Book Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

"NYT Bestseller for YA"

Awards/Recognitions

From his Blogger, Jay Asher has an array of awards for Thirteen Reasons Why, both national and international.

• NY Times Bestseller
• #1 USA Today bestseller
• Publishers Weekly bestseller
• California Book Award Winner
• Best Books for Young Adults (YALSA)
• Quick Picks for Reluctant YA Readers (YALSA)
• Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults (YALSA)
• Borders Original Voices finalist
• Barnes and Noble - Top 10 Best for Teens
• International Reading Assoc. - Young Adults' Choices
• Kirkus Reviews Editor's Choice
• Book Sense Pick - Winter
• Chicago Public Library Best Books
• Association of Booksellers for Children - Best Books

Summary

Clay Jensen, returning home from school, finds a box full of cassette tapes on his porch. After listening to tape one, he realizes that there are a total of seven double sided tapes and thirteen reasons why Hannah Baker decided to commit suicide two weeks prior. Hannah was Clay's classmate, but, more importantly, his crush. He immediately finds out that he is one of the reasons why Hannah killed herself. Told from Clay Jensen's perspective, he listens to the tapes, bouncing between Hannah Baker's voice and his inner monologue.

Clay begins listening to the tapes, each one delving deeper and deeper into Hannah's life and the reasoning behind her pain. 

An interesting introduction to a eerie finish. She mentions that she will not tell you what tape you are on, but you do have to listen to all thirteen intertwined tapes to understand what happened and why. There are only two rules: listen and pass the tapes on. There are copies of the tapes in case the rules are broken, and Hannah mentions that the tapes will be made public if the rules are not followed. The owner of the tapes, at the time, will receive a map to the several places mentioned on the tapes.

The thirteen reasons why are as follows:

Reason One: Justin Foley, a senior, and Hannah's first kiss, she became almost obsessed with Justin, photocopying his schedule, but somewhat normal for a freshman crush. After that kiss, Justin spread rumors that the kiss had become more than that. Justin took a photo of her sliding down at a park, her underwear peeping, and sent it to all his friends. Hannah gets dubbed a slut because of this and her reputation falters.

Reason Two: Jessica Davis, a new girl, becomes friends with Hannah quickly. They befriend a third loner, Alex Standall, and the three of them hang out daily at Monet's a coffee shop in town. Jessica and Alex begin to date behind Hannah's back and slowly start distancing themselves from her and their friendship. Alex voted Hannah "Best Ass of the Freshmen Class", turning Jessica against Hannah. Jessica becomes so upset she hits Hannah, leaving a scar.

Reason Three: Due to the list that Alex created, the slut persona is magnified, Hannah blaming it all on Alex. Alex is the first person on the list that Hannah accuses of because he showed no remorse for his actions.

Reason Four: Hannah catches Tyler taking pictures of her from her front yard. At first, she doesn't think anything about the sounds, but soon finds out the Peeping Tom is photographing her through her bedroom window. Everyone who receives the tapes is encouraged to creep outside of Tyler's window at night and break it with a rock to make him feel as uneasy as she did.

Reason Five: Hannah and Courtney try to set a trap for Tyler. While the drinks start pouring, Courtney dares Hannah to take off her shirt and kiss her, leaving time for Tyler to take photos of the two and thus spreading them around the school. While neither of their faces were in it, they are both figured out. Courtney is a lesbian who refuses to come out and has a father who would die if he found out her secret.

Reason Six: Marcus asks Hannah out on a date a a local diner because they matched up on the Dollar Valentine Quiz. Marcus shows up late, with a group of basketball players in tow, and tries to stick his hand up Hannah's skirt as she rejects him. Since everyone thinks she is a slut, Marcus calls her a tease, and leaves immediately after.

Reason Seven: While Marcus and the basketball group ended up leaving, Zach, another basketball star, comes back to make sure Hannah is doing okay. He finds her crying alone in a booth and they both sit in silence together. Zach asks her out, and, while Hannah enjoys his presence and thinks he has good intentions, she denies him. In communications class, each student has a basket assigned to them to have positive notes written by anonymous classmates. Hannah realizes that Zach has been stealing all her notes. She writes him a letter telling him why she needs the positive reinforcement. She watches him read the note in the hall, crumple it up, and throw it to the group. We find out later on between a conversation with Zach and Clay that he never threw the letter on the floor and has kept it with him ever since.

Reason Eight: As Hannah loses more and more friends and feels more and more worthless, she decides to attend a poetry workshop. Ryan, the author of the school's literary magazine, is there and they strike up conversation and share poems in the group. The next day at school, Hannah hears her poem being read aloud. Ryan had torn the poem out of her journal when she refused to let him publish it. 

Reason Nine: Hannah agrees to go to a party that Jessica is holding. Hannah doesn't want to attend, but the thought of possibly running into her crush, Clay, pushes her to attend. Hannah had drank too much at the party, and Jenny Kurtz offers to drive her home, even though Jenny drank too much too. While fishing around in her purse for a charger, Jenny runs off the road and crashes into a stop sign. Hannah, being the good person she is, wants to alert the police, but Jenny disagrees, leaving Hannah alone on the street. Once alone, Hannah runs to a convenience store to do the right thing and call the cops. Unfortunately it was too late, and Jeff, Clay's close friend, had barreled through the intersection, now without a stop sign, and was dies. Hannah blames Jenny and is guilt ridden.

Reason Ten: Justin comes back into the mix. While at the same party mentioned in reason nine, Hannah and Clay hook up in the bedroom upstairs. Even though she had a crush on him, she pushed him away, engulfed in the thoughts of the horrible boys at her school. After he leaves, Justin and Jessica drunkenly stumble into the room. Not wanting to be seen, Hannah hides in the closet while the two of them hook up. Jessica is obviously intoxicated, so Justin goes to fetch water for her. While outside of the room, Hannah heads Just and Bryce talking, before Bryce forces himself into the room. Bryce rapes Jessica, even though she is verbally muttering "no" over and over again. Justin tries to stop the rape, but Bryce shoves him out of the room. Hannah thinks that Justin should have done more to stop it.

Reason Eleven: Hannah has always wanted something more with Clay, but she has been guilt ridden and ashamed of everything. She never wanted to put Clay to the side and have him think he was not important, but it ended up happening any way. This tape is a bit different that the others. Hannah uses this tape to apologize to Clay about being so confused with their relationship.

Reason Twelve: While on a walk to clear her head, Hannah stumbles upon a hot tub party in Bryce's backyard. She is invited in and joins Jessica, Justin, Zach, and another girl. Eventually, the party moves inside and Hannah says in the hot tub for a bit to have some time to herself and enjoy the stars. Bryce stumbles back out, joining Hannah in the hot tub, and forcing himself on to her. Hannah was raped by Bryce, then walked home, soaking wet, and comes up with the ideas for the tape. She mentions that Bryce is the one who broke her soul and finalized the idea of the tapes. Clay refused to give the tapes to Bryce.

Reason Thirteen: Hannah had the idea to kill herself for a while, debating back and forth, before she feels a shift and the idea to seek professional help. Mr. Porter, the school counselor is her first choice, and she admits to him that she was raped. Saying the complete opposite of what a counselor should say, he encouraged her to move on and not think about it anymore. While in the session, she secretly recorded it, interrupting phone call and all. Being the last person on the tapes, and the only true adult, he is horrified to hear that he didn't make more of an effort to help her. 

After an ongoing sense of worthlessness, everyone continuing to hurt her, and Mr. Porter's sad attempt to help her, Hannah makes the final decision to create the tapes and send them out. Hannah has all the proof she needs that she is not "wanted" anymore and commits suicide. Clay is now ridden with guilt and thinks he should have done more.

The story ends with Clay walking down the halls of school, observing the crowd. Skye Miller is on cassette three. He approaches her, says her name, and the book ends. 

Book Trailer

Not only does Jay Asher have a website for his book collection, he has a website specifically for Thirteen Reasons Why. After submitting your birthday, you are able to access the tapes by Hannah Baker on his website dedicated to the book itself. Unfortunately, since the book has become an infamous Netflix original series, most of the trailers are focused on the book coming to life as opposed to the book itself. After signing on for a second season, the trailers are even harder to find. One trailer I did find, student made, strikes my interest because of the music and eerie feeling to it, much like the feeling I had during reading.

Themes

Suicide, Lonely, Responsibility, Death, Guilt, Blame, Reputations, Respect, Sex, Violence, and Choices.

Similar Themed Books

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and If I Stay by Gayle Forman.

Other Books by Jay Asher

Piper, a graphic novel co written with Jessica Freeborn, What Light, The Future of Us, Scoring With Logic Pro and Going Pro With Logic Pro Eight (how-to books), Love and Progress, Brighton Beach Murder, and Sunny Boy.

Teaching Ideas

Searching the web, you are bombarded with discussion guides, angry parents, and bad reviews of the book. Sadly, after reading a few of them, you realize that the parents and horrible reviews were more based on the Netflix series and not the actual book. To me, the book did not "glorify suicide" like most of the reviews mentioned. To me, it brought suicide to a whole new light. 

Discuss the reasons why Hannah felt the need to commit suicide and what options she had to potentially change the course.

1. What could have gone differently?

2. Did she do enough to help herself?

3. Did she speak to enough people, especially adults, to help her cause?

4. Why did she not change schools?

Talk about key vocabulary words associated with the book:

1. Worthless/Worthlessness
2. Alone/Lonely/Aloof
3. Effort/Reaching Out/Trust
4. Suicide/Death
5. Prevention/Lifelines/Counselor

Share websites about helping others. With the recent suicides in the news, and with it always being around, talk to students about why someone may feel like this is their last option. Show them websites of groups, organizations, and individuals who spend their life trying to help others. Share the website of the book and some of the key talking points.

Another idea is to have students write an essay to someone who might need an extra boost at the time. Have students think of another student who could use a positive note. Write anonymous letters, like the baskets in communication class, and have them delivered to students. A simple act of kindness can change an entire mindset.

Use a think, read, write exercise. Give a quote to think about before reading, read the novel and discuss, then write a letter to an someone, signing it anonymously.