Thirteen Reasons Why

As of 2017, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Every year, almost 45,000 people commit suicide, and annually, suicide costs the US about $51 billion. But, aside from all the statistics, aside from the money aspect, those 45,000 victims, are people, with families, friends and lives, and that’s what people seem to forget.Attempting to understand how devastating a suicide can be, without actually experiencing one, can be hard, but, readers are in luck because, there is a new book and movie series (on Netflix) called Thirteen Reasons Why, a true story of Hannah Baker a young girl who killed herself in the early 90’s. Now… this may seem like just another documentary or sci-fi book about someone’s suicide story, but it goes far deeper than that. Within the true story of Hannah Baker, comes a mystery, and an ending of despair and jail time. The book is a cross between what life is like for friends and family of Hannah, after her death, and in a stranger series of events, somehow, Hannah left a collection of tapes filmed by herself, expressing why she killed herself and whose fault it is. But, the story gets even more twisted, within all the tapes Hannah created, are secrets, dark tragic secrets that happened to her a month before she killed herself. These secrets incriminate her own friends, family, and even, the love of her life, Clay Jensen. “You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life. Everything. . . affects everything.” ― Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why (GoodReads) .My personal opinion on the book and movie Thirteen Reasons Why (because I’ve read & seen both) is that I think the main idea of the story is very powerful. Suicide is not something people can choose to ignore until someone close to them does it, suicide needs to be something everyone thinks about & is cautious about. Becoming a victim, or a grieving friend or family member can happen to anybody in such a short amount of time, and everybody needs to know it isn’t a joke! People really do kill themselves everyday, and people really do go to jail for intentionally or unintentionally causing someone to kill themselves. I believe my opinion of this book compared to other critics is very similar in the fact that almost everyone who has read this book, or heard Hannah Baker’s story, agrees that this needs to be published for everyone to see so that maybe the world can start to grasp the fact that suicide is not a joke. How many more victims does 2017, 18, or so on, need to take for the world to realize bullying, suicide, depression, etc is no joke! It deserves recognition, and suicide should be a real prosecutable crime. I know this to be true because, Common Sense Media says the same, “There are positive messages here about the importance of treating people with kindness -- and about the price of inaction -- that parents and teachers may want to help teen readers think and talk about” (CommonSenseMedia) . In addition, I feel the writer’s style in this book, is very metaphorical. I feel it has to be written this way because Hannah is already gone… so it can not be in present time or even a biography of her life. The author also incorporated the use of, foreshadowing, by including many recurring elements in Hannah’s story, illusions, imagery, and parallelism by showing the parallels Clay, Hannah’s boyfriend finds between him and Hannah.I would recommend this book to anyone in highschool, whether girl or boy, and I’d recommend this book to any parent who has a teenager that is struggling with depression, or not fitting in, or feeling like an outcast. This book contains a lot of good coping mechanisms, and teaches its readers how to look for the red warning signs of someone who is suicidal. Hopefully, with this book and the new series on Netflix becoming more and more popular, more people will realize that suicide is serious and it could just take five seconds out of your day, saying hi to someone, to save someone and make them smile & feel accepted. This book I feel, was intended to appeal to high schoolers, which I feel it achieved because even personally, right after the book & movie released, I saw it all over my Twitter timeline. Thirteen Reasons Why was all my highschool friends could talk about, so I decided to give it a try. This book appeals to high school students because it deals with Hannah Baker, a young American girl in highschool, dealing with drama, depression, bullying, and every other unfortunately, normal aspect of high school. This helps appeal to teenagers all over the US because it reminds them that they are not alone, although what happened to Hannah was very tragic, her story is incredibly inspiring because it gives hope to many other teens going through the same thing that they aren’t alone in this battle. Although Hannah lost to her depression, it is an important lesson to others that they too, don’t have to take their lives because of depression and bullying. The reasons for conflict to rise in this book is because, her family, friends & boyfriend are dealing with the pain of losing Hannah, when suddenly, these tapes, with Hannah Baker talking on them, start circulating around…but only to selective people who were one of the reasons Hannah killed herself. So, with that being said, whoever got the tapes, knew they were one of the causes to Hannah’s death. It caused anxiety, fear of going to jail, and sadness through the characters, book and projects those feelings to the reader as well. To me, one of the most important quotes in this book is, “I wrote a note to Mrs. Bradley that read: "Suicide. It's something I've been thinking about. Not too seriously, but I have been thinking about it" (9.201) . I feel this quote is very important because it shows that Hannah tried to reach out to her teacher by writing her a note, but her teacher unfortunately didn’t take the note seriously enough because a week later Hannah was gone. This is an important yet tragic lesson in this book that suicide is something you need to act fast on, if someone is giving a cry out for help, please don’t ignore that cry for help, help them, listen to them, hug them, maybe if her teacher had done that she wouldn’t be gone today. But, like many others, Hannah is now an important story in our history, of how hard it can be to be a teenager. I urge anyone and everyone to read this book and hear Hannah’s story because then maybe we can reduce those 45,000 victims that 2018 will claim, to zero.

I first encountered California author Jay Asher’s book in the college classroom; we were assigned the novel as mandatory reading as part of the Contemporary Young Adult Fiction curriculum I signed up for. Out of all the books I read that semester, from the utterly forgettable Weetzie Bat (what?) by Francesca Lia Block to the strange gay romance Boy Meets Boy by David Leviathan (my only foray into the emerging field of homosexual literature), 13 Reasons Why struck me the deepest, as an emotional rollercoaster of a story. Memorable, haunting, and a serious antidote to the above mentioned silly titles, this book takes its subject matter—the terrible phenomena of teenage suicide—and spins a whirlwind tale on steroids that rivals the best work of other popular YA writers working today.And how the plot unfolds (a coming of age/mystery/problem novel) and the props used (archaic cassette tapes, of all things) creates a unique, spellbinding teen thriller that will make you sit on edge. As an aside, Netflix is currently adapting the novel as a twisting, turning TV series much like Under the Dome and 11/22/63 were, Stephen King’s recent epic prose dramas. (I’m neither recommending these two stories nor condemning them; that’s your choice).The story may not be epic in length at only 300 pages, but I nevertheless believe in the possibility of treatment as a big studio film or miniseries material. Fantastic—if it’s done right. And if it’s done with style and taste. 13RW concerns everyday teen, Clay Jenson, forwarding a package at the post office as the story opens. No return address. It contains 12 cassette tapes (what people listened to back in the 1970s and 80s before the advent of compact disks) or what is loathingly referred to as “Baker’s Dozen”—student Hannah Baker’s last will and testament, so to speak, or her final words to everyone who played a role (the 13 reasons why) in her decision to take her own life. Clay discovers his part as he traverses the town in a cruel treasure hunt, learning all the while what a tangled web this seemingly innocent girl has woven. Everyone’s a suspect. And the small town values of Crestmont are only a shallow veneer for all the ugliness and hate lurking within.Now, I’ve read books and wrote papers on other books similar to this one—most notably Needful Things by Stephen King. So the story attracted me in the sense of This American Town’s Got a Lot of Huge Damaging Secrets very much like the King thrillers mentioned before and above. The twist on this one is that teenagers are involved. A whole new set of variables.So it’s explosive, attractive, and a super cool premise … but is 13RW good literature? Well that’s a matter of opinion and taste. While the book is very much toned down from the violent and disturbing content of King’s books—Asher’s novel does feature a rather blatant rape scene (similar to the one at the end of Anderson’s teen novel Speak) and suicide as its main overarching theme. The novel does NOT feature many coarse four-letter words, or any gore at all. Good bonus points for kids—like I was—who don’t want or couldn’t handle them, though I endured gratuitous content for years for the sake of great story concepts, in print and in film. I probably shouldn’t have.So the book does not go too far in those regards, though I’m sure some readers will agree that the subject matter is dense for young people and more adult-oriented, albeit gently woven I to the fabric of the story.Is the book well-written? (I.e. written in the manner of somebody like Robert R. McCammon, Dean Koontz, Matthew Stover, Richard Paul Evans, or a host of other authors who can write a good lyrical sentence in iconoclastic style, and leave us wanting more. Well … I have a few thoughts.One of my friends who works as a therapist balked when I told her I liked Jay Asher’s 13RW. We talked about the book which we’d both just finished reading, ironically almost at the same time. This was probably six months ago when I ran into her out on the town. She very plainly said that she “couldn’t stand” the subject of teen suicide being marketed to teens for enjoyment—especially since she had a teenage son at home who still loves to read and reads widely. She said she would not let him sample the book for that reason and one other: the awkward rape scene near the end. Granted, I told her, the episode is brief, and no clinical or explicit language is present. “Still,” she said, “It’s a tough scene and a tough read.”A final stipulation against liking the novel, she said, is the reading level. “Let’s face it, an elementary schooler could read this.” So I said it had mass audience appeal. No, no, she retorted, “Look.” The sentences are clumsily written, many are short declarative bursts, and there’s almost a sing song cadence about some of the passages. I flipped through the book and realized she had a point. The language is oversimplified, though it contains no grammatical errors that I can catch. The “plain style” front and center.In other words, the whole phenomenon of 13RW is nowhere near perfect, or even superbly done. It has flaws, maybe numerous ones which even I have not touched on. Like cassette tapes dating the novel to the 1990s, or further back to the 70s. Why not CDs? Why not a playlist?For the record, Jay Asher was inspired by the show My So-called Life, and the soundtrack, which he listened to while writing.BUT, nevertheless, I loved the IDEA of it all—the small town, the treasure trove, the labyrinthine mystery and hunt for answers—and am continually mesmerized how this little concept caught on. Perhaps as with bestsellers these days, the premise is bigger than the execution. 13 Reasons Why is not for everyone. Dark and eerie in parts … clever, lush, and suspenseful in others, good or bad, the book was a #1 New York Times Bestseller, and translated in over 30 languages, catapulting an unknown author into the limelight.Would if we unsung struggling writers could be so lucky.

No doubt Netflix launched a TV series based on this awesome book. A fast paced, well written book that can hook you for hours.So here's the story in short. Hannah Baker commited suicide but before doing so she left seven tapes which contains her history or I'll say it contains 13 Reasons Why she killed herself.This book is so close to the reality I hardly realized it is a fiction. But truly how we treat others definitely affect their lives. It'll also give some lesson to the reader.If you are watching the series but didn't read the book I'd suggest you should read it. Not every day someone write something like this.And about the book quality, it'll worth your money.

I was very keen to read "Thirteen Reasons Why" after absolutely loving the Netflix series. With such an intriguing, unique & dark story line, no wonder it has been such a massive hit. I found that the story of the book moved at a much faster pace than I had been expecting, and didn't delve quite so far into the dark & morbid themes that it's TV counterpart did. I know I shouldn't draw comparisons & should just review the book for the literary piece it is, but as I had watched the show prior to reading the book, it was almost impossible for me to not constantly draw comparisons between the two. At times I did find myself preferring the show as it was able to afford a lot of time & attention to particular parts of the story that I felt the book covered over quickly.I would say this book is aimed more at a a YA audience than adult. I did at times get muddled between Clay's narration & Hannah's, but this wasn't a major issue. Glad I read the book, but I wish I had read it before watching the show. That way I could have fallen in love with the book first, then appreciated the show for it's adaption opposed to the other way around. Nevertheless, still a good read with such an individual story highlighting the importance of discussion around a traditionally taboo topic.

At the midway point I was in two minds about the book because the narration from Hannah is very angry and to me that doesn’t fit with someone who is suicidal however it really works as a plot device. Without her anger she wouldn’t have made the tapes to point out how people’s actions added to her situation and so we wouldn’t have the story that we do. At this point I was really interested in how the book was exploring the ways in which seemingly innocuous , teenage jokes and taunts and rumours can snowball into making someones life a misery.Here is a quote that I highlighted that really summed up the book for me:“No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people.”At the end I debated whether this was a 3 or 4 star book for me. The reason that I was thinking 3 star is that the ending feels too soon. I wondered at the end whether it was being set up for a sequel as we don’t explore the reactions of the other students which means that they are almost cast as binary characters - by which I mean we have either good or evil, only Clay and Hannah are painted with the shade of grey but all the other characters are pretty much considered evil and that detracts from the nuance of teenage life.What brought it back up to a 4 star is that what happened to Hannah is described multiple times in the book as a snowball effect. No one thing that happened to her led to her taking her life and so whilst there were some more serious things that happened, most of them were not horrendous on their own but all added together to create a situation in which she felt she had lost all control. The second reason is that as Clay is following the story on Hannah’s tapes he is supported by various characters who recognise that something isn’t right and that he is upset by something. His mum is supportive and concerned, the man in the diner offers him a milkshake on the house because something is clearly wrong and a school friend sits with him whilst he cries and talks about his feelings - all things that may have helped Hannah if she had received the same kindness. I’ve not seen that mentioned in other reviews but it really stood out to me.Something I have seen in other reviews is that the depiction of mental health is harmful and that it draws the victim as vindictive but as I mention before I don’t think we would have as good a book without Hannah’s anger. If she read in a more authentic voice then the whole scenario wouldn’t have happened and we wouldn’t have this exploration of how little acts can have a big impact on someones life. This is also aimed at teenagers so it needs to read in a more engaging way which I don’t think it would do in a sadder voice. The lesson from this story is important and the more people that read it the better really.

This book supposedly is about mental health when in reality, it's just glorification of suicide.It follows this girl, Hannah who commits suicide on the basis of "thirteen reasons" which are co related to each other and thinks that it's justified to make tapes regarding said reasons.1. The person listed in the tape would go down this guilt trip which will alter THEIR mental health.2. The reasons, alone, were really small things that people wouldn't really have noticed.3. Putting blame on teenagers for these reasons could actually provide as a really big reason for them.Even though this book is dealing with "depression", the actual word wasn't once mentioned in the book. Not once.Moreover, it didn't make sense that a person who's mentally exhausted and numb to things around would ploy this mastermind to have these tapes delivered to the people AND to make sure that they listened to it. Sounds something like revenge, doesn't it?

I cannot fault this book. I read the book within 24hrs - it only took that long because I was forced to put it down!That a museum audio tour led to this format can be recognised as you read, it feels familiar and nostalgic. The format also dictates the pace of the book. It feels unstoppable when needed and it builds suspense when it was right too. It felt as though we were experiencing the tapes along with Clay in real time. The format also feels respectful of the subject matter. It's private, internal, special and just that little bit out of touch.Hannah's words are realistically teenage but they're also insightful and mature. Clay's innocence and kindness sit perfectly next to his discomfort, embarrassment and inability to verbalise his experience. It's authentic in that respect.Each reason to Hannah were linked by the snowball effect. It took her some time to put it together, to see the links and patterns but once she had they just kept on coming, burying her, freezing her. To those around her they were single incidents, meaningless occurrences that are part of life and growing up. They were secrets that no one knew she was a part of and they were events that those involved viewed very differently because they just didn't know each other well enough to see the other person's pain. There are a devastating number of close calls, near misses and wasted opportunities as there so often are in suicides. It's heartbreaking to hear Hannah's truth but it's necessary and powerful.I cannot wait to start the Netflix series. It won't be as good as the book, obviously but I can't let go of Hannah just yet. I need a second chance.