Thirteen Reasons Why in We Stand-Alone Reading Challenge

Jun 11, 2017 Gabby (What's Beyond Forks?) added it

Shelves: reviewed

Full Review at: What's Beyond Forks?

After going back and forth about it, I've decided not to officially rate this book. Honestly, I don't know how. When I first finished reading it, I was angry. I was mad at Hannah. I was mad at the author. I was mad at the World for all the real life Hannahs out there.

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher was a little different than what I was expecting. I knew it would be pretty emotional since it's partially told from the point of view of a suicidal teenage girl who c Full Review at: What's Beyond Forks?

After going back and forth about it, I've decided not to officially rate this book. Honestly, I don't know how. When I first finished reading it, I was angry. I was mad at Hannah. I was mad at the author. I was mad at the World for all the real life Hannahs out there.

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher was a little different than what I was expecting. I knew it would be pretty emotional since it's partially told from the point of view of a suicidal teenage girl who carried out her plans of suicide and succeeded. The book does a great job showing various signs to watch for in a suicidal person. I listened to the audiobook version, and if you want to read this book, I highly recommend listening to the audio version for two reasons. One, I never heard it specify when there was a change in the point of view, but with the audio, you easily knew when it was Clay or Hannah by the obvious change in voice. I'd imagine that would be confusing at times if I was reading the actual book. Second, Hannah's narrator did a fabulous job. Both narrators did, but since Hannah's point of view is all told from cassette tapes, it's almost like you're listening to her actual tapes which was painful and at time excruciating, but I think that's important. You truly want to jump in there and help this girl.

Many of the things that happen to Hannah don't seem like a big deal, but who are we to decide that? Everyone handles things differently. Some people can't handle as much. Some people handle too much. We never know what a person is going through when we're not around them. We don't all live with them, and we're not in their mind. We really have no clue. So, little things are big things to them, especially if they are all building toward one really screwed up ugly picture. People always say: "It's the little things." Usually they mean it in a positive light, but I think it means just as much in the negative as well. The little things can break us sometimes. In the case with this book, we know only what Hannah chose to tell us. When she made these tapes, she seems cool and collected. At times she was even witty and fun, so it's easy to get mad at her. And I did! Who was she to throw all those people under the bus, when what she did was so much worse? Worse meaning: Hannah didn't help a friend when they needed her most! I can't say more or it'd turn into a spoiler.

The book leaves this to interpretation, but I think the guilt she felt over her friend is what created and cemented her decision to commit suicide. In fact, I don't really think she was considering suicide before this. When it happened, all the previous things that seem so "small" to us as the readers just inflated in her mind, (not to mention the guilt) until she felt there was no other way out. So, she went on to allow what I consider the ultimate act of self destruction. It was like she was punishing herself...committing her emotional suicide before the actual suicide. Then she made her tapes.

Anyway... yes! I was angry at Hannah! But I had to remember, these tapes weren't made by a person in a healthy state of mind. When she recorded them, she was in turmoil. She was in pain. She was scared. She was confused. She probably didn't even know how she really felt about anything. So, she was lashing out. She was also calling for help. Unfortunately, no one has the chance to hear her until she was already dead. I fully realize I'm talking about her like she is a real person, but in a sense, she is real. There are real Hannahs out there.

My big fear, and this fear applies to the mini series as well, is that people will copy this behavior. I can't say this book does or doesn't glamorize suicide. I just can't give a blanket statement like that, because it's all in the mindset of the individual, and I can clearly see how this idea of the ultimate revenge on all who have wronged you can seem appealing. Especially when you're young, and hormones and emotions are at an all time high. Everything feels world ending and life changing when you're young. So, I can easily see both sides.. the good and the bad. One thing I can say is, this book will change you. Good or bad, you will forever see things differently.

Unfortunately, there is no perfect answer or fail-safe with issues like this. I just hope the good far outweighs the bad. I hope people feel hope, and I hope this opens some much needed lines of communication among people. I think it is already. I've read that this book has saved lives, and I hope it saves more. It brings awareness to things we may not be paying enough attention to as individuals and as a society. The fact that I think it has potential to help people, is a big reason why I'm not putting a rating on it. Whether I like it or not is irrelevant, and I'm not sure how I feel about it at the moment anyway. Earlier, I was mad. Right now? My feelings are favorable. Five minutes ago? I was crying. Ask me again in an hour. How can you rate that? Like I said in the beginning of this post, I wouldn't know how.

This book felt very real to me. I guess that's why I've written and rewritten this review over the last few weeks. I still don't think I have it right.

*Please keep in mind the book is very different from the Netflix mini series version. The show adds and changes a lot. For once, I actually like that they changed things. I think the differences may be helpful to even more people that may have had similar experiences. Also, the author of the book originally planned for Hannah to survive, and after searching online real quick, I found that there is a 10th Anniversary edition of 13 Reasons Why that has that alternate ending in it. I grabbed it as soon as I could. I think the alternate ending has the potential to help people too. Plus, it's nice to see her survive. Hopefully in reading this book, seeing the series, or both, people will realize they aren't alone and that there is hope. Suicide is never the answer. Get help. Don't give up. ...more

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Jun 13, 2010 Nicole rated it it was amazing

Wow... I am... speechless... I can't seem to find the right words for this one. To say it was amazing would kind of defeat the purpose, but it was. It wasn't beautiful. It was ugly and really showed how cruel some people can be. But at the same time I couldn't stop reading. I wanted to get to end and see that she hadn't really killed herself. That somehow everything would turn out okay. But that's not the point of this novel. At least the ending gives us some hope for another lost soul... God bl Wow... I am... speechless... I can't seem to find the right words for this one. To say it was amazing would kind of defeat the purpose, but it was. It wasn't beautiful. It was ugly and really showed how cruel some people can be. But at the same time I couldn't stop reading. I wanted to get to end and see that she hadn't really killed herself. That somehow everything would turn out okay. But that's not the point of this novel. At least the ending gives us some hope for another lost soul... God bless you Clay.

It's always interesting to find out why someone killed themselves (interesting in a sick way). Because you want to know how things could get so bad for someone that they felt that they needed to stop living. But we usually don't get that chance. Hannah wanted everyone that was involved in her suicide to know that they played a part in it. She wanted them to feel bad. Which is vindictive, especially since (and she even admits this) it's ultimately her decision to end her life. I'm not saying they didn't deserve what they got... I'm just not sure guilt was the right way to go. Some thing are better left unsaid. But not for Hannah.

Asher is a brilliant writer, but I just can't decide how. You could tell Hannah got less snappy and more accepting as the tapes went on, and Clay's reactions were perfect and I think spot-on. I had the edition with the Q&A in the back, and that helped me understand it a little. The truth is, I couldn't have written this book. I would have stopped halfway through, told myself I couldn't do it, and then taken stock of my own life. It was hard enough reading it.

Since there's not much to say, I'm going to tell a story. If you don't care, don't read on, but it's interesting how similar my story and Hannah's is. I didn't realize it until I compared the two, though they're more like coincidences. One last thing: this is... well it's something every teenager should read. You should know that you're never as alone as you think you are. There's always someone that loves you enough to want to help you. You just have to reach out...

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I have had my own brush with suicide, that is to say (before you guys start freaking out) that I knew a girl in middle school who killed herself. She hung herself from her bed one day after school. And, as per one of the main themes of this book, the rumors started flying. I didn't know her. She was popular, I wasn't. She had never talked to me; not once! But I remember distinctly the day before she died that she told me my butt was big. Now that I think about it, this book is really accurate. To this day I think my ass is a little too big, though I hadn't even considered it before that moment, which reminds me of the list Hannah was on. Although I wasn't the one that killed myself, but I might have considered it with everything that was happening to Hannah. I wonder if that was her trying to make herself feel better, the girl that told me my butt was big. I guess it didn't work...

Something else I remember about the day she killed herself was that she rushed out of her English class (she had the same teacher right before me) and had this look on her face. I'm still not sure exactly what I saw, but I turned to my friend and said "She's going to do something". I don't know how I knew, but even I couldn't have known that she would go as far as suicide. I assumed it was drugs, since she was popular and it was 8th grade. Then she wasn't in school the next day. I thought nothing of it. Popular people were always ditching school because their parents were rich and didn't give a damn. The day after, it was announced (in my English class where the girl had run out a couple days before) that she was dead. And then I heard that my English teacher had been yelling at her when she'd run out and I'd seen that determined and set look on her face. That kind of reminds me of Mr. Porter. My teacher (a bitch though she was) should have never yelled at a student like she did, and I wonder if that contributed to her death, and if the teacher saw something in her eyes before she left that gave her away. I can only imagine the guilt of the last thing that awful woman said to her...

At the time, I had no sympathy. I went with one of my friends who had known her well to go down to the quad and talk with other people about it, and counselors... But I didn't feel bad. My anger and my confusion and my slight sadness sort of balanced each other out so that this nothingness settled in. I'd heard in the newspaper that she'd said goodbye to her friends before leaving school that day, though they didn't really understand. And then that night, she killed herself...

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, this is a little walk down memory lane. I will never forget what happened those few days, and I will never forget this book. Everything is a snowball effect, but suicide is not the answer to stop it. If only you could see how many people love you, the ones that mourn you the most once you're gone, before you decide to take your life. There's always hope, even when life seems at its darkest. ...more

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Nov 30, 2013 Kirstyn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, contemporary, already-own-it, fiction, current-events

10 stars. Seriously. I'm not sure what to even say about this book. It grips you and doesn't let go; even when you have set the book down you're constantly thinking about it.

I really feel for Clay and Hannah. Clay especially, as he is having to deal with something extremely traumatic-listen to suicide tapes from a classmate. The writing is so compelling that you feel the range of emotions from both characters. I love the idea of a dual point of view! It made the story more realistic to me. You ...more

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Feb 04, 2010 Andrea at Reading Lark rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, favorites, 5-stars, young-adult, read-in-2010

Amazingly written, heart breakingly tragic - this is one that I feel all teens should read. You never know how the things you say and do can affect the lives of others. This is one that truly makes you think.

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Nov 05, 2012 Nel rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, 2012

Hannah shouldn't kill herself. She is too weak and i hate people like that. The best way to solve a problem is to face it, not to end your life. Clay should try his best to comfort Hannah. Everyone needs someone to talk to and to share their problem. This reminds me of someone i used to know, but luckily she did not end up killing herself. ...more

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