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Buy Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher available and for sale on Brightsurf
| View Larger Image | Thirteen Reasons Why
by Jay Asher
| | List Price: | $16.99 | | Price: | $11.55 | | You Save: | $5.44 (32%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 2331 | | Studio: | Razorbill | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Reading Level: | Young Adult | | Number Of Pages: | 304 | | Publication Date: | October 18, 2007 | | Publisher: | Razorbill |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Clay Jenkins returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers 13 cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker—his classmate and crush—who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list. Through Hannah and Clay’s dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 55 reviews)
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oh brother 
my sister tossed me the book, and after reading the book jacket, i was intrigued with what i thought was a very interesting premise. it vaguely reminded me of another book i loved (as simple as snow, by gregory galloway).
so i read it...think it took me two days. and let me tell you...it was extremely annoying. here's why...
first of all, every time i started to enjoy hannah's monologue, it would be constantly interrupted by clay thinking something stupid like "there's a sudden ache inside my chest," or best of all, when he is not thinking, but becomes so overcome, he pukes. give me a break. or when he rakes his hand across a metal fence in frustration and tears some of his skin.
please mr. asher! can i read for five minutes and develop any sort of flow without having clay interrupt? no? didn't think so. but thought i might ask anyway.
and if that wasn't annoying enough...hannah's reasons for suicide?? oh my goodness. all i can say, is that if the experiences in this book were that traumatic that they caused someone to commit suicide, then at least 25% of every high school class in america should be looking for a way to end it too.
look, i loved the idea about getting the tapes, and then passing them on. i LOVED when clay would interact with others who had already received the tapes, but there just wasn't any flow to the story. and i hated how in the end, you were left with this resentment for many of the characters, especially mr. poter, who was simply set up by hannah to be the final fall guy.
July 05, 2008 | |
Amazing 
Wow. What a great book. Sad, but I didn't cry. It was more like the kind of sad where you can't cry. The kind of sad where you're partially in shock, like you just can't believe it even while you can.
Clay comes home from school one day to find a mysterious package waiting on the porch for him. He opens it, and inside are seven audiotapes, each side numbered. He places Cassette 1: Side A into the tape player and hears a voice he never thought to hear again: that of Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush, who committed suicide two weeks before. Hannah has thirteen reasons-thirteen people who affected her-why she killed herself. The tapes are making the rounds, heading to those people. Clay is one of them, and if he listens to the tapes, he'll learn why.
There's like nothing to say about this book other than that you should read it. I didn't want to stop reading it. I loved the way that it went back and forth between Hannah and Clay: Hannah tell her story, Clay telling his and adding his comments to Hannah's story. I loved how this book was more about the characters, more like short stories that were all connected. There was really no plot. It's about Hannah's struggle with herself and the people around her, but we already know that she kills herself. Now we just have to find out why.
This is definitely one of those books that affects you, the reader. It really changes your perspective about people and yourself. It really shows how even the smallest action, one that seems harmless, can be driving someone else to consider killing themselves. It's about learning to live with yourself, learning to live with your mistakes, seeing that you could have made a different choice but choose not to. And that there may not be any going back. You just have to face it.
July 02, 2008 | |
Well intentioned, but... 
THIRTEEN REASONS WHY has an interesting premise. Given the numerous already existing reviews, I won't go into too much detail about the plot other than to say the story revolves around a set of tapes, a recorded memoir leading up to her suicide, that were sent out by a girl shortly after she committed the act. The intended audience for her tapes were the people she blamed for contributing to, nay causing, her suicide. Like I said, an interesting premise that I had hoped had a twist to it. Because, after all, this novel had strong reviews of readers praising its message and agreeing with it entirely. The message is this (caution: spoiler alert!): the people in this story are entirely to blame for the character who took her own life, therefore removing all accountability for her own actions (by this, I mean committing suicide). Now, I get what the author was trying to achieve and I think it was noble. Mr. Asher wanted to provoke some thought about how our actions, even if we view as harmless or insignificant, can significantly impact another and that we should consider his cautionary tale with all future interactions with people in our own lives. I respect that, which is why I gave this novel one star, as opposed to none. However, what I believe Mr. Asher missed entirely was that suicide attempts and completions are entirely selfish acts, leaving so many people destroyed in its wake. True, the characters in this book create a miserable life for Hannah (the girl who commits suicide), but ultimately the decision to take her own life is hers, and hers alone. THIRTEEN REASONS WHY removes all accountability from Hannah and places it all on the other characters, blaming them for an action they didn't commit. Moreover, the story also places a heavy load of guilt AND BLAME on the well-intentioned and "good guy" characters in the story for not stopping a suicide. Again, no accountability for the character who took her life, just the ones that had to experience the aftermath.
I devoured this book, reading it in just a few hours. I did so not because I was enjoying it, but because I was desperately hoping that my suspicion that the book was placing accountability on the wrong characters would be blown away; it was not.
To close, in life other people's actions influence our own behavior, but ultimately, the only one to blame or be accountable for our own behavior is ourself...even regarding suicide. This was a terrible read.
June 30, 2008 | |
great book.
i recieved this book sometime last week, and i had been so consumed in work that I hadn't a chance to read..until 2 nights ago. i came home from the office exahusted but decided to read at least the first chapter..big mistake..i couldnt put it down..i was up until 5 am reading this book..and I was sad that it was over..both teens and adults will be able to relate to it..its just a all around great book.
June 29, 2008 | |
Powerful and captivating
When my school posted the annual summer reading list I never would have imagined that anything on it would be interesting let alone enjoyable.
I was wrong!
From the first page of Thirteen Reasons Why I was captivated. I could not put the book down. I spent 6 hours on my couch reading.
I was surprised by the realistic way Jay Asher wrote Hannah's story.
You feel like you knew her. You can't help but to understand and feel her pain. You can feel Clay and the wave of surprise and terror as Hannah's stories unfold.
Each of Hannah's stories put you on the edge of your seat. Jay's writing allows you to take in every detail of Hannahs life as if you were in Hannah's shoes. Letting you see her life for exactly what it was.
I love this book and I recommend it to everyone. Hands down best book I've ever read.
June 29, 2008 | |
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