Thirteen Reasons Why

Author: Jay Asher
Published: 2007, Penguin
288 pages

Clay Jensen receives a shoebox-size package containing seven cassette tapes, numbered 1-13.  When he puts the first one in, he hears the voice of Hannah Baker, his classmate who recently committed suicide.  On the first tape, Hannah makes the chilling statement, "...I'm about to tell you the story of my life.  More specifically, why my life ended.  And if you're listening to these tapes, you're one of the reasons why."

Each person mentioned on the tapes is required to send the package to the next person on the list, until Hannah's story has made it to all the people she blames for her suicide, 13 in all.  The book is written from Clay's point of view, as he follows Hannah's direction on a morbid tour of his town, discovering all the secrets Hannah and his 12 other fellow "reasons" kept from each other.

I have mixed feelings about this book, mostly because I think the two main characters (Hannah and Clay) are one-sided and not totally likable.  Hannah is a dramatic complainer who claims to have been screaming out for help that she just never got.  I knew plenty of people in high school who had it much worse than Hannah, so I found it difficult to feel sorry for her.  Especially when she used her snotty, demeaning tone on the tapes.

Clay, on the other hand, is too perfect.  I'm still not sure why he made it to Hannah's list.  I think the author wanted Clay to be lovable so he gave Clay the most distant connection to Hannah's suicide.  The book would have had much more depth had the narrative been from the point of view of someone who actually played a larger part in Hannah's depression and suicide.  I would have liked to see the softer side of one of those people and be forced to reconcile the soft side with the negative side Hannah reveals on her tapes.

Those problems aside, this is a quick, entertaining read that I would recommend to anybody who shares my taste for morbid, depressing books. If you really want to up the morbidity factor, I recommend going on Jay Asher's website and watching the YouTube videos of the creepy tapes actually being played on a little cassette player.

Last week it went public that this book was picked up by Universal to be made into a movie, with Selena Gomez as Hannah.  I'll definitely be looking forward to that one!