moka_b's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
mandler_'s review against another edition
4.0
Re-read in 2023:
New rating: 4 stars
This book isn't perfect and there are many people that say that it glorifies suicide. To some extent that is true. I think Jay Asher could have strengthened the messaging in the book in order to unequivocally say that it wasn't the answer, however I think most people read this book and see Hannah Baker as the main character. I've read reviews say that it's hard to empathize and connect with her, and that this is a bad thing. She comes off as whiny and looking for an excuse to suicide herself.
Some of these things may be true and valid, however, I think they are intentional.
The reader is not supposed to be able to connect and empathize with Hannah. She is gone. She is dead. She is unreachable and untouchable. She is a voice only to be listened to. We get Clay's perspective. He is the voice of reason and the voice telling the reader that things may not always be as bad as they seem to be. He is the voice saying suicide is not the answer and there are people there who support you and are willing and wanting to love you.
I think this book shows just how irrational suicide really is and how we all understand and internalize things differently. For some, something is small and meaningless, while to others, that same thing is huge and all-consuming. It is not up to us to determine these things for other people. They are just as valid thinking and feeling the way they do as the way we do. Suicide and depression don't usually operate rationally. Things get bent out of shape and the smallest things prove to the sufferer that life is not worth living.
Again, I think this book is not perfect. It's messaging can be hard for some people, and ultimately, I think it makes some people uncomfortable, thinking that they have a much larger role to play in someone's life. In a highly individualistic society, such as the United States, we often think that people should be able to handle everything alone and that the world is just and fair, when really, this world is different for everyone. We need empathy for each other. This book shows that, stating multiple times that Hannah doesn't fully blame people, but she records these messages for people to understand that they impacted someone's life in ways that they may not have known.
Clay is the eyes and ears of the reader. He does not have much personality and this can come off as boring to some readers.
This is a heavy topic, and as stated above, people may feel uncomfortable with it (for the reason provided previously or just the fact that it's a very heavy, sad, deep topic). Everyone has a different experience with mental illness, depression, and suicidality. That is all okay. Everyone is totally fine to have their opinion, however, as Clay does at the end of the story, we need to open our eyes, think about who we see around us, then open our mouths and speak, letting people know that we see them and they are there, and we value and care for them in ways that we may not have expressed previously.
New rating: 4 stars
This book isn't perfect and there are many people that say that it glorifies suicide. To some extent that is true. I think Jay Asher could have strengthened the messaging in the book in order to unequivocally say that it wasn't the answer, however I think most people read this book and see Hannah Baker as the main character. I've read reviews say that it's hard to empathize and connect with her, and that this is a bad thing. She comes off as whiny and looking for an excuse to suicide herself.
Some of these things may be true and valid, however, I think they are intentional.
The reader is not supposed to be able to connect and empathize with Hannah. She is gone. She is dead. She is unreachable and untouchable. She is a voice only to be listened to. We get Clay's perspective. He is the voice of reason and the voice telling the reader that things may not always be as bad as they seem to be. He is the voice saying suicide is not the answer and there are people there who support you and are willing and wanting to love you.
I think this book shows just how irrational suicide really is and how we all understand and internalize things differently. For some, something is small and meaningless, while to others, that same thing is huge and all-consuming. It is not up to us to determine these things for other people. They are just as valid thinking and feeling the way they do as the way we do. Suicide and depression don't usually operate rationally. Things get bent out of shape and the smallest things prove to the sufferer that life is not worth living.
Again, I think this book is not perfect. It's messaging can be hard for some people, and ultimately, I think it makes some people uncomfortable, thinking that they have a much larger role to play in someone's life. In a highly individualistic society, such as the United States, we often think that people should be able to handle everything alone and that the world is just and fair, when really, this world is different for everyone. We need empathy for each other. This book shows that, stating multiple times that Hannah doesn't fully blame people, but she records these messages for people to understand that they impacted someone's life in ways that they may not have known.
Clay is the eyes and ears of the reader. He does not have much personality and this can come off as boring to some readers.
This is a heavy topic, and as stated above, people may feel uncomfortable with it (for the reason provided previously or just the fact that it's a very heavy, sad, deep topic). Everyone has a different experience with mental illness, depression, and suicidality. That is all okay. Everyone is totally fine to have their opinion, however, as Clay does at the end of the story, we need to open our eyes, think about who we see around us, then open our mouths and speak, letting people know that we see them and they are there, and we value and care for them in ways that we may not have expressed previously.
xiekaili's review against another edition
4.0
You know.
I need words.
I'm so searching for them. Hoping they will come, and hoping the will express all the feelings I had. Have.
With the wish to read this book I decided to try this "ebook and Audio at the same time" thing. You know, when a book works with listening, that's what I wanted to do. Listen.
To Hannah.
Clay.
It's my first try with listening to an english audio and I have to be honest: I'm glad I have the ebook too. The voices fitted great and because of this "normal" English I understood them. Most of the time. But I learned English in school. A friend of me said, that in school you don't learn the real english, because most of the times the teacher aren't native speakers. And maybe it's true. Sometimes I really didn't understand what they said, just because the pronunciation wasn't like I learned.
But back to the story.
So, sometimes the female speaker sounded a bit to "adult" for me, if that makes sense. But, like I said, at the end I loved the voices. I think they were the perfect choice for transporting this story.
I really recommending to everyone who wants to read it: Listen.
Hannah is getting so much deeper with a voice.
I felt the same way, Clay felt, while he listened to it. I was in Bus, just staring. Lost in my thoughts, hearing Hannah, speaking calmly into my ears.
I looked shocked, I looked sad, I went through all the emotions Clay did.
Really, I found myself sitting there, listening to the description of Clays reaction, realizing, I reacted like that too.
"I look down at my lap, at the Walkman. It’s too dark to see the spindles behind the plastic window, pulling the tape from one side to the other, but I need to focus on something, so I try. And concentrating on the spot where the two spindles should be..."
So did I. That's what I needed to do. Focus on something. So I just stared at the words. The words of Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen.
It sounds mean, but at first the plot isn't so different of others YAs.
It's like "Asking for it", "The fault in our stars", "All the bright places" yeah even like "All the ugly and wonderful things". They all are describing problems of the society. Of the teens in this world.
But in such a wonderful way.
You really got into the characters. I don't know if that's the way everyone felt, but for me... I never hated anyone of them. Maybe, because even Hannah didn't hate them. This book is so ugly in the content, but the storyTELLING is filled with hope. And yeah, love, I think.
Although I could cry right now, I can smile also.
And although, the content is hard to swallow, it's like I have this good feeling: I will move on. Maybe not right now, but I will.
I can't say I "enjoyed" this book. I mean, there's a "sad" in "happy end".
The book gives you a smile at the end, but it's not like it's just leave you with that. It makes you think. About how the way you act may influence the lives of others. It makes you think what you could do better. It makes you think about how the behavior of others, changed you. Marked you.
"Tony slows the car and pulls over to a curb. “You okay?”"
At the moment Tony? No. Will I? I think.
I need words.
I'm so searching for them. Hoping they will come, and hoping the will express all the feelings I had. Have.
With the wish to read this book I decided to try this "ebook and Audio at the same time" thing. You know, when a book works with listening, that's what I wanted to do. Listen.
To Hannah.
Clay.
It's my first try with listening to an english audio and I have to be honest: I'm glad I have the ebook too. The voices fitted great and because of this "normal" English I understood them. Most of the time. But I learned English in school. A friend of me said, that in school you don't learn the real english, because most of the times the teacher aren't native speakers. And maybe it's true. Sometimes I really didn't understand what they said, just because the pronunciation wasn't like I learned.
But back to the story.
So, sometimes the female speaker sounded a bit to "adult" for me, if that makes sense. But, like I said, at the end I loved the voices. I think they were the perfect choice for transporting this story.
I really recommending to everyone who wants to read it: Listen.
Hannah is getting so much deeper with a voice.
I felt the same way, Clay felt, while he listened to it. I was in Bus, just staring. Lost in my thoughts, hearing Hannah, speaking calmly into my ears.
I looked shocked, I looked sad, I went through all the emotions Clay did.
Really, I found myself sitting there, listening to the description of Clays reaction, realizing, I reacted like that too.
"I look down at my lap, at the Walkman. It’s too dark to see the spindles behind the plastic window, pulling the tape from one side to the other, but I need to focus on something, so I try. And concentrating on the spot where the two spindles should be..."
So did I. That's what I needed to do. Focus on something. So I just stared at the words. The words of Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen.
It sounds mean, but at first the plot isn't so different of others YAs.
It's like "Asking for it", "The fault in our stars", "All the bright places" yeah even like "All the ugly and wonderful things". They all are describing problems of the society. Of the teens in this world.
But in such a wonderful way.
You really got into the characters. I don't know if that's the way everyone felt, but for me... I never hated anyone of them. Maybe, because even Hannah didn't hate them. This book is so ugly in the content, but the storyTELLING is filled with hope. And yeah, love, I think.
Although I could cry right now, I can smile also.
And although, the content is hard to swallow, it's like I have this good feeling: I will move on. Maybe not right now, but I will.
I can't say I "enjoyed" this book. I mean, there's a "sad" in "happy end".
The book gives you a smile at the end, but it's not like it's just leave you with that. It makes you think. About how the way you act may influence the lives of others. It makes you think what you could do better. It makes you think about how the behavior of others, changed you. Marked you.
"Tony slows the car and pulls over to a curb. “You okay?”"
At the moment Tony? No. Will I? I think.
athena03's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Rape
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Mental illness, and Bullying
thewritebooks's review against another edition
1.0
This book is not okay, it looks at glorifying and glamourising suicide which is so psychologically damaging for those affected. This franchise that has grown with its Netflix show should not have made it to the shelf let alone the screen.
orygunn's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book in less than a flight cross country. High school is a crappy time. Suicide is horrible. The premise was interesting but made me uncomfortable too. Bottom line: in life don't be an asshole.
natalie10224's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
freshkatsu's review against another edition
2.0
Hi, my name is Hannah. I killed myself two weeks ago.
I was a typical teenage, attended a regular public high school, had a middle class family and what else....Hey Jay! Yeah you writing about my story over there! What other things did I do?
Um, ok, this is embarrassing. Jeez, I guess he should have read my Myspace.
So er, I'm here to explain why I killed myself, since suicide is a big deal in YA and all. You see, boys were really mean in my school. I don't mean the standard type of mean - you know, name calling and everything. But there was this guy that started RUMORS about me doing something naughty, like beyond kissing! Eww! Then there was this other guy who voted me for 'best ass' in a poll. WTF right? And my one friend slapped me and gave me a scar. See? It's here, the bit above my eyebrow?! Gross. And then someone ditched me at a party. What am I supposed to do other than swallow a bottle of pills? You know, I did this for the good of ALL teenage girls - people NEED to know their actions have consequences. You think spilling your lunch juice box on someone's shirt is no big deal? Think again! Your clumsy gesture is a deliberate retaliation! Maybe it's unconscious, I don't know. But it's wrong anyway! And there's nothing you can do that will make the other person feel better. He/she is marked for life by that purple stain.
What? Did you say THE COUNSELLOR? We all know they don't help. They're just stupid psych major graduates who sit behind their desks reading trashy romance.
Whatevs, this is too hard. Let me record it down. Do you think 8 tapes should cover it?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
We all know that the only appropriate way for teenagers to deal with these situations is to 1) whine or 2) whine on youtube. But that wouldn't be a bestseller now would it? And it only irritates me more with the suicide of Phoebe Price in the news. Suicide is not an excuse, people don't do it to guilt-trip other people (Narcissistic personality disorder is another story, I would have forgiven the author had he indicated such). It's appalling the way the subject is treated - you can either see the act as a melodramatic performance (victim blaming) or genuine, but only with pathetic so called 'reasons'. Hey Hannah, if you had the energy to plot 13 tapes outlining the villains who drove you to suicide, then please, use it to draft an article to a feminist magazine.
But damn it, knowing all of this, I still can't stop reading it. It's like....ARGH stop whining but why am I getting so angry and it's so interesting and I want to know what happens at the end and *shoots self in head*
Just kidding.
I was a typical teenage, attended a regular public high school, had a middle class family and what else....Hey Jay! Yeah you writing about my story over there! What other things did I do?
Um, ok, this is embarrassing. Jeez, I guess he should have read my Myspace.
So er, I'm here to explain why I killed myself, since suicide is a big deal in YA and all. You see, boys were really mean in my school. I don't mean the standard type of mean - you know, name calling and everything. But there was this guy that started RUMORS about me doing something naughty, like beyond kissing! Eww! Then there was this other guy who voted me for 'best ass' in a poll. WTF right? And my one friend slapped me and gave me a scar. See? It's here, the bit above my eyebrow?! Gross. And then someone ditched me at a party. What am I supposed to do other than swallow a bottle of pills? You know, I did this for the good of ALL teenage girls - people NEED to know their actions have consequences. You think spilling your lunch juice box on someone's shirt is no big deal? Think again! Your clumsy gesture is a deliberate retaliation! Maybe it's unconscious, I don't know. But it's wrong anyway! And there's nothing you can do that will make the other person feel better. He/she is marked for life by that purple stain.
What? Did you say THE COUNSELLOR? We all know they don't help. They're just stupid psych major graduates who sit behind their desks reading trashy romance.
Whatevs, this is too hard. Let me record it down. Do you think 8 tapes should cover it?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
We all know that the only appropriate way for teenagers to deal with these situations is to 1) whine or 2) whine on youtube. But that wouldn't be a bestseller now would it? And it only irritates me more with the suicide of Phoebe Price in the news. Suicide is not an excuse, people don't do it to guilt-trip other people (Narcissistic personality disorder is another story, I would have forgiven the author had he indicated such). It's appalling the way the subject is treated - you can either see the act as a melodramatic performance (victim blaming) or genuine, but only with pathetic so called 'reasons'. Hey Hannah, if you had the energy to plot 13 tapes outlining the villains who drove you to suicide, then please, use it to draft an article to a feminist magazine.
But damn it, knowing all of this, I still can't stop reading it. It's like....ARGH stop whining but why am I getting so angry and it's so interesting and I want to know what happens at the end and *shoots self in head*
Just kidding.