Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why

By: Jay Asher
Reviewer: laurenadaska, 15
Rating: Really liked it


Thirteen Reasons Why is a book about people's interactions. Jay Asher perfectly captures the attention and emotions of his readers in this powerful, impossible-to-put down novel. Readers are taken through the life of Hannah Baker and learn how actions affect other people.

The story opens with Clay Jensen mailingan inconspicuous brown shoebox to "the next name on Hannah Baker's list." Then, he flashes back to the day before, coming home to find a package on his doorstep, with no return address. He opens it and finds several cassette tapes, labeled one through thirteen. As he listens to them, he realizes that they were recorded by Hannah Baker, his crush, who had committed suicide two weeks before that. According to her, there were thirteen reasons (people) that she decided to kill herself, and everyone who was getting a tape was one of them.

For the rest of the night, Clay wanders the town, listening to the tapes and visiting the places she mentions. She talks about her first crush, a friend, a thief, the guidance counseler, and many others. They all affected her life and ultimately were part of the story leading to her death. This story teaches its readers to think about their actions and who they might affect, while providing a page-turning and very emotional experience when the audience is taken around town to listen to Hannah's story. Everyone could learn something from this book, and it flies by almost too quickly.