Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is one of the saddest books I've read. Clay Jensen receives an anonymous package containing a set of tapes. When he plays them, he is shocked to hear the voice of Hannah Baker, who committed suicide two weeks earlier. The rules are simple; listen, and pass them on. Through the tapes, Hannah brings Clay on a journey all over town, telling him the thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay becomes a first-hand witness to the pain Hannah had suffered, and guilt tears him apart as he discovers the truth about the role he played in Hannah's life.

This book was incredibly sad and emotional, but it was just an amazing book. Each tape, or reason refers to a different person. Thirteen people in all, starting from the first who unknowingly started a chain of painful events, to the last who was Hannah's last hope to turn things around. It shows the huge effect a small, or big action can do to scar a person for life. It's like a snowball; it starts out small, but the problems get bigger and bigger as time goes on. It shows the huge effect of someone who didn't do anything, who was a bystander, and how maybe things could've been different.

The only problem I had was that it was hard to distinguish the things Hannah was saying on the tape, and what Clay himself was thinking as he listened. But that was due to how they printed it out. It's a touching story, and full of mystery and suspense. A clever way (tapes) to tell the story of the person who committed suicide.

My Rating: 9 out of 10 stars