Thirteen Reasons Why in Penguin's Point of View Books

Mar 17, 2008 stephanie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: would-rec, 2008, suicide, absolutely-must-read, young-adult, contemporaryfiction

eta 2: this is also the perfect book to listen to on audiotape. usually i am annoyed with audiobooks, but i enjoyed listening to this one almost as much as reading it, because i was hearing hannah while driving in my car, much the same way clay was. still love this book and it's boldness.

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eta: for everyone that thinks hannah's suicide was unbelievable, or that the reasons were just stupid and petty, take a moment and think about how what happened could have been the impetus for suicide. it's no ...more

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Sep 11, 2008 Lilla rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, contemporary-fiction, 2007, rao-reviews, favourites, realistic-fiction, reviewed

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is not a book to be taken lightly. As such, I wouldn’t recommend starting this when you have somewhere to be or if you are getting ready for bed. You will not want to put it down! I was so captivated by this novel that I had a hard time sleeping. And as soon as it was morning, I picked it right back up. I could not believe this was Mr. Asher’s debut; what a stunning debut indeed!

Thirteen Reasons Why will have teens and young adults engrossed and enthralled while ...more

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Jun 03, 2009 April rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, contemporary, 2017-unhaul

I love reading books that have received a lot of attention. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher published in 2007 still garners reviews in the book blogosphere. I’m not sure what I can say that will be different, but maybe you don’t read book blogs. Maybe you need just a little push to FINALLY pick up Thirteen Reasons Why - I hope I can do that. Thirteen Reasons Why is a book that made me think deeply and consider my actions — we know I am not the nicest person so maybe I should reconsider my word ...more

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Nov 19, 2008 Nely rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a package with his name on it lying on his porch. Happily he tears into the package only to find that inside are cassette tapes and a letter from Hannah Baker. The girl who he's crushed on since her arrival at his school. The same girl who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On these seven tapes, Hannah explains are the thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life and Clay is one of them. He has to promise to pass the tapes on to the next person i Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a package with his name on it lying on his porch. Happily he tears into the package only to find that inside are cassette tapes and a letter from Hannah Baker. The girl who he's crushed on since her arrival at his school. The same girl who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On these seven tapes, Hannah explains are the thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life and Clay is one of them. He has to promise to pass the tapes on to the next person in the list but before that he'll have to listen in order to find out how he made the list and just how responsible he was for a girl to feel that she had nowhere left to turn.

Please don't ask me why I've waited to so long to read this book. I think it might have been that I was avoiding the dark subject matter. I'm not entirely sure, but I can tell you that I have had it sitting in my shelves since I purchased it when it first came out.

From the moment that I cracked this book open I could not put it down. I immediately became captivated by the dual narrative of Clay and Hannah. Mr. Asher's storytelling was done in a way where I could easily switch over from Clay's thoughts to Hannah's voice, which you could almost hear - it was that clear, precise, young, sad. I'm not sure if everyone's book came in the same packaging as mine did, but I was able to pull the jacket off my hardcover and by flipping it over I had a copy of the map that Clay was using during the narrative.

I literally became obsessed with this book. I had to know what would cause a young woman to take her life. How a boy like Clay was somehow connected and even one of the reasons that caused the "snowball effect" that led her to end her life so abruptly. I was on an emotional roller coaster - I was going through the up's and down's of Hannah's life, through Clay's anger, frustration, doubt. I found myself wondering at how we can take people for granted, sometimes act or speak without thinking and how these same thoughtless actions can affect another person. It was very thought-provoking, to say the least. Mr. Asher did a phenomenal job of capturing the pressures, challenges and pitfalls today's kids face.

There is no humor in these pages. It is sad and heartbreaking but one that will stay with me for a long time. There aren't words to describe how I feel for this book. All I can say is, if you own it, read it, if you don't, buy it or check out from your library, you will not be disappointed. ...more

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Jan 22, 2009 Kelly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

When Clay comes home to a package in front of his door, he doesn't realise that it'll change his life forever. The package holds seven cassette tapes recorded by a girl who committed suicide 2 weeks earlier. On the tapes are thirteen reasons why she did it, and Clay is one of those reasons. Over the course of one night, Clay gets to know Hannah through the tapes, and finds out what drove her to suicide...

Although a little bit heartbreaking, this is a great book, and a really easy read. It has an ...more

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May 09, 2010 Stephanie rated it really liked it

Such a fantastic story, and it was told in a great way, considering the protagonist wasn't alive. ...more

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Mar 18, 2009 Ashley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own

Wow. WOW. I don't know what else to say. This book was intense. It is probably the best book I have read in a long time. It's going to stick with me for a while. ...more

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