13 Reasons Why

As of 2017, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Every year, almost 45,000 people commit suicide, and annually, suicide costs the US about $51 billion. But, aside from all the statistics, aside from the money aspect, those 45,000 victims, are people, with families, friends and lives, and that’s what people seem to forget. Attempting to understand how devastating a suicide can be, without actually experiencing one, can be hard, but, readers are in luck because, there is a new book and movie series (on Netflix) called Thirteen Reasons Why, a true story of Hannah Baker a young girl who killed herself in the early 90’s. Now… this may seem like just another documentary or sci-fi book about someone’s suicide story, but it goes far deeper than that. Within the true story of Hannah Baker, comes a mystery, and an ending of despair and jail time. The book is a cross between what life is like for friends and family of Hannah, after her death, and in a stranger series of events, somehow, Hannah left a collection of tapes filmed by herself, expressing why she killed herself and whose fault it is. But, the story gets even more twisted, within all the tapes Hannah created, are secrets, dark tragic secrets that happened to her a month before she killed herself. These secrets incriminate her own friends, family, and even, the love of her life, Clay Jensen. “You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life. Everything. . . affects everything.” ― Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why (GoodReads) . My personal opinion on the book and movie Thirteen Reasons Why (because I’ve read & seen both) is that I think the main idea of the story is very powerful. Suicide is not something people can choose to ignore until someone close to them does it, suicide needs to be something everyone thinks about & is cautious about. Becoming a victim, or a grieving friend or family member can happen to anybody in such a short amount of time, and everybody needs to know it isn’t a joke! People really do kill themselves everyday, and people really do go to jail for intentionally or unintentionally causing someone to kill themselves. I believe my opinion of this book compared to other critics is very similar in the fact that almost everyone who has read this book, or heard Hannah Baker’s story, agrees that this needs to be published for everyone to see so that maybe the world can start to grasp the fact that suicide is not a joke. How many more victims does 2017, 18, or so on, need to take for the world to realize bullying, suicide, depression, etc is no joke! It deserves recognition, and suicide should be a real prosecutable crime. I know this to be true because, Common Sense Media says the same, “There are positive messages here about the importance of treating people with kindness -- and about the price of inaction -- that parents and teachers may want to help teen readers think and talk about” (CommonSenseMedia) . In addition, I feel the writer’s style in this book, is very metaphorical. I feel it has to be written this way because Hannah is already gone… so it can not be in present time or even a biography of her life. The author also incorporated the use of, foreshadowing, by including many recurring elements in Hannah’s story, illusions, imagery, and parallelism by showing the parallels Clay, Hannah’s boyfriend finds between him and Hannah. I would recommend this book to anyone in highschool, whether girl or boy, and I’d recommend this book to any parent who has a teenager that is struggling with depression, or not fitting in, or feeling like an outcast. This book contains a lot of good coping mechanisms, and teaches its readers how to look for the red warning signs of someone who is suicidal. Hopefully, with this book and the new series on Netflix becoming more and more popular, more people will realize that suicide is serious and it could just take five seconds out of your day, saying hi to someone, to save someone and make them smile & feel accepted. This book I feel, was intended to appeal to high schoolers, which I feel it achieved because even personally, right after the book & movie released, I saw it all over my Twitter timeline. Thirteen Reasons Why was all my highschool friends could talk about, so I decided to give it a try. This book appeals to high school students because it deals with Hannah Baker, a young American girl in highschool, dealing with drama, depression, bullying, and every other unfortunately, normal aspect of high school. This helps appeal to teenagers all over the US because it reminds them that they are not alone, although what happened to Hannah was very tragic, her story is incredibly inspiring because it gives hope to many other teens going through the same thing that they aren’t alone in this battle. Although Hannah lost to her depression, it is an important lesson to others that they too, don’t have to take their lives because of depression and bullying. The reasons for conflict to rise in this book is because, her family, friends & boyfriend are dealing with the pain of losing Hannah, when suddenly, these tapes, with Hannah Baker talking on them, start circulating around…but only to selective people who were one of the reasons Hannah killed herself. So, with that being said, whoever got the tapes, knew they were one of the causes to Hannah’s death. It caused anxiety, fear of going to jail, and sadness through the characters, book and projects those feelings to the reader as well. To me, one of the most important quotes in this book is, “I wrote a note to Mrs. Bradley that read: "Suicide. It's something I've been thinking about. Not too seriously, but I have been thinking about it" (9.201) . I feel this quote is very important because it shows that Hannah tried to reach out to her teacher by writing her a note, but her teacher unfortunately didn’t take the note seriously enough because a week later Hannah was gone. This is an important yet tragic lesson in this book that suicide is something you need to act fast on, if someone is giving a cry out for help, please don’t ignore that cry for help, help them, listen to them, hug them, maybe if her teacher had done that she wouldn’t be gone today. But, like many others, Hannah is now an important story in our history, of how hard it can be to be a teenager. I urge anyone and everyone to read this book and hear Hannah’s story because then maybe we can reduce those 45,000 victims that 2018 will claim, to zero.

Let me begin by stating that as far as I am concerned, THIS BOOK IS NOT ABOUT SUICIDE. I apologize for the caps: If Amazon allowed me to bold my words, I'd make them bold instead of "shouting" at you out here in cyber space. This point needed to be emphasized because the negative reviews reflect what is (in my mind at least) a poor understanding of the point of this novel. The book definitely deals in the subject of suicide, but suicide isn't the point of the book. In my opinion, the purpose of this book was to demonstrate the ripple effect. One moment in a person's life can cause a ripple effect. For Hannah Baker, it was her first kiss -- a wonderful experience for her, and one she might have carried as a positive experience for the rest of her life had it not been marred by nasty rumors that later floated around her school. In Hannah's story, one thing leads to another, eventually culminating in her suicide. Some reviewers have noted that this is not the way that suicide works. That her "reasons" for ending her life are an over-simplified version of what a suicidal person experiences. As someone who has been to that dark place (though fortunately never so far as to make a plan), I can vouch for what they're saying. Were this purely a book about suicide, I would have to agree that it missed its mark entirely. But because this book relates more specifically to the way that one event can cause a ripple effect in a person's life, I believe that it was quite effective in sending its message to the reader that we must be careful about the way that we treat one another, because we don't know how what we do today may affect them tomorrow. Mr. Asher might have done more to address the topic of suicide in this book. He might have gone further to address the fact that the feelings that drive a person to suicide are generally the desire to escape. Hannah did, I will be real with you, give the impression that she ended her life in order to punish her tormentors. After all, there is little other purpose in distributing the tapes that she did. The tapes are a punishment, a guarantee that the people on her list will think of her for the rest of their lives. This is, no question, an over-simplification of a difficult topic. I agree with the negative reviews about that. When I contemplated suicide at my most serious, I thought about it because I believed that I could no longer handle the strain and anxiety of post traumatic stress disorder. Most teenagers aren't driven to suicide because of a rumor in school. They are driven to suicide because they feel that they are, somehow, wrong. That they cannot cope with their lives any more. Without knowing more about Hannah's home life and her parents, the way that her parents might have handled her changes in personality and appearance, we cannot know how deep her reasons went. We DO know that there were more reasons -- more PEOPLE -- than just those thirteen on the tapes that she sent out. But we don't know what they are, or how her parents handled her downward spiral (though we DO know that they were busy fighting against the mall moving in that would take business away from their shoe store). I enjoyed this book, but I don't recommend it as a way to understand suicide more deeply: I recommend it as a good book for understanding the way that one's actions may snowball (Hannah's words) into something else, and for understanding the way that our decisions affect other people. I'd like to add that this book had a similar feel (to me) to reading Lauren Oliver's _Before I Fall_ without the repetition. I read _Thirteen Reasons Why_ in one day, while _Before I Fall_ took me nearly two weeks of slogging through the repetition. Another similar story is the movie _To Save a Life_.

Hannah Baker seems like a typical high school teenager, except she isn’t. Hannah commits suicide before being able to graduate and enter the real world. She has reasons for committing suicide and she is determined to let 12 people know how they affected her decision to take her own life. Clay Jenson is one of the people on her list. He receives the box of cassette tapes one day after school and is told to listen to all of the tapes carefully, and to follow a map he had received week ago, to find out why Hannah chose to take end her life. Note: There may be a few spoilers in my list, but none of my comments will ruin the book for you. 1. It’s a page turner, to the max. I was laughing at myself while I was reading it because I couldn’t put it down. My husband told me that I need to stop reading so fast, and here I am reading this book like it’ll disappear by the end of the night. 2. I love that even though the book has a mostly serious tone, it still made me laugh from time to time. Hannah likes to put jokes in her tapes to keep the listeners on their toes. They may not find the jokes funny, but I do. 3. I read this book in a time span of 25 hours; stopping to sleep, tutor, clean the house, exercise, and eat. 4. Boys and girls can relate to this book. Who wasn’t bullied in middle school/high school? Even the “cool” kids are harassed. No one is comfortable in their own body at that age, no matter how much they tell you they are. 5. The map that Hannah provides of the town is a really cool idea. Although the journey towards her death is sad, I felt so attached to her character as I traveled with Clay to each place that was important in her story. 6. You can listen to the tapes that Hannah has recorded here, which makes the whole book even creepier. The tapes are not word for word, like in the book, but they are a great addition to the novel, especially if this is a book that a class is reading in school. The tapes can be played the next day after the students have read a chapter the night before. 7. It is a suspense novel. Of course, when the novel begins, or even before you open it, you know that Hannah commits suicide, it tells you this on the back cover, but you don’t know why or how. This is what keeps the pages turning; this is what kept me on the edge of my seat while I was reading it. 8. As I was reading Hannah’s story, even though I knew she was dead, I kept thinking, “Well, maybe she isn’t. Maybe she will be alive in the end.” I had hope for Hannah, I had to have hope or I would have just cried the whole time. 9. Clay is so endearing. I just wanted to tear him from the pages and give him a huge hug. He wanted to help Hannah so bad and he was/is so in love with her. It pains me to think that he is going to have to live with Hannah’s final words in his mind forever. 10. I don’t know about you but when I read, I like to know how many pages I have until the next chapter starts, especially when I start to get tired. Since each chapter had a black, thick line on the first page of the chapter, I could clearly identify while looking on the outside of the book when the next chapter started. This was helpful! 11. The diner in the book is called “Rosie’s Diner.” My name isn’t used very often in books/movies/anywhere really, but I feel special when it is used. 12. I like how this story showed a different side to bullying. Not the typical, “Everyone is mean to me and no one talks to me.” It was more harassment and rumor starting kind of bullying, making Hannah feel uncomfortable and unsafe, wherever she went. People may not consider this bullying, but it is. 13. This is a good book for girls and guys. I am impressed that Jay Asher was able to pick up the voice of a female character as well as he did and make her sound so real and emotional. This review, plus additional information, is posted in my blog.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a very intense novel. To begin with, you have to be able to keep up with who’s talking. At times it can be difficult as the author switched from Hannah’s voice to Clay’s. Hannah’s voice was in atilax. Clay’s voice was in normal text. Even though at times it was hard to keep up, the author did a great job of switching from one voice to the other. It lets you hear from Hannah what went on, then how Clay feels about it. Its almost like an argument. You also have to be able to deal with the pressure. There are many points where you feel very nervous. As Hannah goes through the different stories, you start to feel her pain. As things built up, she became more depressed. She knew she needed help, but was afraid to let people in. Towards the end, she finally was willing to get help from Mr. Porter, but when she asked, she did not receive it. Also while reading this novel you feel Clay’s pressure. As he visits each place Hannah talks about, he feels more, and more guilty. However, at the same time, Clay feels anger towards Hannah. He tried to help her, yet she was not willing to get his help. Clay really liked Hannah. He even kissed her. But Hannah stayed to herself. On the tapes, she apologized for being this way. I feel sure Clay wasn’t a negative reason Hannah made the decision she did. Personally, I think Clay’s name was only on the tapes because she wanted to tell him sorry before she took her last breath. As the story goes on, you began to feel sympathy for both Hannah and Clay. Clay becomes emotional while listening to Hannah. You really can’t blame him. Her decision led to pain in Clay’s heart. Clay could’ve helped her. However, personally I didn’t feel anger towards Hannah. I only felt sorry for her. As things built up, she didn’t know how to cope with them. We can’t be mad at her. Everyday she fought a new battle. I just wish she could’ve got help and not made the decision she did. If I could change things about this novel, there are just a few things I’d do. To begin with, I would start the novel as Hannah being alive, and instead of listening to her talk about what happened on the cassette tapes, the reader could actually read about when the crisis was present. I think this would help create an even more intense novel. Even though it might be too much for some people, it would really make a great story. Another thing I would change is the ending. I would make it where when Hannah went to Mr. Porter as her last resort, he would help her. I would make it where they talked for a long time about all the problems Hannah has, and he would help her. I would also make it where Hannah never committed suicide. Suicide has become such a problem. If I changed the book to where she got help, and changed her mind, maybe it would show the reader that if they’re feeling this, they can get help too. Overall, this is an amazing novel. Intensity is a great element to it. Even though you almost feel Hannah’s pain in your heart, it only makes it that much better. I would recommend this book to any highschooler or adult. I think it would be too much for middle school and under to handle. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read!

You either loved this book or you didn't. Some of the people who didn't love it, seem to feel it glamorizes suicide. Like why didn't Hannah reach out for help? Why did she seem dead set towards getting back at the people she felt had done her wrong, thereby in her world, part of the reason she committed suicide. I should say I have watched the first season of this series and frankly I think the series did a better job conveying this story than the book because they flushed out a lot of scenes in the series that are not flushed out in the book. The series is meatier in content. Things I didn't like about this book: The switching back and forth between Hannah tapes and present day was confusing. It took me a bit to adjust to it. I'm sure I missed some information because of my confusion. Things I did like: Some of the back and forth between the tapes and present day, kept the pacing moving along quite briskly which kept me interested. I enjoyed the uniqueness of the story and the style in the telling. The characters were a variety of interesting. The chapters didn't take forever to read. They were quick and precise in moving the story along. I didn't hate the book. But I didn't adore it either. Now, let's talk suicide. First, not everyone who thinks about suicide or does it, wants to reach out for help. Some have just had it with their life and they want it to be over. They're tired, but in such a deep soul level, if you believe in a soul, that there is no road back to life, or they feel there is not. It's also extremely hard in a way that is almost impossible for me describe, to reach out to anyone when you're seriously thinking about stopping your breath forever. And sometimes when you do reach out for help, it doesn't help, in fact it can make it worse. There can be a lot of shame about the reality of how you feel and fear of judgement from others. Also, when you're in the deep hole of hopeless, there is no light, anywhere. That's how it feels. Not everyone is going to react "politically correct" in life, and certainly not when thinking or devising their death. So Hannah's character and it's subsequent decisions didn't bother me. People say, "Well dark emotions don't last forever." I don't know. It depends on what's going on your life, physically, emotionally, financially, relationship wise, etc. I've lived in hopeless for years and I will say, there wasn't much happiness or joy happening during it. Everyone has a different breaking point. The fact that this book and tv series as well perhaps have opened up some lines of communication about suicide is wonderful, in my opinion, whether you like the book or agree with Hannah or not. Suicide is a decision that you can never come back from. The devastation not only to people's potential and the impact of their light in the world but to their loved ones and everyone else they could have touched is incalculable.

My thoughts and feelings on this book are ... All over the place. Leaving me a quivering mess. Shall I explain how a book can do that to you? Just kidding. There is no need to as I am pretty sure that all of you have had the same aftermath from a book at some point in your life. Now getting to the chase. I decided to read this book because of a review that described it as "thought-provoking". It was all I needed. Nothing more, nothing less. Just that adjective. I don't know about you but it has a nice ringing to me. I have always enjoyed reading books that can alter your way of thinking, challenge your reason and morals, make you reflect on things that you hadn't even considered before. So I gave it a shot. And there are many things that I came to love about it and other things for which I am ambivalent. But nothing that I hated. The plot was quite original. Some would even say unrealistic. I mean, the idea of the tapes; impressive. "Why not write a letter?" - asked my sister. Because this is a more intimate way, I think. You can perceive the person's emotions better just by the tone of their voice or the pauses that they make. And because writing a letter to all of those who have wronged you in some way is a freaking hassle. To most people, Hannah' s reasons for suicide were obviously not reasons good enough that would lead to suicide in real life. And I agree a little with them on this part. But just a little. It's true that we face things like those everyday. However I don't think that they should be belittled just because they aren't the major causes why people decide to commit suicide nowadays. Every person is different. And so is the way that they think and feel. Something that might not affect you, can have an entirely different effect on another person. The way Hannah felt toward those people's actions, I find it relatable. To not be able to trust people even when the right ones come along, to be terrified of them, pushing them away but also needing someone's help at times. I completely understand it. And I believe that this are the real reasons why she did what she did. I mean the ugliness and cruelty of some people can do that to you. "We all have felt like Hannah at some point in our lives, yet here we are" I hear you saying. True, but as I said everyone perceives things differently. I don't think that the reason why this book was written was to promote suicide among those who already feel helpless. Instead I think that the main reason was to promote understanding among those people who may have been Justin, Bryce, Jessica or Tyler at least once in their lives or even to those who have never been. Basically, to make people reflect on their actions. As for the suicide thing, I have always been against it. I do not validate it but even so I know how tempting it is to give up sometimes and how tiring it may be to continue on. And I can't help but feel sorry if that happens because a precious life is wasted. But I don't think that it's right to judge that person as weak even when that happens. Instead we should think of them as a struggling human being, one that did his/her utmost until the end to not give in, regardless of the result. Because you will struggle, a lot both ways. There is another thing that I came to realize after finishing the book. Until now I wasn't sure as to why the author chose to end Hannah's life thinking, but then I thought that perhaps his purpose is to emphasize the importance of our lives. "But if he wanted to promote that, J.A wouldn't have ended Hannah's life hence no reasons and hence no book" I hear you say again. And my answer to you all is that we only understand the value of something after it's lost. Forever at times. Would have Clay came to regret all those things and change his way of acting if it weren't for Hannah's suicide? I don't think so. Saying this, I still don't justify it. Just stating an opinion. As for the tapes, most of the reviews that I came across with stated that Hannah was just victimizing herself and blaming the others for her death and that those tapes were unnecessary. But would you think the same way if Hannah wouldn't have send them and you only learned for her reasons through her diary for e.g? I can't help but just wonder. Apart from all of this heavy stuff, I found the author's writing style beautiful. Simply beautiful. Every single word of Hannah's and Clay's narration made me feel something. J.A's choice for intertwining Clay's and Hannah's thought made the book more unique, even if sometimes was hard to follow. And the feelings that came off were bittersweet. Something that I longed to feel from a book. There is no doubt that J. Asher is quite talented and knows his way with words. I am looking forward to his other works.

I read the entire book in one night. I had watched the show several years ago and had some reviews of the show pop up on YouTube and decided to buy the book, but when I went to the Amazon page it said I purchased it already in 2018. I totally forgot! So that day after work I found it on my bookshelf and started reading. I couldn't put it down! I was up until 1am finishing the book. I don't do that often! It is poignant and compelling and really makes you want to think about how your actions can affect others in a profound way. I'm 37 years old and this is just as applicable to me as it is a teen, though I'd argue more so for a teen. Although she does end her life, you are screaming at her the entire time to do things differently. Yeah some horrible stuff happened to her but having the tape about Clay really shows how you could change things around if you're in a similar mind frame. One review I read said there was no "debriefing" chapter but I disagree. I'd like to think each person on the tapes was inspired to be a better person and do better overall. If you're considering for a younger person as a parent, read it first and discuss it with your child. I can see the point of some of the reviews that it might be glorifying suicide, though I do not think that is an intended theme. Gently guide your younger reader to a different perspective and I don't think there would be any issues. We don't get to see how the tapes affect anyone but clay, really, so the idea that it's revenge of some sort is not a huge theme. I think this story only "glorifies" suicide in some people's eyes because it is simply talking about suicide in an intimate and personal way. Overall, I think the ideas of hope and love and putting good into the world far outweigh anything else that could be read into it.

This is a difficult topic for kids and parents to discuss. The reality, however, is that many kids think about suicide or have friends thinking about suicide, so this book can be a good ice breaker to discuss the topic. Con: The book did not have a debriefing chapter at the end. I realize that as a novel, this is not necessary. It just concerns me that with a topic to serious, it would be important to have this, especially in the case of the many teenagers who are reading that do not have parents discussing it with them. The point in the book was not to glorify suicide, however, as a result, it kind of minimized suicide. My daughter thought that it would be easy to kill yourself by taking pills (the method of this character) and it opened up a discussion about the realities of attempted suicides by overdosing on pills, including the fact that you could just do permanent damage to your body and that it is really difficult to overdose on pills that are readily available. The book does not debrief about the fact that none of these 13 reasons are really reasons to kill yourself and that they all have realistic solutions to dealing with them. Likewise, it let's the reader assume that if they have ever done any one of the 13 things, they are reallly really bad, could be at fault for causing someone to kill themselves, etc. I talked with my daughter about the fact that while people should not do anything to hurt others intentionally, the reality is that sometimes we do hurt others, dispite our best efforts--and that doesn't make us bad. If you know about it, you can apologize, but you may never know that you even hurt their feelings--if their behavior and words are appropriate, they need not worry all the time about how they made others feel (my daughter would have done this after reading this book if we hadn't gotten to talk about it). Also, like some reviewers have mentioned, the book does not delve into the fact that ultimately this girl had a problem that needed to be addressed and that it is because of that problem that she killed herself. There is only 1 line in the entire book, easily missed, that indicates, perhaps she shouldn't have killed herself over these things. I understand that it doesn't fit well within the context of the novel, however, it would be good in a debriefing chapter. The book was a quick read and kept you going back for more to find out what was going to be next. I would say it was definitely meant for 11 year olds - teens and isn't that great for adults (but if your kid is reading it, you should too). Throughout the book, it was mentioned a few times, why didn't she just say something to me, if she did, I could have told her what I meant, or, if she had only spoken up about how she felt, we could help her. Again these lines were easy to miss but were said a few times--sending a good message to speak up if you feel this way. This book as the potential to save lives if children read it and call the crisis numbers in the back, speak to guidance counselors, speak to parents, or even they discuss them amongst themselves and one in the group is psychologically sophisticated and has been debriefed about it themselves. On the flip side, I suppose it could be used by someone seriously suicidal to go ahead and do it--after all, it never made it a bad thing and in fact, for kids with certain diagnosis, it made it an attractive thing because at least 14 people had to listen and think about those tapes and reflect on her, giving her much more attention than she would have received if she had remained alive. To sum it up: I would not hesitate having my child read this if I or a professional could speak to them after. If you find out your child has read it, quickly read it and start talking about it. What did they like? How would they feel if they had gotten a tape? Do you think those were the ONLY reasons she killed herself? Do you know anyone who has thought about suicide? Have you ever thought about suicide? if so, have you ever thought about doing it? AND then, please seek professional help for your child if they have thought about suicide, even if they are not currently planning to kill themselves.