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13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
“13 Reasons Why”… well, what can I say about this ‘great’ book. Okay, I’m going to quit lying to myself. I hated this book. Absolutely loathed it. I actually have a few good reasons why. First of all the reader barely even learns about the main character, Clay. He’s the one telling the story, yet I couldn’t tell you one thing about him, except that he was head over heels for this Hannah girl. And Hannah, whoa, was she a train wreck. Obviously, the book was the 13 reasons why she committed suicide, right? Well, I’m gonna be brutally honest, none of her reasons seemed important enough for her to make that decision. Maybe one of them was pretty bad, two tops. They all just seemed like events that either 1: she could have prevented herself or 2: happen to most all teenage girls her age. I personally thought that she was an attention-whore, and if everyone wasn’t looking at her, the universe was going to collapse or something. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the general idea for the book was great, it was just hard for me to get past the hatred I felt for not only the main character(s) and the 13 reasons why.
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This article has 2 comments.
What you say about this book is so interesting and completely opposite of what everyone else seems to think. I am not going to express any of my opinions on how I like the book (because, until the end, I loved it -- more so for the phsycological aspect). Even though I loved the book, I do agree with you on your two main points. While I was reading, I found myself mostly reading JUST to learn about Clay. I mean, why read a book where you don't know anything about the person telling the story, right? Your review has made me think a little deeper. Perhaps Asher simply wanted to tell the story of Hannah through someone else (Clay). So, even though the book was written in Clay's point of view, it really wasn't about him at all. I am doing something somewhat similar for a couple chapters of my own story. As far as the 13 reasons, you're correct. Most of them are normal things in girls' lives. However, I belive that Asher was trying to portray (or perhaps subconsciously doing it) how even though things may not seem like a big deal to the average citizen, they can and do affect certain individuals to the point of suicide.
All in all, I loved the book when I read it, but your review has really made me think deeper into the text.