Book: 13 Reasons Why (2007)
Author: Jay Asher
Amazon Link: Here
13 Reasons
Why Book Review
An hour ago, I finished Thirteen Reasons Why, a book written
by Jay Asher. I first came across this book years ago when I saw a fan trailer
for it on YouTube. This book has been a book I’ve wanted to read ever since. I
finally got around to it yesterday.
I really want to keep this review as less spoilery as possible but I’m not sure
how my thoughts about this are going to come across. A little background
knowledge about this book, it was published in 2007, movie rights were sold in
2011 with a possible Selena Gomez (NO)
playing Hannah Baker and my copy is 288 pages. So it’s really not a long read.
The book is about a guy called Clay Jensen who receives a
package on his front door that contains a bunch of tapes. On those tapes, a
girl named Hannah Baker has recorded the thirteen reasons why she decided to
kill herself. The tapes get sent to the people mentioned on the tapes in
chronological order and then it is their job to send the tapes to the person
who comes after them on the tapes, if they don’t, the tapes will be shared with
everyone.
I’m going to be brutally honest about my feelings towards
this book, in the first third of the book, I thought the reasons all sounded
rather…petty. They weren’t nice but I don’t know I just wouldn’t have killed
myself over some of the reasons that Hannah gives. Yeah, if a random guy put
his hands on my ass without my say so – I’ve been to nightclubs often, I’ve
dealt with this – I wouldn’t be best pleased but I’m wondering if this was Jay
Asher’s intention. To start the book of with these minimal reasons to create
what both Asher and Hannah refer to in the book ‘The Snowball Effect’.
Hannah talks about how all these people and what they have
done or what they chose not to do has affected her in one way or another. She
also talks about what she didn’t do and how that affected her. The book to me
comes across with our main girl who is in desperate need for someone to save
her, to tell her they care and the last few chapters are just heart-breaking
because of this reasoning because she didn’t get it leading to her suicide.
The book is laid out so that it is told from Clay’s point of
view and throughout the book, he is questioning both Hannah and himself – why me? Why has Hannah included him on
the tapes? Clay listens to all the tapes as instructed and listens to how every
person mentioned has made an effect on Hannah. A girl he had a thing for in
High School but was always too scared to go for it.
Looking back on the book, it makes me want to read all of
their perspectives. I want to read the guy’s reaction who made the list that
started it all and how he feels now, I want to read how the girl who started
out being her friend now feels and I want to read how Hannah’s teacher now
feels knowing he didn’t help her enough. It’s eerie how it sits with you.
This is a book that I know I’m going to be thinking about for
days but it’s also a book that I don’t know if I’ll reread it. That’s a lie. I
know I will but it won’t be for a very long time. The book makes me question
how many of my actions have created a snowball effect. Now, I don’t know anyone
who has committed suicide – thankfully – but I also don’t know what I would do
if I was Clay. If someone around me was reaching out and I just didn’t know it.
This book is truly amazing in the sense that it does make you
question everything, the people around you and yourself. I highly recommend
this book to anyone. It’s a book you won’t forget.
I give it a 8/10 and recommend this to anyone and everyone!
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