Thirteen Reasons Why

Author: Jay Asher

Reviewers: Megzarooni & Brittknee 

Seven cassette tapes, thirteen stories, thirteen reasons why Hannah Baker committed suicide. Clay Jensen, Hannah's former classmate, arrives home from school one day to find a box on his front doorstep. The box is addressed to him, but bears no return address. Inside the box he discovers seven cassette tapes labeled with numbers 1-13 in what he assumes to be blue nail polish. He begins to listen to the mysterious tapes on a cassette player in his basement. He is shocked when Hannah Baker's voice crackles across the speakers. On the last day of her life, Hannah decided to send one more message: an explanation for her suicide. (Via Shelfari)

Megzarooni's review:

When I first read the description for Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why, I was drawn in by the mystery surrounding Hannah’s cassettes. What could have caused her to take her own life and why had she taped and sent the reason to Clay? These questions and the method of Hannah’s death are not easy to stomach, but I felt that Asher wrote about the topic of suicide in a way that made it easier to both read about and understand. I also really liked that Asher decided to have both Clay and Hannah narrate the novel. It was really interesting to see two sides of the same story through the retellings of these two characters.

   When Clay narrated I got to see the aftermath of Hannah’s decision, how it affected him, as well as how he’s trying to cope with her passing. Although I’m fortunate enough to have never been affected by someone close to me taking their own life, I still felt an emotional connection to Clay. He’s this nice relatable guy who just lost a person he cared for and now has to listen to her tell him why she did so. He feels rather helpless and wishes he could go back and change things, which is a feeling I'm all too familiar with.

    
    When Hannah narrated, through the cassettes, the novel took on a new meaning to me. It was no longer just about a girl who committed suicide, but this beautiful, intelligent and funny person who had been mistreated by a lot of people. I’m not saying that the thirteen stories on the cassettes justify her taking her own life, but they really opened my eyes to the irreparable damage one person can cause to another. In college I was taught about the snowball effect, which is pretty much what Hannah’s tapes represent. It explains how a tiny snowball might not cause much harm, but if you  add to that tiny snowball by rolling it down a hill it will eventually get so large and out of control that it causes terrible consequences.

     I truly believe that everyone should take the time to read Jay Asher’s novel because it’s made everyone I’ve talked to, who have also read the book, more self conscience about how they treat others and If more and more people become this way, it might just save a few lives.

5/5 Reasons to press play.

Brittknee's mini review: 

Thirteen Reasons why is a wonderful eye opening novel. This book was pulling your heartstrings, involving you into the emotions of the characters. Rage, love, compassion, depression, and just utter sadness. Suicide is a very serious issue, and this book didn't touch the subject lightly. I couldn't put this novel down for one second, I had to know what could cause such a beautiful young woman to commit suicide. This book made an awesome edition to my favorites, and It will be one to remember. It is highly recommended for all, with extreme caution. This book had my tears flowing, and my heart breaking.

5/5 Heartbreaking Cassette tapes