Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher

Okay, this isn't science fiction or fantasy, but it's worth reviewing so anyone who hasn't heard about it, knows about it.


Clay Jenkens arrives home from school one day and finds a shoebox sized package waiting. When he opens it up, it contains seven cassette tapes, with number one through thirteen on the sides. When he plays side number one, he hears the voice of Hannah. Hannah, the girl who killed herself a few weeks earlier.

In thirteen parts, these tapes tell the story that leads up to her suicide, each side detailing the part one person had to play in her eventual decision. Clay doesn't understand what he's doing on the tapes, or really, even why he might have received them. The stories on the tapes tell in detail how each person contributed to Hannah's pain. Clay, however, never hurt Hannah. He barely knew her, but he did know he wanted to know her better.

Clay doesn't want to listen. But Hannah made sure that each person would be forced to listen. If each person didn't listen to the tapes, then the entire set would be made public. There are embarrassing moments on the tapes. Some go beyond embarrassing into illegal. If one of the people on the list chooses to chance it, then so be it.

So Clay listens.

The story takes us through the last few years of Hannah's life – not moment by moment, but from one hurt to another. We see the pain build through each event, at times wondering what could be worse.

Clay listens to all thirteen sides over one night, taking us from place to place as Hannah describes where an event happened, giving us his memories of the events, letting us see both sides. We are forced to ask ourselves whether Hannah is reacting rationally, or whether she is overreacting to an event.

Can a person overreact? A person feels what he or she feels, no one controls that. You can control your actions, your responses, and maybe even change that initial feeling. So, perhaps actions can be an “overreaction”, but feelings can't. Hannah made decisions about her feelings and the things done to her, and in some sense I'd say that she made them mean more than they actually did. But that's a difficult conclusion.

This is the fourth or fifth time I've tried to write this review. I've now read the book twice, but reading it the second time didn't make this any easier to write. There are times when you want to grab a character and shake them and yell – why can't he see what's going on? There are times when you want to do the same to Hannah, to get her attention, to get her to see that whatever really doesn't mean what she thinks it does.

We know from almost the start that Hannah commits suicide. It doesn't make it any easier to have her tell us, in detail, why.

The book is compelling and hard to put down once you've started. And for all its sadness, it does end with a very small ray of hope

Is it worth reading? Well, I wouldn't have kept trying to write this review if I didn't think so. It won't take long to read – go find yourself a copy.