Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Also known as Th1rteen R3asons Why. This book has mature content.

Plot: Clay Jensen comes home from high school one day to find a mailed box of cassette tapes with no return address. When he starts listening to cassette number 1, side A, he realizes these tapes were recorded by Hannah Baker, his old crush, who had recently committed suicide. On these tapes, she says, are the stories of thirteen people, the reasons why she decided to quit this world. Clay is apparently one of the thirteen people, and he is forced to listen to all the tapes to find out what role he played in Hannah's death.

Comments: this was an amazing story. I read it all in one afternoon, but it took me hours. Here's what I recommend: find a day where you have nothing you need to do (a weekend?) and start reading this book sometime in the morning. Have snacks within reach, maybe a pillow or a blanket, and just read all the way through. The reason I strongly suggest reading this book all at once is because it's a rather difficult read. It's a great book with an important lesson, and I highly recommend it, but I have a feeling that if you read half the book and put it down, you wouldn't be able to bring yourself to pick it back up. As I said, it's a difficult read; it's not exactly an uplifting book. But if you read the entire story, you'll feel better by the end. Trust me; I was not in the best of moods throughout the book, but by the time I read the last words, I felt like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders; I felt enlightened.

This book is not meant as light-hearted reading, and I warn you that there is some adult content. There is some swearing, sexual content, and general details and concepts related to suicide. I do not recommend this for anyone younger than thirteen, or better, fourteen.

The way this story is written, you have extremely limited information about the characters. In fact, the most important characters, the thirteen reasons, are revealed one by one, so that new people are being introduced and described from Hannah's point of view (along with Clay's thoughts and memories) throughout the story. However, this doesn't restrict your image of the characters; I can easily imagine these people, these thirteen reasons, and the way Jay Asher describes them and portrays them through Hannah's eyes has the incredible effect of making you feel like you know the character, know them for what they really are. Though a lot of the traits of these characters are somewhat unfamiliar to me (the bad ones), I feel almost like I am Hannah Baker, and I think I understand why she killed herself. Though I never went through the things she did, and I don't know what those thirteen reasons are like, I almost understood why she gave up. This is part of the lesson, showing the readers how cruel people can be without realizing it, how a joke or a rumor can blow up into something that results in suicide.

The rest of the lesson I'll leave for you to find out. This book is written extremely well, but sometimes the story line was a little confusing. Hannah would be talking and Clay would reflect on a memory or think about something in between her words. It was hard to concentrate on two totally different things at the same time.

Rating: I rate this book an eight and a half out of ten. A must-read.