Thirteen Reasons Why Review

TITLE Thirteen Reasons Why
AUTHOR Jay Asher
PAGES 167 (ePub edition)
PUBLISHED October 18th 2007 by Razorbill
READ April 10 - 11, 2012
BUY IT Amazon / Kobo / Chapters.Indigo

SYNOPSIS 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

"In the end, everything matters."

 

School is supposed to be a safe place for kids to go, a place where they can be themselves and better themselves.  But high school is anything but a safe-haven, high school is scary, high school is mean, high school is a bully. Thirteen Reasons why is the story of the events that led up to high school junior Hannah Baker taking her life.  Hannah didn't feel like she could be herself anywhere she went, school was cruel to her and her sense of well-being at home was compromised by a creepy fellow student.  Even her own thoughts were put out in the open without her approval and ridiculed relentlessly right in front of her.

Jay Asher presented a very unique writing style with this novel.  We get the narrative of Hannah through the tapes, but we experience it as Clay Jensen, one of the reasons on Hannah's list.  This style worked so well, it flowed perfectly and both perspectives were excellently written.  I felt terrible for Hannah, I read a lot of people who wrote that Hannah's reason's weren't good enough and at that I laugh.  Everyone handles situations differently and I feel for a junior just entering high school she went through way too much. I also  felt a connection to Clay, even though he didn't exactly fit on the list with all the others he played a pretty significant part in Hannah's story.  I believed the roller coaster of emotions he went on while listening to her tapes and I empathised with his reactions.  There are a lot of characters weaved into this story (a bakers dozen to be exact) and they all fit so well.  I hated most of them, as they all came across as pretty damn selfish, but that was the point right?

This is an important story that has a great meaning.  This story is about stepping back and realising how our actions affect those around us (in high school that never happens, it's a very self absorbed place.) It's also about seeing those around us, and really seeing them, paying attention to their emotions and caring enough to show it.  For me, a very significant part of Thirteen Reasons Why was when the guy working at Rosie's diner gave Clay his milkshake for free.  He saw someone having a hard time, he knew Clay was going through something heavy and he wanted to help out in any way he could, no matter how small the motion was. He wanted to let Clay know that someone cared, there are so many people in this book who should have done just that, showed that they gave a damn.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is a touching story that I will definitely be recommending to anyone looking for an alluring read.