Book info

• Title Thirteen Reasons Why
• Author Jay Asher
• Year 2007
• Genre Young Adult

Clay Jensen returns home from school one day to find a mysterious box with his name on it, outside his front door. Inside he discovers a series of cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush. Only, she committed suicide two weeks earlier. On the first tape, Hannah explains that there are 13 reasons why she did what she did - and Clay is one of them. If he listens, Clay will find out how he made the list - what he hears will change his life forever.

Thoughts

I wasn’t too bothered about the TV series of this, but saw that before I read the book. Finishing the book it didn’t add or take away a lot from what I had seen on screen - the two matched each other quite closely, although I can see areas where the drama was ratcheted up for the TV show, like the hot tub situation.

I quite like the concept of the back and forth going on throughout the story - Clay in the present with his thoughts whilst listening, against Hannah’s narrative from beyond the grave. However, I wasn’t really sure Clay had that much to add and I was always more keen to hear what Hannah had to say, than listen to Clay asking ‘why, why why’ all the time.

That being said, I did like the settings he placed himself in and how he interacted with his surroundings whilst listening - in the various cafes, or on the playground equipment, etc, etc. You really got a sense of how he was trying to shut out the world to concentrate on what was happening on the tapes. A quick read, and ultimately a little more palatable than the TV show despite focusing mostly on the two main characters with everyone else more of an aside.

Rating: 3 / 5