Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why

Author: Jay Asher
Publisher: Razorbill
Release: October 18th 2007

Format: Finished Copy 

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker—his classmate and crush—who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list.

Through Hannah and Clay’s dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

Readers weren't lying when they said that this book can really make a person feel. The thing is, I'm not sure if I enjoyed what I was feeling. The new silver paperback cover and intense publicity intrigued me enough to pick up Jay Asher's award winning novel. My track record shows that raw/emotional reads are a hit or miss with me. Depressingly, no pun intended, this leaned more on the miss spectrum. 

Clay receives a box of tapes recorded by Hannah, a girl who has just recently took her own life. These are the two protagonists. In these tapes, Hannah explains to Clay the thirteen reasons that caused her to commit suicide. The dual narrative is definitely something interesting, but maybe because of it, I never found myself completely connected to either of the two. Clay would "press play," Hannah would talk, then Clay would give his reaction. Throughout the whole book I felt underwhelmed. Because the eeriness and suspense wasn't potent enough, the narration of both Clay and Hannah became a bit monotonous.

After finishing Thirteen Reasons Why, I took a look at Hannah Moskowitz's review of it. Even though I don't see eye to eye with everything she said, I agree completely with her on one thing. Suicidal tendencies is a result from a disease of the mind. Jay Asher made the fault of Hannah's suicide seem like a direct fault of her peers. Every teen faces harsh rumors and unfair treatment, especially the things that Hannah explains she goes through. There isn't thirteen reasons why she killed herself. There is only one, and I don't need to spell it out. Long story short, I don't quite agree with how this story was directed.

I do wish that I could jump on the congested train of fans, but I just can't. I had a hard time getting through this one. I couldn't be emotionally moved enough to enjoy such raw subject matter.