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A review by marcyjmf
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
4.0
You know from the outset that this is not a story with a happy ending. No one is going to be able to save Hannah from herself. In the end, she's going to die, so the book is very much a "journey" rather than a "destination" storytelling. It's one hell of a journey.
I really like the fact that the writing is so disjointed. The jumps from the spoken narrative of the audiotapes to Clay's thoughts to what is happening around him while he listens is jarring. It makes it slightly unsettling to read, which adds to the overall effect of the book. From the very first page a seed of knotted discomfort begins to sprout in your chest, and every single tape that Clay listens to, it blooms a little higher in your throat and puts roots a little deeper in your stomach. I like the gimmick of the pause and play symbols to indicate the status of tape playing.
I love the fact that, in the end, we know next to nothing about Clay, yet we still feel inexorably tied to him. Details are unimportant in light of the emotional revelations. The main thing we know about him at all is the way that others view him, more appropriately, we know the way Hannah views the way others view him. It's a very John Green type of commentary which pulls me back to LFA and PT, that we can never really know another person, we can never be that person. All we have is perception, and perception is a very flawed and dangerous thing. Parts of this story aspired to John Green like genius. They didn't quite reach it for me (but honestly, I doubt anyone could ever equal John), put there were moments that came very close. This book made you think, and it made you feel. It was an eye opening statement about selfishness and self-absorption, as well as thoughtless actions. Hannah herself admitted that what she was doing was selfish, and that she was just giving up. They say we are all the hero of our own story, but Hannah's story proves that sometimes there is no hero. Sometimes there's just a lot of people stumbling around in the dark. I highly recommend this book.
I really like the fact that the writing is so disjointed. The jumps from the spoken narrative of the audiotapes to Clay's thoughts to what is happening around him while he listens is jarring. It makes it slightly unsettling to read, which adds to the overall effect of the book. From the very first page a seed of knotted discomfort begins to sprout in your chest, and every single tape that Clay listens to, it blooms a little higher in your throat and puts roots a little deeper in your stomach. I like the gimmick of the pause and play symbols to indicate the status of tape playing.
I love the fact that, in the end, we know next to nothing about Clay, yet we still feel inexorably tied to him. Details are unimportant in light of the emotional revelations. The main thing we know about him at all is the way that others view him, more appropriately, we know the way Hannah views the way others view him. It's a very John Green type of commentary which pulls me back to LFA and PT, that we can never really know another person, we can never be that person. All we have is perception, and perception is a very flawed and dangerous thing. Parts of this story aspired to John Green like genius. They didn't quite reach it for me (but honestly, I doubt anyone could ever equal John), put there were moments that came very close. This book made you think, and it made you feel. It was an eye opening statement about selfishness and self-absorption, as well as thoughtless actions. Hannah herself admitted that what she was doing was selfish, and that she was just giving up. They say we are all the hero of our own story, but Hannah's story proves that sometimes there is no hero. Sometimes there's just a lot of people stumbling around in the dark. I highly recommend this book.