Thirteen Reasons Why :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

A real page turner!!

2008-07-11
I could not put the book down because I needed to know what the next step would be. My heart went out to, not only the main character but to all of the people recieving the tapes!! A must, must read!!!

oh brother

2008-07-05
my sister tossed me the book, and after reading the book jacket, i was intrigued with what i thought was a very interesting premise. it vaguely reminded me of another book i loved (as simple as snow, by gregory galloway).

so i read it...think it took me two days. and let me tell you...it was extremely annoying. here's why...

first of all, every time i started to enjoy hannah's monologue, it would be constantly interrupted by clay thinking something stupid like "there's a sudden ache inside my chest," or best of all, when he is not thinking, but becomes so overcome, he pukes. give me a break. or when he rakes his hand across a metal fence in frustration and tears some of his skin.

please mr. asher! can i read for five minutes and develop any sort of flow without having clay interrupt? no? didn't think so. but thought i might ask anyway.

and if that wasn't annoying enough...hannah's reasons for suicide?? oh my goodness. all i can say, is that if the experiences in this book were that traumatic that they caused someone to commit suicide, then at least 25% of every high school class in america should be looking for a way to end it too.

look, i loved the idea about getting the tapes, and then passing them on. i LOVED when clay would interact with others who had already received the tapes, but there just wasn't any flow to the story. and i hated how in the end, you were left with this resentment for many of the characters, especially mr. poter, who was simply set up by hannah to be the final fall guy.

Amazing

2008-07-02
Wow. What a great book. Sad, but I didn't cry. It was more like the kind of sad where you can't cry. The kind of sad where you're partially in shock, like you just can't believe it even while you can.

Clay comes home from school one day to find a mysterious package waiting on the porch for him. He opens it, and inside are seven audiotapes, each side numbered. He places Cassette 1: Side A into the tape player and hears a voice he never thought to hear again: that of Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush, who committed suicide two weeks before. Hannah has thirteen reasons-thirteen people who affected her-why she killed herself. The tapes are making the rounds, heading to those people. Clay is one of them, and if he listens to the tapes, he'll learn why.

There's like nothing to say about this book other than that you should read it. I didn't want to stop reading it. I loved the way that it went back and forth between Hannah and Clay: Hannah tell her story, Clay telling his and adding his comments to Hannah's story. I loved how this book was more about the characters, more like short stories that were all connected. There was really no plot. It's about Hannah's struggle with herself and the people around her, but we already know that she kills herself. Now we just have to find out why.

This is definitely one of those books that affects you, the reader. It really changes your perspective about people and yourself. It really shows how even the smallest action, one that seems harmless, can be driving someone else to consider killing themselves. It's about learning to live with yourself, learning to live with your mistakes, seeing that you could have made a different choice but choose not to. And that there may not be any going back. You just have to face it.

Well intentioned, but...

2008-06-30
THIRTEEN REASONS WHY has an interesting premise. Given the numerous already existing reviews, I won't go into too much detail about the plot other than to say the story revolves around a set of tapes, a recorded memoir leading up to her suicide, that were sent out by a girl shortly after she committed the act. The intended audience for her tapes were the people she blamed for contributing to, nay causing, her suicide. Like I said, an interesting premise that I had hoped had a twist to it. Because, after all, this novel had strong reviews of readers praising its message and agreeing with it entirely. The message is this (caution: spoiler alert!): the people in this story are entirely to blame for the character who took her own life, therefore removing all accountability for her own actions (by this, I mean committing suicide). Now, I get what the author was trying to achieve and I think it was noble. Mr. Asher wanted to provoke some thought about how our actions, even if we view as harmless or insignificant, can significantly impact another and that we should consider his cautionary tale with all future interactions with people in our own lives. I respect that, which is why I gave this novel one star, as opposed to none. However, what I believe Mr. Asher missed entirely was that suicide attempts and completions are entirely selfish acts, leaving so many people destroyed in its wake. True, the characters in this book create a miserable life for Hannah (the girl who commits suicide), but ultimately the decision to take her own life is hers, and hers alone. THIRTEEN REASONS WHY removes all accountability from Hannah and places it all on the other characters, blaming them for an action they didn't commit. Moreover, the story also places a heavy load of guilt AND BLAME on the well-intentioned and "good guy" characters in the story for not stopping a suicide. Again, no accountability for the character who took her life, just the ones that had to experience the aftermath.

I devoured this book, reading it in just a few hours. I did so not because I was enjoying it, but because I was desperately hoping that my suspicion that the book was placing accountability on the wrong characters would be blown away; it was not.

To close, in life other people's actions influence our own behavior, but ultimately, the only one to blame or be accountable for our own behavior is ourself...even regarding suicide. This was a terrible read.

great book.

2008-06-29
i recieved this book sometime last week, and i had been so consumed in work that I hadn't a chance to read..until 2 nights ago. i came home from the office exahusted but decided to read at least the first chapter..big mistake..i couldnt put it down..i was up until 5 am reading this book..and I was sad that it was over..both teens and adults will be able to relate to it..its just a all around great book.

Powerful and captivating

2008-06-29
Clay Jenkins returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers 13 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.

Through Hannah and Clay’s dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

Amazing 2008-06-19
Typically, I'm not that easily impressed with books.

But Jay Asher's debut was entertaining, inspiring and all of the wonderful things in between.

Everyone should read it.

This IS a 5-Star Read Indeed 2008-06-18
When I was a young adult, the literary world was shattered by the 1964 publication of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and the 1972 release of Go Ask Alice. Both were important books dealing with mental health and drugs. Now, for the first time since these two novels there is a new book that should receive the same attention and accolades: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Like its predecessors, Thirteen Reasons tackles a harrowing issue that is impacting young adults from coast to coast. In this novel, Asher tackles teenage suicide.

Hannah Baker has been dead for two weeks. She took a bunch of pills and died. That's all her classmates really know. Having relocated from another town, her parents take her body and return to that unnamed location. No funeral leaves her classmates drifting and wondering what really happened to Hannah.

But Hannah didn't just die. She made thirteen cassette tapes that illustrate why she wanted to die. Each tape names a person or event as to why life seemed so hopeless to the high school girl. Actually, Hannah makes two sets of tapes. One she leaves with a person she knows will give them to the media if the thirteen people on her list do not listen to them.

When the book opens, Clay Jensen has just received the tapes. Clay had had a crush on Hannah, but as young people often do, he never followed up until the two were at a party one night.

Thirteen Reasons Why is also unusual in that it has a double narration. Readers get to hear every word that Clay hears and is then privy to Clay's reactions. Both voices are distinctive and masterful, especially given this is a debut novel for author Asher.

I found this novel haunting, unpredictable, and simply un-put-down-able. It's an average length-288 pages- but is a fast read. And believe it or not, Thirteen Reasons Why has an uplifting ending.

Armchair Interviews says: This book is a must read for middle and high school students and their parents.

Thought-Provoking and Beautiful 2008-06-10
One day Clay Jensen comes home from school to find a shoe box package with no return address. At first he's excited, but when he opens the box, he finds seven cassette tapes. And when he plays them, he finds that they were recorded by a classmate named Hannah Baker, a girl who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

Recorded on the tapes are thirteen reasons why Hannah chose to end her life. The reasons are all linked to specific people, and the tapes are passed onto those people in the order they are on Hannah's list. They are all, in some way, responsible for Hannah's death. Clay stays out the whole night, listening to the sounds of Hannah's voice leading him throughout the town, basically reliving select experiences from Hannah's life that lead up to her decision to end it.

Hannah's narration is interwoven with Clay's actions and memories, which sometimes makes the story confusing to read. However, it does help to better understand both Clay's and Hannah's emotions. Hannah's reasons for suicide are hard to read for Clay, who alternates between blaming himself and blaming Hannah for not letting Clay reach out to her. It was hard for me to read as well, and I cried many times while reading.

For a debut novel, Thirteen Reasons Why is exceptionally well written for such a serious topic. It is often difficult to address things such as suicide because many people don't want to discuss it. However, I think this book was wonderfully written. This novel thoroughly demonstrates the consequences of even the smallest actions and what the piling up of problems can cause, which Hannah refers to as the snowball effect. There are so many life lessons to be learned from this novel. I highly recommend this book because it has truly changed the way I think.

reposted from http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com

Really, really good 2008-06-10
I'll keep this short, since there are other reviews that do the sum-up thing very nicely.

This is an extremely insightful, well-written, and heart-wrenching book, which I'd highly recommend. I'd take away maybe half a star at most because the complete absolution of the viewpoint character -- the only boy who remains utterly blameless -- seems like a cop-out to me, as if he's on the list just to be the innocent one, so that the reader, looking through his eyes, can feel "innocent" as well, can feel some distance from the subject matter. It detracts from the lesson a little bit, for me. (Just a little.) But the emotions explored and the situations presented feel very true and real nonetheless.

Yes, some of the situations might be "R-rated," sometimes terrifyingly so, but really, 1) if they were not, do you think this girl would have felt the need to commit suicide? and 2) do we really think kids are not already going through this stuff every day?

(I especially admire that the author makes his readers aware of the nature of predators, using the character who collects sexual "conquests" like trophies, who dehumanizes his victims. Young ladies, if you find yourself with a young man who makes you feel as if you are not there, as if you are somehow less of a person than he is, listen to your gut feelings and get the heck out. Actually, young men, get the heck out too -- it's not only girls who get victimized, and not only boys who victimize.)

An incredible read.