Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why
By Jay Asher

Published by Razorbill October 18, 2007

Summary:
Clay Jensen, along with 12 of his classmates, is horrified to find that he is the recipient of a set of cassette tapes made by Hannah Baker - who committed suicide recently. In those tapes, Hannah details the stories behind events and people which contributed to her eventual death. As Clay listens to the eerie sound of Hannah's voice, he is shocked to realize the secrets hidden in his high school.

My Review:
This book was unlike any I had read before. I was thoroughly creeped out by what Hannah did in telling everyone how they contributed to her suicide. Hannah sucks the reader in and really doesn't let go until her story is told in its entirety - I almost began to wonder what I had done because I received the tapes! It was hard reading how Hannah's downfall snowballed and she didn't know how to get help. Her tapes were full of impact, strength and wit that it was difficult to imagine that she was plotting all of this while in that despair.

WARNING: While I enjoyed this book and its perspective, I would hesitate to recommend it to some young adults. There are many concepts to be learned from Hannah's story such as how we act towards others makes an impact on them positively or negatively, forgiveness, the effect of gossip, etc. I feel that many young adult readers would see this as glorifying suicide and making it an acceptable end by blaming it on other people. Clay makes many references that it was Hannah's choice to be offended, her choice to not get help, and her choice to not reach out when she had the chance, but I would be afraid that young adults wouldn't agree with Clay.