Post by Tee Em on Dec 20, 2011 19:28:36 GMT
(Lololol I'm really cutting it fine here. xD)
"I hope you're ready, because I'm about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why my life ended. And if you're listening to these tapes, you're one of the reasons why."
– Hannah's introduction.
Thirteen Reasons Why centers around Clay Jenson, Hannah Baker, and a shoebox fulled with audiotapes.
The story starts with Clay receiving a package on his doorstep. He opens it to find out there are seven audiotapes in it. When he listens to them, he discovers that they were made by Hannah Baker, an old classmate that recently killed herself.
Clay had never known Hannah very personally – he'd kept an eye on her from a distance, but they never were really close, apart from one or two conversations.
Each side of the audiotapes is dedicated to a person and reason why Hannah decided to commit suicide. Most of the book centers around Clay listening to the audiotapes, and his reactions to Hannah's story.
Clay is a wonderful character, being one of the people that Hannah describes as 'not truly deserving of being on the list'. He's genuinely a good person, the main reason he ended up with the tapes was because Hannah wanted to apologise to him. His narrative is pleasant and is not too strong, fitting in nicely with Hannah's narrative.
I have mixed feelings about Hannah, though. In a lot of the situations, she was just a lonely kid that was looking for some help and not finding it, but at the same time she never really tried that hard to get out of the situation. She reaches the point of being self-destructive, finally giving into her reputation of being 'easy'. During the whole time I was reading it, I didn't want her to die, even though it was inevitable.
The writing style is solid, and the premise of the book is a fabulously original idea. The dual narration gets a bit iffy at times, hopping between Hannah's story and Clay's first-person perspective, but it's not too difficult to adjust. Asher definitely doesn't avoid the darker topics, and handles everything with brute simplicity and honesty.
The stories that drove Hannah into commit suicide are interesting, although some of them seem a bit petty. I think that Asher was trying to show that a bunch of small incidents – the little things – that can impact someone's life, but at the same time, some of the reasons were a bit trivial at times. But still, pain is pain, I suppose.
Hannah's list include a wide range of things, including rumours being spread that she was easy, an incident that made her feel unsafe in her own house, and a teacher not bothering to help her when she told him that she was suicidal. It's all realistic and possible, and a lot of the reasons happen in a lot of high schools.
The book's message is essentially that people know that the even tiny things can affect people on a grand scale. As Hannah puts it; "I guess that's the point of it all. No one knows for certain how much of impact they have on the lives of other people. Often we have no clue."
I really did enjoy reading this book, and do recommend it. It really is thought-provoking and interesting, as well as refreshing.
"I hope you're ready, because I'm about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why my life ended. And if you're listening to these tapes, you're one of the reasons why."
– Hannah's introduction.
Thirteen Reasons Why centers around Clay Jenson, Hannah Baker, and a shoebox fulled with audiotapes.
The story starts with Clay receiving a package on his doorstep. He opens it to find out there are seven audiotapes in it. When he listens to them, he discovers that they were made by Hannah Baker, an old classmate that recently killed herself.
Clay had never known Hannah very personally – he'd kept an eye on her from a distance, but they never were really close, apart from one or two conversations.
Each side of the audiotapes is dedicated to a person and reason why Hannah decided to commit suicide. Most of the book centers around Clay listening to the audiotapes, and his reactions to Hannah's story.
Clay is a wonderful character, being one of the people that Hannah describes as 'not truly deserving of being on the list'. He's genuinely a good person, the main reason he ended up with the tapes was because Hannah wanted to apologise to him. His narrative is pleasant and is not too strong, fitting in nicely with Hannah's narrative.
I have mixed feelings about Hannah, though. In a lot of the situations, she was just a lonely kid that was looking for some help and not finding it, but at the same time she never really tried that hard to get out of the situation. She reaches the point of being self-destructive, finally giving into her reputation of being 'easy'. During the whole time I was reading it, I didn't want her to die, even though it was inevitable.
The writing style is solid, and the premise of the book is a fabulously original idea. The dual narration gets a bit iffy at times, hopping between Hannah's story and Clay's first-person perspective, but it's not too difficult to adjust. Asher definitely doesn't avoid the darker topics, and handles everything with brute simplicity and honesty.
The stories that drove Hannah into commit suicide are interesting, although some of them seem a bit petty. I think that Asher was trying to show that a bunch of small incidents – the little things – that can impact someone's life, but at the same time, some of the reasons were a bit trivial at times. But still, pain is pain, I suppose.
Hannah's list include a wide range of things, including rumours being spread that she was easy, an incident that made her feel unsafe in her own house, and a teacher not bothering to help her when she told him that she was suicidal. It's all realistic and possible, and a lot of the reasons happen in a lot of high schools.
The book's message is essentially that people know that the even tiny things can affect people on a grand scale. As Hannah puts it; "I guess that's the point of it all. No one knows for certain how much of impact they have on the lives of other people. Often we have no clue."
I really did enjoy reading this book, and do recommend it. It really is thought-provoking and interesting, as well as refreshing.
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