Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Why did I read it?
This book has been on my radar for a little while now so I
was excited when it also showed up on my required reading list for my Young
Adult Literature class.
What happened?
Clay finds a package with no return address on his doorstep,
and finds seven cassette tapes inside. After opening them up, he is shocked to
find Hannah’s voice coming from the tapes. You see, Hannah had killed herself
two weeks before, and she explained that if you were listening to the tapes,
you were somehow responsible for her death!
Thinking back over the summer working at the movie theatre,
and the one party where they finally spent some time together, Clay can’t
remember anything that would have hurt her. Even though he knows he doesn’t
belong on the tapes, Clay can’t help listening to Hannah as she slowly and painfully
gives the thirteen reasons that she kills herself.
What did I like or not like?
This book was really hard to put down. I knew I needed to
get it done quickly because there is going to be a lot of reading in this lit
class. But, once I started it, I had to figure out what happened next.
The book also has a very interesting perspective. Hannah
narrates the events leading to her death through the tapes, and Clay responds
in real time because he can’t help himself.
While Asher does a good job explaining that we can never
know how our small actions will negatively or positively affect others, he also
writes that Hannah ultimately chose to give up on herself.
P.S. This book has some sexual content, and some discussions
that lean that direction.
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