Thirteen Reasons Why in Our Shared Shelf

Sep 25, 2018 Molli B. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: length-novel, level-ya, genre-not-m-m, format-kindle, genre-new-adult, borrowed, borrowed-have, 2018-shelved, 2018-read, borrowed-library-have

I read this on a whim for Banned Book Week; I'd never really intended to read it (or watch it on Netflix). But it's short, and I had time today, so here we are. God bless libraries that loan Kindle books.

It was pretty good. I like the format, the interweaving of narratives. I think it's a super-important subject, and anything that makes people more comfortable talking about mental health issues is good. If it makes even one person think, "Oh, is that what's going on with me?" the publishing cost ...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Dana Berglund rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: youngadult

I listened to this audiobook, which was a great way to experience it. I liked the voices of our narrators. I wasn't sure that I would like the book, to be honest, and I'm still not entirely sure I would recommend it to anyone under the age of 21. I do think it does glamorize suicide a bit. I also think it glamorizes the idea that you can get even with everyone who tormented you or stomped on your self-esteem in high school by making tapes calling them out on their bad behavior. If she were reall ...more

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Jul 03, 2011 Colleen rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult-books

No matter what I say about this book, I will probably offend someone. Suicide is such a sensitive subject. So--I will say it right off the bat--this book offended ME in many ways. I personally know someone who was blamed for a friend's suicide and I can't begin to tell you how devastating it was and still is for her. So right away, I was inclined to dislike the premise of this book. My inclination was correct. Not only that but I also disliked Hannah, the girl who committed suicide. I wanted to No matter what I say about this book, I will probably offend someone. Suicide is such a sensitive subject. So--I will say it right off the bat--this book offended ME in many ways. I personally know someone who was blamed for a friend's suicide and I can't begin to tell you how devastating it was and still is for her. So right away, I was inclined to dislike the premise of this book. My inclination was correct. Not only that but I also disliked Hannah, the girl who committed suicide. I wanted to like her, oh so bad, but the further I got in the book, the more I disliked her. And I felt no sympathy for her at all. How sad is that? Perhaps it was that the author, Jay Asher, did not write a convincing teenage girl's voice. Hannah sounded like an adult trying desperately to navigate her way through high school. I'm currently reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Now that is a convincing teenage girl's voice. You already know that Hannah committed suicide. Before she did, she created 13 tapes, blaming 13 people for her suicide, then mailed them to the first person on the list, with a threatening note that they must pass the tapes along to the next person, or else...Clay is one of the recipients and the narrator of the story. Now, some of the 13 were clearly rotten to Hannah. But for the life of me I just couldn't figure out what the majority did to Hannah that was so bad. The incidents seemed so typical of teenagers. As an adult, I have the benefit of hindsight. I don't remember most of the painful moments of high school (although at my last class reunion they started to come back to me). And I often don't understand why people commit suicide. Perhaps many simply cannot endure those painful moments that most of us simply get over? But even the most awful incident Hannah endured, she brought upon herself. She agreed to it! She came across as smug and arrogant and positively giddy with the thought of how much pain she was going to cause the people she claimed "wronged" her. I think the reviewers who gushed over this book got caught up in the gimmicky aspect of it. I know I did. 13 tapes-13 chapters-13 people--a unique idea. Maybe the real reason I didn't like this book was because as I was reading it, my sister was dying of cancer. She fought so hard for her life--I don't have much sympathy for someone who would willingly take her own precious life. And then blame everyone else for it. ...more

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Sep 27, 2017 Alicia rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This might be a good book about teenagers, but it’s a terrible book about suicide. People don’t need a series of terrible events to make them suicidal, and suggesting they do is dangerously ignorant . This book turns issues like suicide, rape and trauma into melodrama - so it makes sense that it became a CW TV show. I'd like to credit the author with trying to make a good point about reaching out to people when you know there's something wrong, but if that was the intent of this book it simply d ...more

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