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Book Review of Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why
reviewed on + 38 more book reviews


It's stated right up front that one of the main teen characters has committed suicide. What follows is a night of explanation, via thirteen cassette tapes, for select classmates who had a hand (according to the female narrator/deceased girl, Hannah) in events leading to her death.

Personally, I didn't like this book. The double narrator system was a bit hard to follow at times. Both are written in first person: Hannah's voice on cassette tapes leading the listener, a boy named Clay, on a walk-through around town, illustrating her life, and Clay's real-time reactions, as well as memories. Once I found out the reason Hannah killed herself, I wished she were alive so I could shake her by the shoulders.

I remember high school. It was ridiculous. The social ineptitude while trying to date was ludicrous, as it is in this book and as it is in every high school across the landscape. Every character in this book is culpable of some really bad decisions. Is it a reason to kill yourself? NO. A THOUSAND TIMES, NO. Additionally, Hannah's threat to those addressed on the tapes regarding the chain-letter rules made me furious. FURIOUS.