Thirteen Reasons Why is a book written by Jay Asher and it was released in 2007.
Thirteen Reasons Why is about a high-school girl who commits suicide, but before she dies, she records some cassette tapes. On those tapes are thirteen people, and each person is a reason why she committed suicide.
The book revolves around Clay Jensen, a boy who Hannah knew and wanted to date. Clay is one of those people on the tapes, and he is trying to figure out why. Throughout the book, Clay learns more about his classmates than he ever wanted to know.
This has to be one of my favorite books. It is relatable to teenagers today because so many teenagers have to deal with suicide in their community. Whether it is a friend, family member or just someone they knew, they have to deal with it. Even if it did not affect the person, they still know about it and know people who it did affect.
I also like how Asher addressed the problem that people do not know how much they can affect someone’s life. Some people on the tape did one little thing, said one little thing, and still affected Hannah’s life, eventually making her commit suicide.
It is so hard to say that I do not like something about the book, but there is this one thing. The way Asher lead up to Clay’s tape was misleading. She made it seem like he did a really bad thing that eventually put Hannah over the edge, but he did not. It made me think that Clay was this awful person, but he was not (And yes, I know they’re just characters in a book).
I would very much recommend this book. It was awesome and had a lot of interesting details that really made me think about the book. Thirteen Reasons Why is a great read, and is worth the time.
Review by Emma Walker