90/100 (288 pages)

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I was really excited to read this book. I really thought I would love it. But I didn't. And once I saw the overall rating of this book a couple of minutes ago, I thought maybe something was wrong with me. But I was buoyed by some of the reviews that felt the same way that I did.

The premise of the story is that a high school girl, Hannah, kills herself, and then sends tapes to 13 people, explaining each of 13 reasons (that each of these people were involved in) why she decided to commit suicide. I really liked the idea, but I thought the execution fell flat. The main character, Clay, is the one who currently has the tapes. He often says, "How can so many bad things happen to one person?" I tend to feel the same way. Enough already. I have full respect for suicide, and I truly feel for people who feel like that is their only option. But because your name was on the list of "hottest freshmen asses" does not seem like the first reason you would decide to kill yourself. I felt like most of the reasons were pretty trivial, and not enough time spent really understanding the pain that Hannah was going through. Instead, it was like she could merely blame other people for making her feel hopeless. I found that really disappointing and like it really wasn't giving off the right message.

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