Hey, guys!
The party went pretty well and I just got home, but I thought that I should write at least three posts for this week, so here I am. Next week will most likely (hopefully) be better. So, I've had this book in my pile to review forever, and I thought that it was about time I got to it.
The first time I read Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, I was in middle school. Unlike many of my peers, I was still very naive until my freshman or sophomore year of high school, and even then I was still learning. Anyway, the first time I read this book, it didn't really have the full effect on me.
I can't remember when I read it the second time (I was probably in high school, though) but I realized what important literature it was the second time around.
In Thirteen Reasons Why, Clay gets a package in the mail with seven cassette tapes and a note telling him that he had to listen to all of them in order and to mail the package to the next person on the list when he was finished, or everyone at school would hear him.
When he pops the first tape in a Walkman, he hears the voice of a girl named Hannah. Hannah used to go to the same high school as Clay. Clay used to be interested in Hannah. Hannah had committed suicide a few months ago.
In the first few minutes of the first side of Tape 1, Hannah explained that before the day she planned to take her own life, she had recorded the cassette tapes in order to give thirteen reasons why she killed herself. And the thing is that each reason is a person. Bullying, abuse, and emotional trauma. It's all there on the tapes.
Clay had quite a crush on Hannah, and doesn't remember doing or saying anything to make her angry or upset. So why is he on these tapes?
If each reason is a person, then what did Clay do to influence Hannah's decision?
He is afraid to find out, but he has no choice in the matter if he wants to keep the tapes a dirty little secret belonging to the small circle of reasons.
Clay doesn't know when he will appear in the tapes, but he can't skip ahead. This is Hannah's story after all.
Hannah's story is unexpected, controversial, and raw. And it is a story that every reader should experience. I would recommend this for those coming of age, in either the later years of middle school or high school age, depending on mental maturity.
Despite the fact that many people have different opinions about suicide victims and their choices, this story provides a sobering new look at the controversy from the point of view that we, as a society, rarely hear from: the suicide victim.
The reader will find himself or herself empathizing with the main character to the point where it is forgotten that Hannah is merely a voice on a tape during the course of the story, because her pain is real even though it is over by the time the story begins.
Thirteen Reasons Why may change attitudes about suicide victims being weak or being cowards. I believe that the first step in suicide prevention is changing attitudes and seeing those who are depressed or considering suicide as people in need of help from loved ones and peers.
If any of you guys or a loved one may be showcasing signs of depression or thoughts of suicide, please seek out help and call a suicide hotline. This type of thing should not be happening, but unfortunately it does. But that doesn't mean that we can't reduce the numbers.
Okay, guys, that's it for tonight. I hope you enjoyed this review and be sure to check in next week for more.
Happy reading!!
The party went pretty well and I just got home, but I thought that I should write at least three posts for this week, so here I am. Next week will most likely (hopefully) be better. So, I've had this book in my pile to review forever, and I thought that it was about time I got to it.
The first time I read Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, I was in middle school. Unlike many of my peers, I was still very naive until my freshman or sophomore year of high school, and even then I was still learning. Anyway, the first time I read this book, it didn't really have the full effect on me.
I can't remember when I read it the second time (I was probably in high school, though) but I realized what important literature it was the second time around.
In Thirteen Reasons Why, Clay gets a package in the mail with seven cassette tapes and a note telling him that he had to listen to all of them in order and to mail the package to the next person on the list when he was finished, or everyone at school would hear him.
When he pops the first tape in a Walkman, he hears the voice of a girl named Hannah. Hannah used to go to the same high school as Clay. Clay used to be interested in Hannah. Hannah had committed suicide a few months ago.
In the first few minutes of the first side of Tape 1, Hannah explained that before the day she planned to take her own life, she had recorded the cassette tapes in order to give thirteen reasons why she killed herself. And the thing is that each reason is a person. Bullying, abuse, and emotional trauma. It's all there on the tapes.
Clay had quite a crush on Hannah, and doesn't remember doing or saying anything to make her angry or upset. So why is he on these tapes?
If each reason is a person, then what did Clay do to influence Hannah's decision?
He is afraid to find out, but he has no choice in the matter if he wants to keep the tapes a dirty little secret belonging to the small circle of reasons.
Clay doesn't know when he will appear in the tapes, but he can't skip ahead. This is Hannah's story after all.
Hannah's story is unexpected, controversial, and raw. And it is a story that every reader should experience. I would recommend this for those coming of age, in either the later years of middle school or high school age, depending on mental maturity.
Despite the fact that many people have different opinions about suicide victims and their choices, this story provides a sobering new look at the controversy from the point of view that we, as a society, rarely hear from: the suicide victim.
The reader will find himself or herself empathizing with the main character to the point where it is forgotten that Hannah is merely a voice on a tape during the course of the story, because her pain is real even though it is over by the time the story begins.
Thirteen Reasons Why may change attitudes about suicide victims being weak or being cowards. I believe that the first step in suicide prevention is changing attitudes and seeing those who are depressed or considering suicide as people in need of help from loved ones and peers.
If any of you guys or a loved one may be showcasing signs of depression or thoughts of suicide, please seek out help and call a suicide hotline. This type of thing should not be happening, but unfortunately it does. But that doesn't mean that we can't reduce the numbers.
Okay, guys, that's it for tonight. I hope you enjoyed this review and be sure to check in next week for more.
Happy reading!!
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