13 Reasons Why
by Jay Asher
Sophie (Grade 9)
5/5
13 Reasons Why is about Hannah Baker, who commits suicide and leaves cassette tapes for a few of her classmates about why and how she decided to commit suicide. The story is told from the perspective of one of Hannah's classmates named Clay Jensen, who receives the tapes on his doorstep one afternoon after school. The whole night, Clay listens to these tapes and discovers all the events that led up to Hannah's death, changing his life forever.
I found this book very intriguing because before reading this book, I never really thought about the perspective of a person who commits suicide. This novel opened my eyes to how one little action can impact another person. This book is one that you get completely absorbed into, and you don't realize what's going on around you, which I find pretty rare when reading novels for teens.
I like that the author decided to use cassette tapes to tell Hannah's story because I've never seen that before in a book. It was one of the more unique parts of this novel that I enjoyed.
The story itself is haunting. When I was reading it, I would get this kind of hollow feeling in my stomach. As I said, I didn't know a lot about suicide, so it made me think of how it was hard reading the thoughts of a dead girl and what she had to go through while she was alive. But even though some of the events felt or seemed a little bit trivial for what she did, I agree with the way Hannah puts it; The Snowball Effect. Problems start piling upon you, and you feel like you have no control over your life anymore.
I recommend this book for teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18. This book deals with problems that teens can relate to, like the difficulties of being in high school. It also has a bit of swearing, so it's not suitable for younger audiences, especially with its mature themes. Even though this book was hard to read, I still feel like every teenager should read it. It changes your perspective of your life and other people's lives, and the decisions you make that can impact them.
Happy reading!