Thirteen Reasons Why in Around the World in 80 Books

May 28, 2015 Keeley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: enriching-the-inner-teenager

Despite being titled "Thirteen Reasons Why", what the author did best within the pages of this novel, was leave cracks in the doors between the given reasons, so that the darker emotion behind the decision to commit suicide, seeped through. I have read a lot of reviews that state people's frustration with the "reasons" Hannah Baker gave as being too frivolous or too selfish for them to feel for her. I think these responses are exactly why suicide, or entertaining the idea of it, retains its stig Despite being titled "Thirteen Reasons Why", what the author did best within the pages of this novel, was leave cracks in the doors between the given reasons, so that the darker emotion behind the decision to commit suicide, seeped through. I have read a lot of reviews that state people's frustration with the "reasons" Hannah Baker gave as being too frivolous or too selfish for them to feel for her. I think these responses are exactly why suicide, or entertaining the idea of it, retains its stigma. Suicide is selfish, one can never argue otherwise, but to act in a selfish manner is sometimes a matter of self-defense, rather than self-indulgence, as most would insinuate the word selfish means. There are reviewers who have said they cannot connect to the character of Hannah Baker, because they have been suicidal before, and her behaviors do not compare to theirs. She doesn't "act right" for a suicidal person. Yet, despite there being given warning signs of suicide on pamphlets and other forms of media, one thing to always bear in mind is that people are not textbooks and they are not automatons and none of us will ever, ever, be exactly the way that someone else is in any given circumstance or situation. To refuse to empathize with someone, even a character in a book, because their path to hell took a detour from your own, is to deny that everyone exists in their own reality outside of our shared one. Not all mental illness looks the same: anxiety, depression, ocd, borderline, bipolar, eating disorders - they all manifest in similar and yet highly different ways in the individuals they affect. None of the differences between them invalidates their experiences. I thought the author did a good job of highlighting the surface "reasons" that Hannah Baker gave for shuffling off this mortal coil. I thought he also did a good job of stepping back and not overdoing the narrative by attempting to put into words the underlying buildup of the emotions involved in a character assassination, which is what Hannah Baker was being put through via the rumors and actions of her high school peers. While some reviewers saw only the cut and dried "reasons" of boy problems and inattention, and this fueled their frustration with and anger towards the book and its story, I believe the real story is the culmination of those foundational cracks in the self that Hannah's character suffered due to the reverberations that came from those surface "reasons". That, in essence, is the point of this story - that which appears to make a small dent on the surface, can leave pressure damage in the heart of a human. The smallest action, or lack thereof, can have ramifications beyond your immediate ken, and that is what we must bear in mind at all times, and why we must act with self-awareness in all of our actions towards others. If nothing good can come of something you are inclined to do or say, then perhaps it would be best to not follow that course, no matter how "right" it may seem or feel. ...more

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