Thursday, July 30, 2009

Book Review- Thirteen Reasons Why

I finished reading Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher a couple of days ago.

From the back cover:

Clay Jensen doesn't want anything to do with the tapes Hanna Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her.

Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes--and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.

All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah's recorded words throughout his small town...and what he discovers changes his life forever.

Suicide is a very difficult topic. I expected to feel really sad and melancholy while reading this book. Instead, I didn't feel much at all. This might seem bad, but the author didn't make me feel any warmth from Hannah and I didn't feel sympathy for Clay. And honestly, the way Hannah was written, I don't think I would be friends with her either.

At first, I had a hard time going back and forth between the characters of Hannah and Jay. Both were written in first person. The difference was Hanna was written in italicized letters. I would find myself confused and then would look back and realize that the characters had switched. About halfway through the book I got used to it though.

I don't know--I guess I really expected more out of this book. I wanted to be sad and really feel for both Clay and Hannah but I just didn't. The only thing I really got out of this book was that your actions affect others, even when you might not realize that they do.

I gave this book a rating of 2.5/5.

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