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Told from the perspective of Clay Jenson, a high school student and all around good kid, we follow his personal journey as he learns the thirteen reasons Hannah Baker committed suicide. This ingenious little book is profound and made me bawl my eyes out. Repeatedly. And even the next day, after I finished reading the book, little things would play in my head and I cried again. I'll be honest, I didn't cry because it has the kind of super sweet elements that tug on the heart strings and makes a person cry. I cried because it was real. It tore my heart out. And it's worth every tissue, every single well-crafted word. There are two aspects to this story that are fascinating and worth reading. These two aspects are why I firmly believe Thirteen Reasons Why should be mandatory reading in High School. One, the discussion about suicide is frank and honest. It's terribly sad that kids aren't given enough credit for their intelligence. Jay Asher assumes young adults are more than intelligent enough and Clay speaks to everyone directly. Instead of skirting around tough issues like suicide, it's simply honest. There are no eye rolling cliches, no saccharine cheese. Hannah goes through experiences that any teenager could experience. Easily. Two, though it was brushed on briefly in the book, the statistics for teenage suicide are very high and downright frightening. People need to be educated, they need to be aware. Not just teenagers, faculty, too. Grown adults who should know better, need to see from a teenager's perspective, how utterly useless and borderline attempted murder it is to patronize a teenager who is obviously crying for help. I can understand why this book might seem controversial or considered to involve issues that are too tough for a young reader. But you know what? That's not anyone's decision to make. Teenagers are not that stupid. Thirteen Reasons Why gives them the full credit they deserve. Okay, enough ranting, I just feel rather strongly about that. Now for a proper review of a fictional novel. Clay Jensen receives a mysterious package in the mail with no return address. In it he finds a shoebox of audiotapes and starts listening. He's shocked to hear the recorded voice of Hannah Baker, a girl he loved who had committed suicide. She explains there are thirteen sides to every story, and tells her story, her thirteen sides. The tapes are forwarded to each person named as a reason. And Clay has been named. From Clay's perspective, we see him ask all the questions anyone would ask. Why didn't Hannah ask him for help? Why did she kill herself? What had happened that was so bad she felt suicide was the only answer? And more importantly for Clay, how is he responsible for her death? Indeed. How is anyone responsible for someone else's decision to end their life? Answer: We're all responsible. Maybe not directly, but little things build up and snowball out of control. It doesn't matter what the specific reason is, it's all a part of the whole. The mind of a teenage girl who just wanted the pain to stop. I won't give anything away, because I feel any reader should realize things as Clay does. He's the perfect narrator. And such a sweet kid. This book has the best bittersweet ending I've ever read. So go on. Strengthen your stomach, grab a big box of tissues, and find out the thirteen reasons why.

2022-10-29 03:54