Hannah Baker has committed suicide, and rather than leaving a note, she leaves a series of cassette tapes meant to tell her story and identify the key people in her life who’ve pushed her to make this decision. There are thirteen tapes in total, and when Clay Jensen receives the shoebox of tapes, the reader is given the opportunity to “listen” to these tapes through the Walkman he borrows from a fellow student. In addition to the tapes is a map, pinpointing the different spots throughout town that are memorable for Hannah—from the Blue Spot Liquor Store where one of her perpetrators groped her, to Rosie’s Diner where she is violated by another, to the house where she could’ve stopped the rape of a classmate but chose not to. As Clay listens to the tapes, he follows the marked stars on the map, giving the reader not only an audible account of Hannah’s turmoil, but a visual.
And why Clay Jensen? Of all of the people Hannah identifies in her recordings, Clay is the only one who did her no wrong. Rather, she did him wrong, and she wants the world to know that it was this last move by her that sent her over the edge. But the decision to push him away was a direct result of how the others treated her by what they said, what they did, and what they didn’t do. And all of these people are connected to each other by their choices that snowballed into the avalanche that eventually caused Hannah to end her life.
Thirteen Reasons Why is a gripping page-turner, and for young adults, it’s a powerful lesson about the importance of treating others how you want to be treated yourself. Jay Asher takes the actions of a group of young people and dissects each one to show how something small and insignificant to one person can be life-altering to another—what you think is “no big deal” can actually be catastrophic.
Reviews of Thirteen Reasons Why are mixed, with most young readers pushed to tears by Hannah’s plight, identifying with her on a very emotional and powerful level. But others have argued that Hannah’s decision to take her own life is unrealistic. In my opinion, Hannah’s character doesn’t appear to be the type who would become so disheveled by the idiocy of her peers that she would choose to commit suicide—rather, she’s intelligent, witty and strong. Her voice throughout the tapes is calm and sensible, as though she’s really alive and well and just playing a game to scare her enemies. And it’s HOW Hannah talks that also throws me for a loop. There are too many instances throughout the book where I don’t believe a teenage girl—especially one emotionally disconnected enough to take her own life—would talk that way.
Even so, Thirteen Reasons Why is a beautifully sad story and one I believe every high school student should read. Regardless of Hannah’s voice, there are important lessons to be learned from this book.