Center Stage is a monthly feature hosted by Ginger-Read Reviews, in which we highlight a character from the books we've read in the past month.
July 2013 Center Stage Character:
Warner from the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi
I love participating in this meme because it gives me the chance to write as much about a character as I want. With reviews, I feel the need to rein in the character discussions somewhat in order to talk about the book as a whole. I think Warner is a character who would agree with me that a single paragraph devoted to him is nowhere near sufficient.
This guy . . . . Where to start?! From the moment he showed up in Shatter Me, he commandeered my brain, messed with it repeatedly (and he's probably not done yet, either), and refuses to be dislodged from it. Seriously, I haven't been able to stop thinking about him since I finished Unravel Me a few days ago.
This isn't even a love-hate type of situation here. I am utterly fascinated by Warner's character. Every time Juliette and I believe we might have made a sliver of progress figuring him out, he does something unexpected. That may be putting it mildly.
My cousin Melissa had been nagging me to death to read this series. Now that I'm up to date, she has accused me of loving Warner just to spite her because she'd told me before I started Shatter Me that there was nothing to like about Warner in that book. I beg to differ. Melissa's opinion of him has changed since reading Destroy Me and Unravel Me, but she continues to think that I love Warner because she said I wouldn't. Again, I beg to differ. As my cousin, Melissa should know that I am not normal. I laugh at things in books that no one else would find funny. I hate books everyone else loves. I love characters everyone else hates. So, really, it comes as zero surprise that I love Warner. He and I totally have this in common:
"I have an extremely low threshold for disorder; it offends my very being." — Destroy Me, Chapter 2
And here are a few more of my favorite Warner quotes, just because:
"At least I'm honest about being a liar." — Shatter Me, Chapter 14
"Love is a heartless bastard." — Destroy Me, Chapter 21
"My loyalties lie with those who know how to live." — Unravel Me, Chapter 54
I just started reading this series..I am enjoying it though I really hated Warner in Book 1..just started Book 2..and I am curious to see what redeems him in this book!
ReplyDeleteI tend to go for the bad boys, so I loved Warner from the start, lol. My cousin couldn't stand him in Shatter Me, but Unravel Me totally changed her mind. Can't wait to see what you think of the book (and Warner) once you've read it!
DeleteI am about half way done with Unravel Me and I am starting to get it..he is really damaged and complex..I felt sorry for him several times and the moment with the dog made me sympathize with him. Still I think of all the male characters I like Kenji the most though I totally don't ship them together..I really think he would be bad for Juliette but I like him the best. I could see Warner being a good match because they are both so damaged! I tend to like the dark/complex characters best as well! I think they are much more interesting..and Adam is pretty bland to me..mopes to much!
DeleteI love Kenji! He's hilarious! I don't ship him and Juliette, though, either. To me, he's become the voice of reason in Unravel Me, repeatedly telling Juliette and Adam to both snap out of their moping, lol.
DeleteWhile reading Destroy Me and Unravel Me, I realized how much Warner believes that Juliette is the only person who could understand him, especially because of the way her parents treated her and his father treated him. I highly recommend reading the Destroy Me novella- it's in Warner's POV. :)
I am definitely going to pick it up and I plan to do a mini-review of Shatter Me, Unravel Me and Destroy Me all together..because I really am enjoying this series...it is really well written, love the prose style..though weirdly I think Unravel Me is a better book than Shatter Me!
DeleteOh my gosh!!! I love love LOVE Warner!! Makes me happy that you like him too! :) I always tend to go for the bad boys too in books I have no idea why, I just do. I believe that you are definitely not alone in how you feel about him. It is not weird at all! For me, I had a love/hate relationship with him in Shatter Me, but after I started reading Unravel Me, I couldn't stop thinking about him! Even before he was even mentioned in the book, I wanted him to be there. I was beyond thrilled when Juliette saw him that one day at the compounds. I seriously loved learning so much about him in Unravel Me. Like you said, once you think you have figured him out, he surprises you. So yes, I'm confused about him, but I love him regardless & I'm so glad that Juliette is starting to feel the same way too. :)
ReplyDeleteI knew that I should have despised him in Shatter Me, but I just couldn't. I loved that he was deranged! Destroy Me showed a totally different side to his character, which I also loved. I was kind of impatient with the beginning of Unravel Me because all I could think was, "Where's Warner?!" When Juliette sees him at the compounds- such a pivotal moment, and one of my favorites in the series.
DeleteI'm still P.O.'d that our library lost their copy of Shatter Me!
ReplyDeleteThat's awful! I hope they get another one, because it's so worth reading. I've noticed that my library's online catalog will sometimes say that it doesn't have a book at my local branch, yet a copy will be there on the shelves. Go figure.
DeleteYou can also try digital libraries if you have a nook or kindle. I use one that several libraries use & many times it has books that my library doesn't have a hard copy of!
DeleteI love Warner!! I never liked Adam, so while reading Shatter Me I kept trying to rationalize what Warner did so I could like him completely instead xD Good thing I don't have to keep doing that lol.
ReplyDeleteHaha! I've seen a lot of readers say how much they hated Warner in Shatter Me only to change their opinion after Unravel Me. But we loved him from the beginning! ;)
DeleteOh man, I have heard SO much debate about Warner, people seem to adore him or loathe the very fiber of his being haha. He sounds like a super divisive character which is always fun/intense. I finally bit the bullet and got myself an ebook copy of book 1 a while back - I'm wondering what side of the fence I'll end up on with him ;D
ReplyDeleteI'll be waiting to hear what you think of him, hehe! I thought that the strikeouts in the text would bother me, but they didn't at all; in fact, they made the prose really unique, and it's quite a powerful effect.
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