Review: 13 Reasons Why

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why
Author: Jay Asher
Pages: 288
Genre: Contemporary Realism
Source: Library
Rating: 4.5 stars (I'd buy this book coffee)




Goodreads Summary: Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.

Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

This was an exceptionally hard-hitting book, and I felt like it was glued to my hand.  I was skeptical about agreeing with the overall message, because for the first half of the book it seemed like Hannah was blaming her suicide wholly on other people.  In the end, I was left feeling like the author was saying that suicide is often the fault of many people in tiny doses.  We don't know how the small things we do will affect people, which is why we should be careful how we treat them.  At the same time, in the end it was Hannah's choice to give up.


 I found the unique formating of this book to work exceptionally well.  Hannah narrates most of the story through cassette tapes, though she is actually deceased when the second narrator (Clay) begins listening. As far as characterization, Hannah was very well developed, believable, and likable for the most part.  I did find the fact that she barely reached out for help at all a bit hard to understand.  She never even tried to talk to her parents.  Clay was a good choice for narrator number two, because he is really who we experience the story through, and any of the other people on the list would have been too revolting.  That said, I wished we got a little more personality from Clay.  As Hannah said, he was just nice.


Did I think this was an accurate portrayal of a suicidal teen?  Each circumstance is likely so different that it's hard to say if this was realistic.  For some, maybe.  I usually associate suicide with deep depression, and Hannah's voice on the tapes was so mocking and at times falsely cheery that I couldn't really picture her that way.  I do think the author understood that it is often a slow boil of issues that lead to this kind of pain, and not one event.


This book has many "Red Flags", otherwise known as potentially offensive material for sensitive readers.  I can't really list them without giving away plot, but just ask yourself what the topic is of this book and what could cause someone to consider it.


A quote that I think really sums this book's message up well: "I guess that's the point of it all.  No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people." (156)