Thirteen Reasons Why

Reader reviewed by Nikki

This book was one of the most gripping books I've ever read. The way it was written was different, but I liked it all the same. I cried when I read this book, it was so touching. It seemed so real. It was great. So filled with detail. It only took me a day to read the whole book! I couldn't put it down! I suggest this book to everyone!

Reader reviewed by bookluver

This book is about a girl who killed her and her 13 reasons why she did it. She explains each reason. She gives detailed reasons and goes throught each and every detail. I does give a look that sudcuie is okay, which it is NOT. It is very wrong., But al in all its a good book and well written. It gives you details and does not leave you hanging.

Reader reviewed by Sarima89

Reader reviewed by Katie

Thirteen reasons are far to scarce to describe how wonderful I thought this book was absolutely incredible. I don't even know how to begin to describe how completely beautifully this book was written. I read the back of the book and it told me where Asher got his inspiration for this book. I was awestruck. I couldn't believe he was able to build such a powerful, emotional, and slightly creepy piece out of such an insignificant detail as the recordings that describe pieces at a museum. This novel gives insight into the mind of the person on each end of a tragedy like suicide. Not only through the tapes do we learn how Hannah felt before her suicide but we also learn about Clay. It also brings to light the fact that within one school were so many hidden secrets that all were revealed through one person. The message behind this book is too difficult to describe in words. To try to summarize, let people live their lives. You can't ever know how someone really feels or who they really are until something like this happens. But unless they tell you how they feel like Hannah did through her tapes, no one will ever really know. Dealing with suicide is so hard to deal with, and it's hard to live wondering if it was your fault or if you could have helped them. In this novel, you get a glimpse into the mind of how that feels... on both ends. 

Reader reviewed by Megan the Librarian

This book was wonderfully written, and the premise was intriguing -- everyone wonders why people who commit suicide decide to make such a drastic choice.  This book provides its readers with the opportunity to see into Hannah Baker's mind in the days, moments prior to her death at her own hand.  I read the book in one sitting because I could not set aside the heart-wrenching voices of Hannah and Clay, one of the thirteen people who are chosen to hear the reasons why. 

I have mixed feelings about this book however.  On one side, I feel like many people could benefit from seeing how their words and actions, no matter how seemingly insignificant at the time, affect those around them.  Maybe feeling Hannah's pain as she was affected or hearing Clay's anguish as he wishes that he could have helped her would help make people more understanding of others. 

On the other hand, this book doesn't make the statement that suicide is never the right answer.  Someone who isn't suicidal will pick up on the subtleties the author uses to make this point -- the pain of those left behind, Hannah's larger issue of depression -- but younger readers or people who toy with the idea of committing suicide could see Hannah's route as glamourous or a way to get revenge, which is not the message that anyone wants to send.

In all, it's a powerful book, one that brought me to tears.  In fact, it's one I think parents could benefit from reading with their teens.  I just have concern in the back of my mind about how some adolescents will interpret the story.

Reader reviewed by Amber

Teenager Hannah is driven to suicide by a chain of events that leave her hopeless. But before she takes her own life she records her story on thirteen tapes each with their own story. She leaves these tapes in the hands of someone she trusts to send them to the thirteen people she put on the list. Clay one of her classmates that had a crush on her comes home to find these tapes he listens to them and he learns that if he would have asked her a question as simple as is something wrong he might have saved her life. He learns that what he did didn't negatively effect her it was what he didn't do.

Reader reviewed by Sdaugherty

It took me a little while to figure out the flow to this book
because you are bouncing back and forth between text from Hannah's
commentary from her tapes and what Clay is doing or thinking as he is
listening to them. But one you get into it hang on because it's one
hell of a ride. This book is beautifully written and spend a great deal
of time delving into the mind of the teen world. You become a part of
this book from the beginning, feeling for both Hannah and Clay. You can
see how these 13 things would not be enough on their own to impact her
decision to commit suicide but how one stacked on top of the other
could send her over the edge.

I was really disturbed by the suicide being so planned out that she
went to all the trouble to make these tapes. The tapes themselves were
very unnearving but necessary to tell the tale that Hannah's wants to
be told. How may warning signs did she send and no one answered? How
many missed chances do we have? How does every move that we make impact
someone else's life and could we change the outcome if we had just been
a little less self absorbed? Hannah thinks so and after you spend some
time in her mind you will too. As she tells Clay on the tape this
knowledge will change his life forever.

This a very touching and disturbing novel on teenage suicide. I
would be careful what age group I would let read it for there are
sexual inuendos as well as some language. I would say definately the
high school age and none below it. It is also a very quick read. I
finished it in two days so once you are sucked in you are hooked til
the end, just like Clay.

Reader reviewed by marforshort

Jay Asher has startled us all (or at least me) with this spectacular book. Finding a book today can be difficult and challenging, especially for Young Adults, because they can be so shallow and dumb. Jay Asher has written a novel with depth and emotion.

It all starts out when Clay Jensen gets a package from Hannah Baker, a girl from school who had just commited suicide. Of course, for Clay this is startling because they were never really friends, and had only kissed once at a party. Little did he know that he played a role in Hannah Baker's suicide.  Clay is a talented and sensative boy. Hearing that he has been a part of a suicide was terrable for him. On the tapes, it is clearly stated that everyone who gets them (There is a story for each person) MUST listen to every tape, even if it isn't about them.

Little by little we wait at the edge of our seats for Clays story, as he runs all around the town, stopping at most of the places Hannah mentions, and trying to understand what it felt like for her.

Tragic, heart renching and with a devestatingly happy ending, Jay Asher's novel 13 Reasons Why will take you into the lives of Clay and Hannah as they both try to understand why she killed herself.

Reader reviewed by Chantel

Before taking her own life, she tapes 13 reasons why she did it.
She did because of the guy in the hot tub. She did it for the guy she liked, that she never knew liked her.
She did for 13 reasons you've got to read. It will make you think about how you treat other people.
and how you change thier lives with your words with meaning it.

Reader reviewed by MssJoss

Clay Jensen is truly a good kid. He is moments away from graduating as the Valedictorian of his class, he doesn't drink or abuse drugs, he chooses staying home on the weekends to study over going to parties, so why then, does he receive a package of tapes from a girl who committed suicide? Why is he on "the list" of people who are supposed to listen to the 13 recordings Hannah Baker has sent explaing why she killed herself? The list of people who played a part in her death.

Throughout the novel, Clay retraces Hannah's steps using the detailed map she has left him. Listening to Hannah's voice on the tapes, Clay spends half of the novel trying to figure out how he is involved and the other half wondering what he could have done to prevent this tragedy.

Hannah shows Clay connections between his classmates and teachers he never could have imagined, and never wanted to know about. Hannah's voice ensures that she will leave a legacy and that she will never be forgotten by the 13 people who will receive her tapes.

Sad, cryptic, gritty, raw, and real, these are just some of the adjectives that describle this novel. There is no cutesy fluff or glossed-over ending, there is no pretty bow on this novel. Asher takes what Mitch Albom did in The Five People You Meet in Heaven, turns it inside out and paints it black. Asher illustrates the ripple effect human beings unknowlingly have on each other in an extremely effective way. Hannah's depiction of her high school experience is so real and honest, readers of all ages can appreciate it and (somewhat frighteningly) relate to it. Hannah helps Clay to realize that the things you don't say, can be just as important as the things you do.

I loved this book, I can't even say it enough. My reading preferences are not typically dark, but I read the book from start to finish, and I am still thinking about the characters in it long afterward. Finally, an honest, detailed, accurate account of the lives of today's teens. So many novels try to make high school look like an episode of Saved by the Bell, but as I am spending more time in actual high schools in my preparation for becoming a teacher, and as I reflect on my own high school experience, this antiquated view is just no longer accurate...if it ever even was. This novel tells the truth and it doesn't insult the intelligence of its teen readers by sugar-coating serious topics like suicide, sexual assault/harassment, peer pressure, rape, and teen drinking. Asher does a wonderful job of showing the male and female perspectives simultaneously. I'll admit, the dual narration took me a few pages to get the hang of, but once I was in, I was hooked. Warning: Do not start this novel unless you have enough time to read all 288 pages.