Book Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.
Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

Eh. I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I was so excited to read it before I got and began with such great promise. However, somewhere in the middle I fell off the boat. I was no longer feeling it. Let's start with the pros.

This book is very well written. The crafting of the novel, the flow, the dual thoughts of Clay and Hannah. Jay Asher is a great writer and this is a an awesome idea for a book.

Clay is my absolute favorite character. I felt his emotions. I went through every thought with him. Clay is a great person, the kind you would/should make your friend.

Ok, on to the negative. I couldn't connect with Hannah at all. In parts she came off mean. I found myself asking, 'why are you doing this?' 'what is your point?' It was almost like a blame game. Like she was suicidal and needed to justify her suicide by pointing out the actions of her peers. Hannah kind of fell flat. Which was seriously disappointing considering this book is about her. I wanted to cry. I wanted to feel sad. At the end of the book, I wanted to go wow. But none of that happened. I love the idea of this book because the one thing I want to know is the thought of others and what makes them do what they do. By the end of this I just wasn't convinced.

The one thing that keeps the book on a higher standard is that you can't judge what affects people. Just because these problems seem small to us doesn't mean that they are small problems. Its not her 13 reasons that is the problem for me, its the connection to Hannah and her problems. She seemed mad not sad. Rebellious not suicidal.