Customer Reviews

Thirteen Reasons Why

5 star:		(334)
4 star:		(93)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(39)

 

 

I just finished this -- and I am telling you it was compelling. It should be required reading by anyone in high school or middle school -- or anyone who has a child in high school or middle school. Basically it tells of Clay Jensen, a high school student who receives a box of audiotapes narrated by a girl who he had a crush on, Hannah Baker, who has recently committed suicide. The book interweaves her words from the audiotapes with his comments and memories. It gives Hannah's reasons why she did what she did and names the people (who also are receiving audiotapes - each person is to mail them to the next person on the list) and why they contributed to what happened. It may have been something big, somewhat small, something seemingly innocent, something no so much. But it all leads up to Hannah not being able to cope by herself even when she reaches out for help. If anyone can read this and see themselves in it and make changes - or even better see someone else and reach out in compassion, this book will have a huge effect.

I don't often write introductions to my reviews. In fact, the last time I can remember doing so was with the wonderful Pucker by Melanie Gideon, which I read in 2006. However, THIRTEEN REASONS WHY, the debut novel from author Jay Asher, is the type of book that begs an introduction. So if you'd like to skip down to the third paragraph for the "meat" of the story, I won't hold it against you -- but you'll be missing something important.

If you have the chance to only read one novel this year, THIRTEEN REASONS WHY should be that book. It's sad, amazing, heartbreaking, and hopeful, all at the same time. I dare you to read it and not become so immersed in the story that you lose track of time and your surroundings. You'll cry, several times, while reading this story. You'll have no choice but to think about your actions, and wonder what type of effect they have on other people. And, in the end, you might also find the need to say "thank you."

Now, on to the story...

When Clay Jensen finds a package on his front porch, he's excited. A package, for him? With no return address? What could it possibly be? What Clay finds is a shoebox full of cassette tapes, each marked as "Cassette 1: Side A," "Cassette 1: Side B," etc. Of course he rushes to the old radio/cassette player in his dad's garage to check out these mysterious tapes.

And soon wishes, wholeheartedly, that he'd never picked up that stupid package from his front porch.

What he hears when he inserts that first tape is the voice of Hannah Baker. Hannah, the girl he'd crushed on for longer than he could remember. The girl he went to school with. The girl he worked at the movie theater with. The girl who had changed, drastically, in the last several months. Hannah Baker, the girl who committed suicide.

Clay soon realizes that these tapes aren't just a suicide note, aren't, really, even a clear-cut rendition of why she did what she did. Instead, these are thirteen reasons -- thirteen people, to be exact -- who created a snowball-effect of events that led Hannah to believe that suicide was her only option. But why is Clay on that list? How could he possibly be one of the reasons that she killed herself?

As the day goes on, Clay becomes obsessed with listening to the tapes. And what he hears frightens him, disturbs him, and, in the end, leads him to realizations that he never would have expected. As Clay listens to the role that thirteen people, including himself, led in the ultimate death of Hannah Baker, his view of the world, and himself, changes drastically.

You will love this book, because you won't be able to help yourself. You will feel what Clay feels. You will, in a very strong way, experience the highs and lows of Hannah's life right along with her. And there is nothing, in my opinion, that could speak better for the authenticity of a book. Read THIRTEEN REASONS WHY. And then, if you're like me, you'll read it again. And, hopefully, none of us will ever forget it.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

I am one of the rare minority who did not enjoy this book. In fact, I was completely annoyed with it. I struggled through it and kept rolling my eyes. It took a lot to make myself finish it. I hoped it would get much better, since there is so much positive hype surrounding this book, but unfortunately it did not. I am also going to preface my negative comments by saying that I am not at all mean-spirited, heartless, or think lightly of suicide. I also have been at the receiving end of some terrible things in high school so I do know what that feels like, and so I am not approaching this as simply someone who didn't experience bad things in high school. Suicide is an extremely serious issue, and I think it is extremely important to be explored in books, especially considering the epidemic of teen suicides we have been facing lately. However, I felt like this book did not give it the respect and seriousness it deserves. I loved the concept of this story, and I think a story like this has the potential to be amazing and powerful. Perhaps if it was tackled by a different author or had different characters, maybe I would have thought it was.

I did enjoyed the dual narration format of the book. This was a very interesting and engaging format to choose. However, it did get a little bit confusing for me with the back and forth, not only because it switched from character to character as well as from present to flashback. This might have been because I was not 100% engaged with the book since I did not enjoy it, and so I bet I got a bit sloppy in my reading habits. I also applaud the creativity of the book, because it is such an usual and unique premise. The writing also is engaging, flows well, and is never boring.

My main problem was the characters. While I thought Clay was a very realistic character, and the emotions he went through while listening to Hannah's tapes where very realistic and appropriate, I did not like Hannah. I thought Hannah's voice seemed whiny and annoying. I felt as if she was being a spiteful, vindictive little child in talking to the people listening to the tapes, rather than seriously wanting people to know how their actions affected her. She was laughing and sounded humorous when I feel like she should have sounded somber and depressed. Her actions pointed to somber and depressed, yet her voice came away the exact opposite. This sounds terrible, but my impression of her voice was like "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah! I killed myself and now you have to feel bad!" That is not at all what I wanted to come away with from this character. With her voice being this way, I could not sympathize with her. I tried and tried, but I just couldn't.

I am also annoyed with the reasons Hannah gave for her suicide. Some of them seemed so minute to me! Yes it's true, these things seem less terrible now as an adult removed from high school, and when they happen they seem like the end of the world, but I feel like the author could have chosen more substantial reasons or made them more significant. I won't go into the reasons, so this will be spoiler free.. but the reasons are all so little and silly, like an embarrassing thing or annoying thing that happened. What Hannah experienced seemed to be the norm for high school, and not valid enough reasons for her to want to kill herself. Now, I know that this book is supposed to show how small little actions have big ramifications, and I'm not trying to say that anyone should be made fun of for their reasons that push them to suicide... just that it didn't seem realistic. It annoyed me was too ridiculous for me. Perhaps Hannah sounded so ridiculous to me because she was written by a male author who maybe doesn't get girls and what they sound like and how they feel. I feel like this was more thirteen reasons why of a twelve year old, not an older high schooler. I also realize that Hannah did give up on life halfway or three-quarters of the way through her reasons, but what she did from then on really angered me. She then began to actively seek out terrible situations and place her self in them on purpose, and then yet saying wish it wouldn't have happened or that people would have stopped it. It was really aggravating.

I feel really bad reviewing this book so harshly. I think if it was a normal fluffy book about an insignificant topic, I wouldn't have felt bad. But I feel bad because of the sensitive nature of the topic. But, I guess you can't change your impression of a book so no use feeling bad about it.

In my 33 years of being a librarian, I've rarely experienced the buzz and excitement that this book has generated, Harry Potter notwithstanding! I picked up several autographed copies of it last night, in anticipation of the author's visit to our school and to a local bookstore today. I thought I'd skim it to get an idea of its contents...well, there's no way to put it down. I tried. More than once. Jay Asher has the remarkable ability to write from both the female and male points of view. Thirteen Reasons Why grabs the reader instantly--it's well-written, it's perceptive, it has elements of a psychological, Hitchcockian(?)mystery/thriller. The reader is left to ponder the power of words, rumors, and innuendo; adults will be reminded of their teen years (and people they'll never forget) and teen readers, too, will identify with one or more characters. I won't recount the storyline, since the professional reviewers' synopsis will suffice. I will emphasize that this is a MUST READ, no matter what your age! Just start reading it at a reasonable hour, because putting it down isn't an option!

I pretty much agree with what the other negative reviewers have said so far. The book is highly engaging, a real page-turner, and easy to finish in just a few hours; but it's a wasted concept and leaves you so disappointed. Except for one or maybe two exceptionally horrible individuals, the people who "caused" Hannah's suicide are just regular high schoolers doing normal (if selfish and dumb) high school things. Hannah constantly complains about situations where no one helped her, where it is blatantly obvious that she did even less to help herself. Her narration is snarky and just as mean-spirited as any of the people she's laying so much blame on (not to mention, it sounds far more like, ahem, a novel than someone speaking off-the-cuff into a recorder, what with all the description and imagery). This is interspersed with the other main character, Clay, reacting to her words, and he always feels utterly sorry for her and agrees that the other kids are awful and deserve nothing but the worst, which I felt was unrealistic. I also agree with the reviewers who were angry that towards the end, she gave up completely and began deliberately making her life worse, yet continued to blame others. The entire book felt like a very heavy-handed message that you should never say or do anything to anyone that is anything less than saintly, because you never know what might push them over the edge; talk about an unrealistic moral. Did Hannah (or Jay Asher) ever consider that some of these "bad" kids probably had things going on in their own lives that SHE had no idea about? The topic is one that needs to be addressed, and the format is truly unique, but this story is wasted on a completely unsympathetic "heroine".

I think the plot of this book is awesome. How interesting to record the last moments of the life of a suicidal teen. It could have given us so much insight into the signs and solutions of such desperate children. Unfortunately, the storyline fell short of any such insight. Very short. Surely, the author must have known that the reader would hate Hannah Baker. Did he honestly think we'd pity her? She was a whining, self-absorbed drama queen. These are the types that threaten to kill themselves, but never do. They just talk about it, milking everyone of as much sympathy as possible and then creating major theatrics when their targets don't follow the script. I have done extensive research on suicide for a newspaper feature I wrote once. I learned that suicide occurs when the pain outweighs the ability to cope. Hannah Baker created her own pain. She staged her own downfall in order to collect more pity. She had some major issues, but they were psychological and internal and had nothing to do with the people on the list. Are there people out there like that? Absolutely. But are they the ones who follow through with suicide? Not likely. Tape after tape, I waited for the major crime committed by each person on the list. Tape after tape, I was disappointed, left to wonder what on earth the climax was. If anything, the victims were the people on the list and Hannah, the villain. Because she was such a self-centered little head case, incidents far worse than her own occurred. She sat by feeling sorry for herself while another girl was raped only a few feet away. Does she report it? No, because she wants to be the victim, not the poor girl unconscious on the bed. She failed to call the police right away when a stop sign was knocked over, causing the death of a young boy. A week later, she strips down to her underwear and gets into a hot tub with the same guy she saw raping someone else. No surprise what happens there.

I gave this 3 stars instead of 1 because the book created a reaction and opinion in me. It created controversy. That's a positive quality in a book. But I gave it 3 stars instead of 5 because of the weak storyline. I wanted to care at the end of each tape. I wanted to pity the girl. Instead, I only felt annoyed that she (and the author) wasted my time. I also rated it low for the dull, lifeless characters. None of them had any substance and none of them sounded like teenagers. I did kind of like Tony, but he seemed to be thrown in as an afterthought.

Despite this low rating of Thirteen Reasons Why, I do believe that Jay Asher has real potential as a continual author. I look forward to his next book but sincerely hope he strengthens his contextual style.

This is my first review on Amazon, and I am only doing this because I feel it is necessary to warn people about this book.

The character that is giving the thirteen reasons for committing suicide is not looking for help, and at every opportunity, pushes those away that are interested in trying. She feels the world revolves around her, and looks for reasons for suicide because other people don't feel the same way.

Half of all high-school girls will go through most of what Hannah went through. It is sad, but that is teenage school life.

As the book continues on, it becomes harder and harder to feel sorry for Hannah. She is guilty of the same lack of effort she chastised everyone on her list for.

At the end of the book, the only people you feel sorry for are those Hannah calls out (with 2 exceptions), as they now have to live with the idea that because they did not put Hannah before them in all things they were the cause of her death.

This book sends a horrible message, and will be extremely confusing to teens that are facing real problems with depression, as they see a girl that has plenty of reasons, none of which are anywhere near as bad as theirs, and lose all hope for themselves if someone with so few real problems wasn't able to find a way to get through it.

The writing is great and the premise had such incredible potential, but was wasted when Hannah was written as the whiny girl looking for excuses.

I was debating whether or not to rate this one stars or two. I was thinking about giving it two stars because I was very engaged in the book when I started reading it, it made me want to keep turning the pages. I chose one star because it was such a huge disapointment.

I could write many pages on how Hannah Baker is, frankly, an idiot; however, I really don't want to waste any more time on this book.

Bottom line:
concept = cool
Hannah Baker = shallow
book = ruined by Hannah's excuses for killing herself.


I am so glad I didn't buy this book before reading it.
What a shame, this book had so much potential...

THIRTEEN REASONS WHY has an interesting premise. Given the numerous already existing reviews, I won't go into too much detail about the plot other than to say the story revolves around a set of tapes, a recorded memoir leading up to her suicide, that were sent out by a girl shortly after she committed the act. The intended audience for her tapes were the people she blamed for contributing to, nay causing, her suicide. Like I said, an interesting premise that I had hoped had a twist to it. Because, after all, this novel had strong reviews of readers praising its message and agreeing with it entirely. The message is this (caution: spoiler alert!): the people in this story are entirely to blame for the character who took her own life, therefore removing all accountability for her own actions (by this, I mean committing suicide). Now, I get what the author was trying to achieve and I think it was noble. Mr. Asher wanted to provoke some thought about how our actions, even if we view as harmless or insignificant, can significantly impact another and that we should consider his cautionary tale with all future interactions with people in our own lives. I respect that, which is why I gave this novel one star, as opposed to none. However, what I believe Mr. Asher missed entirely was that suicide attempts and completions are entirely selfish acts, leaving so many people destroyed in its wake. True, the characters in this book create a miserable life for Hannah (the girl who commits suicide), but ultimately the decision to take her own life is hers, and hers alone. THIRTEEN REASONS WHY removes all accountability from Hannah and places it all on the other characters, blaming them for an action they didn't commit. Moreover, the story also places a heavy load of guilt AND BLAME on the well-intentioned and "good guy" characters in the story for not stopping a suicide. Again, no accountability for the character who took her life, just the ones that had to experience the aftermath.

I devoured this book, reading it in just a few hours. I did so not because I was enjoying it, but because I was desperately hoping that my suspicion that the book was placing accountability on the wrong characters would be blown away; it was not.

To close, in life other people's actions influence our own behavior, but ultimately, the only one to blame or be accountable for our own behavior is ourself...even regarding suicide. This was a terrible read.

**SPOILER**I wish I could give this Two and a Half Stars.. I loved this book because of its format, and because of the suspense and mystery. I absolutely hated Hannah though. She was so weak. Sure, there were hard patches in her story, and maybe they added up, and made life unbearable for HER, but I feel that an emotionally strong person could have pulled through.

In the courteney part, those are the things you get upset about then, ultimately, you just have to let go. Maybe some people don't know how to let things go, and I guess she was one of them...

Later on in the book, I didn't just get annoyed with Hannah's passive attitude to how she let people push her around, and NEVER tried to take control of her 'snowball' effected life, I got angry. She thinks her life is horrible? What about that girl she allowed to get raped? One of the reasons she killed herself was because she allowed that to happen? IF YOU'RE GONNA KILL YOURSELF OVER SOMETHING YOU LET HAPPEN, DON'T LET IT HAPPEN! She RUINED that girls life. All because she was to weak to open the damn closet door and make her presence known. Then, she sends these damned tapes to the girl, telling her that she is one of the reasons she, hannah, killed herself. Well, guess what Hannah, you just gave that girl two reasons to kill herself, one you gave her these tapes blaming her, then you didn't stop her from getting raped. Kudos to you, Hannah, you just might be sending more people to a suicidal death. Way. To. Go.

She allowed all of these things to, firstly, happen, and secondly, to push her over the edge. When people kill themselves in real life, its because they had abusive parents, did drugs, were alcoholics, actually got raped (Didn't allow a rape to take place!) those just name a few REAL problems that could push someone to those drastic measures, and even then, you hear of people who had those problems that didn't kill themselves, if they can pull through those things, Hannah can deal with being on a list that says she has a great butt.

She had no family problems, she didn't do drugs or drink or anything, ok so she had no friends, you can't expect everyone to pamper you, if you want friends, go out there and make a few. I've had friends that have turned on me, like the olly-olly-oxen free people did to hannah, but I got over it, and made new friends. I didn't kill myself! Plenty of people were willing to be her friend, like Clay, who knows how many other people like him were out there? If you don't want people like bryce to take advantage of you, don't let them. I know people are gonna say its easier said than done, but really it isn't. Just don't go in the hot tub, or hey, try walking away when he comes on to you! If he grabs your arm to restrain you, or if he grabs your ass, hit him! Not once did she stand up for herself. In Rosies, when she KNEW that he was gonna feel her up, she shoulda just slapped him, or screamed. If you stare at the people around you, like she did in the diner, they aren't gonna know that you need help. People aren't mind readers! Go help yourself, stand up for yourself, do something Hannah!