Monday, December 1, 2008

13 Reasons Why

I just finished Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher.

This story follows Clay Jensen around his town as he listens to 7 cassette tapes found in an unmarked box that was left on his doorstep. The tapes were recorded by Hannah Baker, a girl he had a secret crush on, "had" because she committed suicide 2 weeks ago.

The last day Hannah was at school, Clay found a map in his locker with stars and numbers on it and at the time he had no idea what it was all about. Turns out, that map goes with the cassette tapes and walks Clay through that events that lead to Hannah's decision to end it all.

There are 13 sides to listen to, 13 events that snowballed and pushed Hannah her decision. As she talks you through the events and the people who caused them, she walks the listener through the map, taking them to the places where they happened.

I finished this book in a day. I could not put it down. It is one of the most original stories I have ever read. I know in my life I have often thought, I wonder how this person would feel if I was gone. Would they be sad, feel bad, or would they even have a clue to how deeply and wrongly they treated me. This story goes one better. Hannah makes a tape and breaks it down, then instructs each person on the list to box up the tapes and leave them on the next persons doorstep. It is a deep, thought provoking and soul searching book that I cannot recommend enough. Please read!! Let me know how you feel about it!!

5 out of 5
StumbleUpon

4 comments:

Matthew said...

That's an interesting premise for book. If the the writing style works with it, I might have to pick this one up.

Wendy said...

Wow, this sounds so interesting! Very interesting premise.

Robert said...

It's going on my Christmas list.

Maybe I'll buy it 'for my wife' to ensure that Santa brings it to the house...

C said...

Been working a lot so haven't had a chance to check the comments. Matthew, I think the writing style works great, but then again, I was a math major ;). Wendy...it will not disappoint and Drofen...I like how you think and let me know if you like it as much as I did!