Thirteen Reasons Why

I find it humorous how incredibly dense people can say someone is "Selfish" for taking their own life when they're just trying to end their own pain, albeit in a permanent way to a problem that is temporary for some, but I love this book and the entirety of the show, it's a beautiful story about how our words can affect those around us even without us realizing it. I've also been through sexual assault and fifteen suicide attempts and you don't see me calling people "Selfish" for trying to end their pain and suffering. So for those out there who would spread hate about things like this that only aim to help people and shed light on these problems you need to do some serious self reflection and grow up, because you are part of the problem.

This is my least favorite book that I was able to finish. It had such a promising premise but I couldn't sympathize with the characters at all, especially not Hannah. She felt more like a vindictive caricature of a teenage girl than an actual person. The writing itself was good enough for me to push through but I was left with a very underwhelming experience. I wouldn't reccomend it.

The theme of this book is that although one person's actions towards another might seem insignificant to the first person, they may be very meaningful to the second individual. This idea is reflected throughout the entire story, as character Clay Jenkins finds out the truth behind Hannah Baker's suicide, thus encountering that the reasons for her death all relate to things that others did to her which they thought harmless. A person's life can be very affected by the actions of another individual, whether the intentions were positive or not. The story portrays concepts about the importance of thinking before acting because the daily-life decisions one makes perhaps will change another person's world entirely. Making the wrong choice when involving one's actions comes with a series of extremely critical effects that can hurt others in very strong manners. Jay Asher did well in choosing the setting in which the story took place because it just clicks perfectly with the plot. In the story, the characters have the qualities of people who would live in a small town, this meaning that the setting is supportive of the events due to the size of their town. Hannah goes in her Freshman year of high school knowing almost no one in her school because she is new, but the smallness of the town allows her to make friends quickly and meet a lot of new people, this being the beginning of a chain of events that are all somehow tied together. Something that I did not like about the book was how the author does not give enough details in the end about how the other people involved in Hannah's suicide felt towards the tapes and their reactions when listening to them. A little more information on this might have helped understand how the characters in the end realize that they cannot go around doing things that will hurt other people. I would recommend this book to anyone who is into suspenseful and mysterious stories, and anyone who needs to be more open-minded about life.