Inside cover blurb:
Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.
On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list.
Thoughts:
This is one of those books where I just want to reach through and hug the main character because, man, poor Hannah really just got caught up in some bad stuff.
Thirteen Reasons Why really shows the impact that seemingly small actions can have on other people, reminiscent of the butterfly effect. And it had me reading for three straight hours because I had to know what happened in the end.
Honestly, finishing this book made me want to do better as a fellow human and that’s a powerful thing.
Plus: The way the story unfolds, with each character weaving in and out of the narrative- definitely my favorite aspect of the book.
Minus: I wanted to demand more of a lot of the characters, like Justin in particular and even Hannah at some points. But I had to remind myself to think of it the way a freshman in high school would and then some of the characters’ actions (while I don’t agree with them) did seem more plausible.
If you like this book, try:
Paper Towns by John Green- A story in which puzzle pieces must be put together to find out what happened to a missing girl, but with a much less heavy tone.