Thirteen (13) Reasons Why

Cover Thirteen  (13) Reasons Why
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Genres: Fiction » Young Adult

I put this review off for quite some time now, only because I needed a cool head before I could give my take on it. I will also draw some parallels to the TV show so if you haven’t seen that yet, fair warning: there might be some spoilers....

Thirteen Reasons Why is a pretty controversial book and you can easily see why. It is my general belief that the world nowadays had got a bit oversensitive, but this is not one of those cases. The idea that this book glamorizes suicide is backed up by ve

...

ry strong arguments.
And this whole problem starts with the central character of the story, Hannah Baker. She commits suicide and sends out tapes in which she uncovers the motives behind her decision and the people ‘responsible’ for it. Now, I put ‘responsible’ in quotes because, in the end, it was Hannah’s decision to die. And, for all the flack that I might get for it, at least for me, it did not make a lot of sense. Full disclosure: I know you shouldn’t blame the victim, but if you read this book, prepare to feel irritated with Hannah. It might be just me, but I found her needy, narcissistic and overall an unlikable semi-protagonist.

And trust me, in a book about suicide that is hard to do. But Asher does it. He makes you roll your eyes at Hannah’s constant and (a lot of times unwarranted) whining. Hannah has indeed some shitty things happening to her and you can’t expect all people to be strong, but even so, it felt more and more as the book went on that Hannah did some things just to justify to herself the ‘need’ to take her life. It was truly shocking at some points how she put herself in situations that could’ve easily been avoided.

Now let’s talk about Clay, the novel’s other protagonist. I found him way more likable, even if a bit naive. It is quite obvious that Clay’s love for Hannah is much stronger than the other way around. There is a point where Clay discovers his own tape among those Hannah made to accuse those that lead her to her death and at that point I really started looking forward to the plot twist. I thought: well, if he has a tape then something must have happened. But no. He has no reason for being there. Hannah herself says so, which makes it even more stupid. And all the while Clay suffers because of it, fearing why Hannah would blame him. As I said, I found Hannah to be needy and unfair in a lot of things. Another example would be the tape with the shrink, where Hannah says she as presented with the only two choices possible in our very limited world: to say who ‘raped’ her and go from there or to find a way to move on. Of course she chose neither and decided to blame the shrink for not trying enough. And I have to ask myself at this point if the fact that I am a guy clouds my judgement. Am I the only one thinking that is stupid? What did she want him to do more than that?

And I think you saw that I placed the word ‘rape’ in quotes. I know this is a sensitive subject, but hear me out. I talked to a good friend of mine who also read the book. She is a woman and I wanted her take on it just because I did not want to sound like a jerk. And she felt just like me. So Hannah goes to this party. She herself can predict what will happen. She says so. Even Clay says that she did it only to break the last bonds that kept her from committing suicide. And there she lays in the pool and this guy comes to her and starts touching her and stuff. And here is the biggest issue: I know there must be consent, but she says nothing. Absolutely nothing. And silence might not consent, but Hannah doesn’t even try. Like, at all. She just stays there and lets it happen to her. And even on the tape she doesn’t say that she was terrified to the point of complete silence. Just that he should’ve guessed that she would not like it. And I am like: are you serious? It’s like she expected him to read minds. It’s like going to a lion’s den and ask yourself why he attacked you. Am I being insensitive here? Because that is really not my intent.

Now, I said I will draw some parallels to the TV show, and that I will do. I felt that the show did a way better job at underlining the fact that the world is not separated in good people and evil people. There are a lot of grey areas. But maybe that is why I found Hannah even worse in the TV series. And as a side note, I found Justin’s story IN THE TV SHOW much more compelling than Hannah’s. You can’t compare reasons that would send people to take their lives, but even so Justin’s story IN THE SHOW is way sadder than Hannah’s. Maybe that was one of the reasons why Show-Hannah was even more annoying than book-Hannah. Another reason would be that Show-Hannah hurts Clay even more and I found that truly despicable.

And that is about all. Hope I did not make people mad. For a time I actually considered not writing this review just because I might offend some. But that is not how the world should go. So here it is.

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User Reviews:

Guest 2 years ago

I'm not yet started with this book but the reviews are awesome so I'll read it, and see how it goes.

Guest 4 years ago

This book is honestly one of the best books I have ever read, and I have read a lot of books. The pace was wonderful, and the suspense, patience, and story line were intriguing and helpful. My bestfriend committed suicide a few weeks ago, and reading this book made me think of what could have happened to cause this. Was I a reason? This book is an eye opener, it is really telling people "Hey, what you do effects people." This book has given me an insight to the mind of a teenage girl at the end of her rope, and it has made me sit up a lot of nights replaying conversations and events to see what I missed in my own best friends case. To Annie, my best friend: I am so sorry for whatever you had to go through and I am sorry that I didn't see it. If I contributed to your pain, all I can say is that I am sorry, so, so, so, sorry. You will always be my best friend and I will always love you.

jacylmorrison 4 years ago

Watched the show first like most people. The book is just as awesome as the show. It's such a great story to bring awareness to all of these issues that young people face. Especially suicide... Just like the show, certain things can be hard to read, but you have to...To try and gain an understanding of what those people have to deal with in those situations. The big thing I take away from this book and the show is, you never know how your actions or words can affect someone. Just like Hannah's mentioning of the "Snowball Effect", our words or actions can add to that persons snowball.
I see a lot of people talk bad about Hannah. I don't think those people understand that Hannah is a young high school teenager. Teenagers are learning their way into the world and themselves. It's hard enough without being treated poorly. Sometimes something that may seem minuscule to you may be GIANT or the tip of the iceberg...to people like Hannah.

Cheepy Zhang 4 years ago

Zis book is awesome, and I read it 3 times. Awesome awesome awesome awesome (trying to get 100 characters the lazy way) awesome awesome awesome awesome

Guest 5 years ago

Luv, soo deep made, me cry
SaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad
Trying to get to 100 characters lol

Cheepy Zhang 4 years ago

100 characters not easy to get. Very hard to get, as a matter of fact. Do comments need 100 characters? I do not know. Is zis 100 characters yet? I think zis is. :D

Guest 5 years ago

Honestly this book is amazing, if any of you like the idea of the book, but thing its a little, flat, try watching the tv series first, it clears a lot up. I love, and will always, love this book so much. Ive been looking for more books like this, about suicide, because it really helps to find something to relate to, do any of you know any more books like this? thank you, if any of you guys are struggling, stay strong, people love you

Guest 5 years ago

bro
i want something like this too
but most books about suicide are hard to relate too and is just some bs about action

Guest 6 years ago

I know that a lot of people are saying how the book is boring and stuff but i was pleasantly surprised! I will admit that the book can move slow, and that people find fault with Hannah's reasoning, which can be frustrating. But I think that we all need to remember that Hannah is a teenager, one who has to make hard descions to the best of her abilities. Otherwise, I enjoyed the book and how close I got to Hannah and Clay.

Guest 6 years ago

loved the series but I'm not a fan of the book . !!! the show was a lot more detailed than the book is .. the book is very one sided
.. Boring almost .

kennedy+you 6 years ago

Sir?” she repeats. “How soon do you want it to get there?”

I rub two fingers, hard, over my left eyebrow. The throbbing has become intense. “It doesn’t matter,” I say.

The clerk takes the package. The same shoebox that sat on my porch less than twenty-four hours ago; rewrapped in a brown paper bag, sealed with clear packing tape, exactly as I had received it. But now addressed with a new name. The next name on Hannah Baker’s list.

“Baker’s dozen,” I mumble. Then I feel disgusted for even noticing it.

“Excuse me?”

I shake my head. “How much is it?”

She places the box on a rubber pad, then punches a sequence on her keypad.

I set my cup of gas-station coffee on the counter and glance at the screen. I pull a few bills from my wallet, dig some coins out of my pocket, and place my money on the counter. i wrote the first page someone anyone give me a reson to why it starts like this

Guest 5 years ago

That’s just the first page. But if you read the first chapter it flashes back to that day before and it explains it

Guest 6 years ago

The books is simply too boring to continue reading all the way to the end. And that comes from someone who loves to read books. For these I had to fast forward to the end because the character was written to be a very unintelligent girl who takes forever to tell her story. Clay is the only character who we can have sympathy for. She kept too many secrets and even got along well white her foes just because she could not confront them. What the hell?That was very ridiculous. Well, I missed many chapters, so if I ever get to read it all; I might think differently......but most probably not. Lol

Guest 5 years ago

STFU STFU STFU STFU STFU STFU STFU
YOU CANT SAY ANYTHING IF YOI HAVENT READ THE WHOLE BOOK YOU BASDARD
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