Have you ever wanted to know what pulled someone to suicide? What drove them to pull the trigger, tie the noose, take the pills? 13 Reasons Why takes you into the factors into the decision of one Hannah Baker.
Clay Jensen receives a package with several cassette tapes inside. When he plays the first one, he hears the voice of Hannah Baker, a girl from school who had recently killed herself. She explains that the tapes give thirteen reasons for why she killed herself, and that those involved are the ones on the list of the tapes' recipients. Clay starts to listen and soon becomes drawn into her story. In doing so, he sees a very different side to his world.
Trust me when I say you will also be drawn in. I plowed through this book and had some extremely strong reactions to this book. 13 Reasons Why is not unnecessarily graphic ( the book does not go into the details of Hannah's death nor some of the more sexual scenes), so my reactions were not tied to that. This book is simply powerfully constructed. The novel is written as a kind of dialogue between Hannah's voice on the tapes and Clay's reactions and responses. This dialogue both takes the reader to an understanding of how one can get into such a dark minds and, more importantly, demonstrates how everyone affects the decision. That includes those around the one who does the deed and those around that individual. I think that Asher's perspective adds something to the discourse on suicide. It seems like suicides portrayed as either severely ill individuals or simply victims. That is not how life works, and Asher makes that gray area, well, quite clear.
A side note: If you want to hear excerpts from the tapes, go to http://www.thirteenreasonswhy.com/tapes.php.
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