touch that freezes the body, a feel that conquers the heart, the sentences on each page has quality, depth, and interest, your fingers will flip those pages without a rest. The precise amount of details and Mafi’s use of figurative language truly captivates the reader’s attention. Her writing embodies the definition of creative writing.

Unravel Me is a book filled with amusing plots that explores different ideas of reality in a fictional story. It narrates a story of a girl with a romance tale, a girl who faces conflicts, and a girl with a very special gift. Her name is Juliette. She possess a power like no other at the tip of her fingers. In a split second, her clenched fist can create an abyss and send the world trembling. But all that is just another reason why she is closed up from everyone else. It is in her least interest to hurt anyone. It seems to her that this power just hunts her and that it’s just another mishap in her life. The only good it has done is Adam, the one that sends her heart beating a skip too fast. This lethal power brought the two together but coincidentally it has created a trap there too.

The mood of the book is moderately dark and dejected, and dystopia may not be the most favored genre for certain people but the experience of reading this book is everything except that. Mafi makes the readers wonder how she has the power to develop such passionate feelings for this fictional story. She leaves the readers in wonderment and one of the main ways that she does that is through her descriptive words. Mafi’s descriptions are not just describing, they are another way to engross the readers and illustrate the perfect picture. She uses metaphors, personifications, the five senses and more when she is describing.  

Throughout the book, Mafi presents unpredictable new situations but the storyline is solid and the composition is very unique. One of those unique qualities being striking through words in the book. Unravel Me is sort of like Juliette's diary, everything is stated but certain words or sentences are crossed out with a thin line. These strikes serve a purpose in showing the readers how Juliette feels but doesn’t want to mention or admit those crossed out words to herself. Mafi also separates the book into many small chapters to keep the readers going. She writes in first person point of view to share the thoughts going on in Juliette, the main character’s mind. She utilizes vivid sensory language to send chills down your spine and make you feel. The structure of this book is an integration of all these techniques.  

A major principle of this book lies in learning how to cope with obstacles. All throughout the book Juliette is facing some type of problem, either its the feeling of loneliness, the fear of hurting someone or loving someone. Each of these internal and external conflicts help her progress and learn about herself. She transforms from a shy, antisocial teenager to a brave, confident young lady. These points in transformation are points where she decides to try out something different. As the reader, these points are very clear because of the contrast between her action and her personality. Mafi does a great job emphasizing these parts as well.    

Shatter Me and Unravel Me are the first two novels in a trilogy about Juliette. This series by Tahereh Mafi is a New York Times and a USA Today bestselling series. Mafi wrote in the back of her book, “when unable to find a book, she can be found reading candy wrappers, coupons, and old receipts.” That maybe a source or inspiration to her creative writing.    

Overall, the book is amazing. There are so many things that happened in the book you just have to read it and experience it. Discover love, hate, and power all in one and see Juliette’s journey throughout the book. Unravel Me is made up of seventy three chapters and each of those seventy three chapters serve a purpose in enhancing the storyline by giving the readers a better understanding of what’s going on. Anyone would enjoy it. But specifically people who enjoy romance stories and supernatural characters, so if you’re one of those people, go check it out!  


Title: Unravel Me

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Date of publication: 2/5/13

Number of pages: 461

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance


Creative Part:

  • The found poem, Juliette, touches the different points the author and the narrator presents in the book in a few simple phrases extracted from the book. Juliette outlines the book, it mentions the main character/ the narrator, Juliette’s supernatural power, her feelings throughout the book and her love story.   

Found Poem:

Juliette

My blood, a million degrees below zero

The earth fissures under my fingers

I have the power … to destroy everything.  

So, says society, I am a monster

I’m buried 50 feet underground

Everyday, I stare at these 4 walls

I'm never quite certain whether or not I'm actually alive.

My skin and bones craving warm affection.

“Juliette,” he says

he mouths the name,

barely speaking

he’s pouring molten lava into my limbs

Never knew I could melt straight to death.

2

4

6 seconds

The air is still.

My skin is scared.

“It’s never been a secret. I want you,” he whispers and letter by letter he presses the words into my skin.


Sources:

Unravel Me, Tahereh Mafi
Background music for creative piece from Lana Del Rey
https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/file/d/0B0tTpyV_DnpvU1NiUllhM2k5NE0/edit

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