Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Publisher: Penguin
Goodreads Summary: You can’t stop the future.
You can’t rewind the past.
The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.
Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why.
Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah’s pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Review: Hannah Baker is a dead girl. But her ghost remains in the form of thirteen tapes discussing why she killed herself. Clay Jensen finds this mysterious package left for him, a shoebox with seven tapes. Confused, he starts listening to tape one, side a...
Clay's night out isn't easy, and he must summon the courage to keep listening to the tapes recorded by a dead girl he loved. He visits the sports on Hannah's map, remembering many of the events that happened at those places especially after Hannah recounts them. Tape by tape, it gets more and more intense. Things escalate and we get close to Hannah's death, and exactly why it happened.
There are so many layers to the story and nothing is as simple as it seems. Many interwoven storylines piece together the novel as well as characters who play more than one part in this complex tale. Each person may have one main act, but smaller things also are part of it. Without these layers the story would be nowhere near as good.
Hannah may not actually feature in this book as a live character, but she is a huge part of the book and I like how well Jay Asher has animated her stereo voice, which, combined with Clay's thoughts completes this dual-perspective which occurs at the same time. Thirteen Reasons Why is sensitive and won't appeal to all, but if you're feeling brave you should give it a go.
Purchase Location: Birthday Gift
Edition: Paperback
Buy the book: Book Depository
Recommended for: Fans of teen stories.
