Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

**THE BOOK THAT STARTED IT ALL, NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES**

“Eerie, beautiful, and devastating.” —Chicago Tribune

“A stealthy hit with staying power. . . . thriller-like pacing.” —The New York Times

“Thirteen Reasons Why will leave you with chills long after you have finished reading.” —Amber Gibson, NPR’s “All Things Considered”

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.

Need to talk? Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) anytime if you are in the United States. It’s free and confidential.

Find more resources at 13reasonswhy.info.
 
Find out how you can help someone in crisis at bethe1to.com.

• ISBN10: 159514188X
• ISBN13: 9781595141880
• Publish Date: 14 June 2011 (first published 18 October 2007)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Razorbill
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781595141880

Reviews

[lessthelonely]

3/5 stars.

I don't believe I had never reviewed this book before. I remember first hearing about this book and RUSHING to get a Portuguese copy, only to find out it was out of print and had been like that for a long time. This then changed when the book became readily available again, because of the TV show release.

I am not going to be comparing this book to the TV show any more than this: I think the book works better than the show. The show, especially after season 1, lost track of the point of this book and the point of the plot. By making the story have more than Hannah's and Clay's point of view, they got a richer story, sure. But focus got lost. And the TV show definitely fumbled its own messaging in the process.

Moving on to the book itself - I read this in one sitting. Was it because this warranted it? I mean, this book is well written, I'll give it that, but truly I just wanted to have this book read and jump straight into the 1st season of the show. Reading it fast really skewed my view of this book and I remember there were things I only got when the TV show basically spelled it out for me. Though I take the blame, I also think the Portuguese translation definitely went for some good old-fashioned sugar coating.

Either way... This is one of those books that equates shock value with making a statement, sorry to say. Many kids read this and feel vindicated to know about Hannah Baker, someone who shows us just how wronged she was by her peers and because kids tend to have a harder time realizing the nuance in these things - the nuance being that Hannah Baker's tapes were not a cry for help but a plan for vengeance, thus the hating herself only fed into the hatred behind the tapes -, they might fail to see Hannah's own shortcomings, even beyond what she went through. This is probably why this book caused such a rage and fear of suicide glammorization, but the point has always been there. And the book is well-written enough to make its point shine through.

The thing is I can't really ignore the way this book is basically an adult book turned into a YA - an adult would read this and completely understand the point, but a kid who picks this book up as their first-ever autonomous read might be drawn away from the point by the flashy shock value. If you're a parent, check the trigger warnings for this book and hell, read it before giving it to your son or daughter. Not because the book is inherently harmful, but because these pieces of media are only as dangerous as much as you don't talk to your kids about these topics.

This book has a white male thriller author's favorite tropes. And I would say its way of painting things as wrong for the bare minimum before revelling in its own shock value is probably why I said this book should've been for, at least, new adults. Oh, and of course, it tries to take a more positive note towards the end, otherwise this definitely wouldn't have been published, in my opinion. Not as a YA, at least. For what it tried to achieve, it's decently well written and I will still defend, to this day, that this would've been 100% better as a movie.

If you're only interested in this book to see what the hype is about... Don't. There are better books to read.

[kymmiejournals]

The way the story has been told is superb. Sometimes, I just skip to the part where Hannah is telling her story rather than hearing the thoughts of Clay. The way the author mentioned about pills seems a less painful way to commit "suicide" than slicing the wrist by blade (as revised in the film adaptation) I love the story because it has so many emotions. It's dark but somehow enlightening as well.

[sug]

no matter how you look at it this was a really bad book and it's insulting that it was made into a tv series to be consumed by easily-manipulated suicidal teenagers

[Leah]

So I was going to write a full review of this book, but then I realised every one and their mother has read this book (mostly) so I'll just do a mini review. I didn't necessarily love this book - there are issues with it, and I don't know where I fall on the whole concept of sending the people who made you kill yourself audio tapes so they could listen to you recount why you killed yourself because of them, because it seems a bit narcissistic? And kind of not how suicide works?

Then, on the other hand, it was super compelling. Because even if I didn't necessarily agree with Hannah's reasons, I was still curious what they were. What can be so bad, so horrific, that you end your life? There's part of me that wants to scream at Hannah that this is just high school and it will, seriously, get better, as cliched as it is. Then there's the part of me that's never suffered with suicidal thoughts so how the hell can I judge what Hannah did?

IDK how I really felt about this book. It kept me hooked, sure, but I could hardly say it's a favourite/must-read.

[Kim Deister]

I don't know what I can say about this book that hasn't already been said. I read it after watching the Netflix series, and while there are definitely differences between the two, the combination left me reeling. It is deeply moving, poignant, and yet one of the most hopeful books I've ever read.

The story revolves around Clay, who finds a box of cassette tapes waiting on his doorstep one day. As he listens to them, he is drawn into the story of Hannah, his crush that committed suicide just a couple weeks earlier. The tapes share the thirteen reasons why she made the choice that she did, one for each person that contributed to that decision.

On the surface, it sounds like a horrifying premise for a read. It is a tough read at times, but no less important. Her point of creating the tapes, to be passed to each person on them, was not to be cruel. It was to make a point... the point that how we act toward one another, whether deliberate or not, makes a difference. Any one of those acts can be small in and of itself, but they can add up to push a person over the edge.

Having seen the series and read the book, I have to say something I never thought I would. As much as I loved the book, I felt that the series really showed Hannah's angst just a bit more clearly. Admittedly, some of that was accomplished through changes in the plot and some details. Ideally, I would suggest indulging in both.

[empressbrooke]

Given the size of my library's wait list, I'm one of a bazillion people who read this after binging the Netflix series. If I hadn't seen the show first, I likely would have 4-starred the book. However, compared to the show, the book just feels lifeless and hollow. Despite following identical plots, in the book there is no rich development of all the characters into complex, multi-faceted people. The characters who are her "reasons" are just names without personalities. As a result, there's no clear picture that Hannah experiences the same trauma and stressors that her classmates do, but also struggles with depression and therefore doesn't have the coping skills to deal with it in a healthier way. Nothing in the book punched me in the gut or left me with an emotional hangover. Book-Hannah seems a little mean and immature, and her tapes feel more like revenge rather than a desperate need to be heard. The show feels so important, the way it slowly lays out how pervasive and damaging treating women as objects to own or conquer is, and how early it starts in a girl's life. The book scratches the surface of this theme but doesn't doesn't develop it enough. I'm so glad this book exists because it spawned the show, but the book alone isn't something that I would recommend.

[Stephanie]

I didn't watch the show, and I've stayed away from learning anything about this book for ten years (wow!) so reading it has been a... thing, that's for sure. Let's talk about it.

[mrs_mander_reads]

In the endnotes of my particular copy of Thirteen Reasons Why, there's a section where Jay Asher interviews Brian Yorkey, the creator/executive producer of the Netflix series adapted from the book. Yorkey explains how he heard of the book originally, before it was ever thought of to adapt it for the screen. He describes that his niece brought him book and said, vehemently, "It's an important book, Uncle Brian!" And that, truly is the best description of this book that I've heard thus far. Much like Speak, by Anderson, this book is one that everyone should read because it is so thought provoking. The purpose of the book is as much to tell the story of Hannah Baker and Clay as it is to cause the reader to stop and think about their life, their treatment of others, and whether or not they would ever appear on someones tapes.
I loved the book. Honestly. It's hard. It's difficult to process with Clay as he realizes what's happening with the tapes, as he remembers the events of the story from a different perspective. It's heart-wrenching to identify with Hannah, as insult next to injury is continually heaped upon her. I think, most importantly, this book made me stop and think about the kids I have at school. I've always said that "We just don't know what is happening in their lives when they leave the building." And teachers don't. We know what we know about them, but when it comes to cases like abuse, assault, neglect, and God knows what else - it's not enough. I think that, above all, this book created a resolve within me to never encourage my students to just move past something in their life. You never know when you could be the last person on the tapes.

[laurie]

This was definitely a gripping, albeit depressing book. I’m one of those weirdos who wants a longer epilogue or a chapter or two that gives us the what happened after it all went down. And a lot went down. So I wanted to know what happened. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but some of the reasons why, there needed to be ramifications and people being found out and I have no idea if there were. My 40-ish year old self also thought a lot of those reasons were kinda lame to kill yourself over, but maybe 16 year old Laurie would have thought differently. (When did I become an old fuddy duddy?)

I’ve only seen a few episodes of the TV show, but from what I can see, a lot of these ramifications are being dealt with, so that might give me the satisfaction I’m looking for here.

See this review and others on my blog.

[whisperingchapters]

I found this book online a while ago and decided to download it and see if it was any good. I fell in love with it and read it two more times, then went to a book store and bought it. It is a very well-written book. The author portrays very well the life of the two main characters, which are Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen.

Clay is an average boy who had a crush on Hannah Baker, a girl who committed suicide. One day, Clay receives a box with tapes inside. Soon, he finds out the voice from the tapes is from Hannah. The tapes are given to thirteen people that led her to commit suicide. Clay felt devastated when he realized he was one of the reasons. Why, you may ask? Clay never talked to Hannah. He stood by the sidelines and never did anything to defend her from anything.

This is a very powerful and meaningful book. It shows us that with our attitude or by not doing anything, someone can take away their life. This also shows to not judge by what you hear from other sources.

Remember, if anyone in your community is being bullied, speak up or talk to the bullied person so he/she doesn’t feel alone. YOU can save someone’s life.

Review was first published in 2014 in Latte Nights Reviews.