HEY, AND ALSO, WHAT'S UP?
Thirteen Reasons Why
by Jay Asher
★★★☆☆
Review by Tayla Lauren
(Discovering The Books Of The Universe)
Thirteen Reasons Why Jay Asher 288 pages
$10.87 @ The Book Depository (2010 Edition)
NOTE: Please forgive my hasty review. It has little to no structure or depth.
(Very) Recently, I finished reading one of Jay Ashers most critically acclaimed novels, Thirteen Reasons Why and since turning the final page, I've found myself unable to form a structured review. Originally, I purchased this book through The Book Depository after hearing a fair amount of hustle and bustle throughout the Good Reads community.
I wouldn't say that I am necessarily disappointed in the book, however, I am not in love with it either. In the end, with all of the positive reviews I'd heard about this particular book, my own opinion had been inflated, and expectant. Nevertheless, on with the review.
To summarise, this book is not an angsty teen love story. It's a down to earth telling about a girl who committed suicide, told through thirteen reasons recorded onto tapes and send out to the people that correspond with each reason. The novel focuses on Clay Jensen, number nine on Hannah Baker's list.
The rules are as simple, there are only two. Rule number one: You listen. Number two: You pass it on. Hopefully neither one will be easy for you. We open with Clay returning home from school to a package with no return address, full of thirteen double sided tapes recorded by Hannah, who only weeks before had taken her own life. Hannah was the kind of girl, to most of the student body, that you knew a lot and also nothing about at the same time. Rumors were her complete identity. That is, until she died.
The whole idea of this novel is intriguing and has a message that will stay with you for a very long time. However, the complete set out of the story was uncomfortable and appeared to drag on. Although I couldn't put the book down, I became impatient and frustrated. Not in a way that made me just want to finish the book, but in a way that I hoped that the story would divert onto a different path, or would stay on the same one for a while longer. Asher was creative in hinting different aspects of later stories at the beginning of the novel, being able to tie them off later on, however felt repetitive. Much of the second half of the text requires you to recall previous characters from the beginning of the story who you might have otherwise forgotten (which is good), which leads to a large number of characters whose stories are focused. The novel is set over a period (for Clay) of one night. Clay has very little character development due to this, and the time period which is set gives little to the ways of an expansive storyline.
With the subject of the novel in mind, the story lacked comedy of any sort, or any personal relationships to characters that I would otherwise fall in love with.
(Spoiler-ish bits)
The ending of the novel, to myself, was very short lived. It was expected that Clay would have some sort of revelation towards Hannah, or the way that he would view other people who might possibly be going through a similar experience to what she did, and then look to help them. Instead, our leading male runs down the hallway after a girl who wears loose fitting clothing which he talked to once on a bus, but knew a little about previously in his life.
Overall, this book is one that I did appreciate. The story and message are things that I will always have a place for in my YA heart, and Hannah's tapes will be things that I will recall whenever I see someone else in a tough situation. This book is a definite/recommended read for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbotsky.
I gave Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher a three (3) out of five (5) stars.
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