The project where I read a book a week this year. See more about my project here (and feel free to leave your book suggestions). You can read my other 52 in ’11 posts here.

Book 15: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
My rating: Page-turner

If they made young adult books like this when I was a young adult, perhaps I would have read something with a little more substance than the Sweet Valley High/University series.

Thirteen Reasons Why tells the story of Hannah Baker and why the teenager decided to take her own life. Told through Hannah’s voice — courtesy of the seven audio tapes she left behind to the 13 people who led her to suicide — and our living narrator Clay as he tries to figure out what his role was, the reader gets to listen to all the tapes.

The tapes tell the story of typical high school drama. Things that seem little to those who are doing them, can seem gigantic to those who the things are being done to. We only get one side in most of these stories, except for when Clay pops in.

I really liked this book; its concept especially. I thought it was a great way for Asher to tackle the subject of teen bullying and teen suicide which has been sweeping the United States as of late. (Interesting to note though, this book was not written in response to any of that, it came out in 2009, years before the It Gets Better campaign.)

This book was a great page-turner, especially before you find out what it is Clay “did.” As a reader, I was captivated by Hannah’s voice and her decision to leave something behind for those she blamed for her final decision.

That being said, I wish our living narrator had been someone else on the tapes rather than Clay. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy. I liked him, a lot. And that was part of the problem.

SPOILER ALERT You can gather even before Hannah tells us that Clay did nothing to lead to Hannah’s death. He was in love with her after all, so how could he have driven her to kill herself? And he didn’t. END OF SPOILER ALERT

This is where I think Asher could have made a better choice. After all, Hannah’s rules states that each person who gets the tapes must listen to the tapes then pass them on to the person after them. I want to know why the bullies who didn’t like Hannah and treated her like crap did as they were told. Why did they listen to the tapes? Why did they pass them on? Their motivation would have been great to hear.

That being said, while it may be a young adult book, it’s still a great read and I definitely recommend it.