This book could have been brilliant, if it hadn’t been for the suicide aspect.

That might sound stupid, because even if you don’t know anything about Thirteen Reasons Why you likely know that it’s a book about suicide, but my point is that it doesn’t have to be.

In Thirteen Reasons Why we follow “nice guy” Clay Jensen. Everyone loves Clay. He’s wonderful. However, his world is flipped upside down when he receives a box of thirteen tapes in the mail. The tapes are from his classmate Hannah, who recently died by suicide, and the tapes explain the reasons why she decided to end her life – all thirteen of them.


Clay is sure he wasn’t really meant to receive the tapes, because he didn’t do anything wrong to Hannah! But he also can’t ignore her last wishes, so he embarks on a journey to learn the truth behind Hannah’s pain.

The issues I had with this book are spoilery, so if you haven’t read it and still feel interested by it then feel free to keep on scrolling.

Hannah didn’t need to die for this story to be impactful. A story of a victim getting revenge can be powerful without the victim dying by their own hand. The threat of a second set of tapes circulating that will get leaked if the recipients don’t follow Hannah’s instructions to the letter gives the plot high stakes by itself, so Hannah’s death feels like a cop out. Wouldn’t this story be more interesting if she outed her abusers to each other and then stood back and watched them tear each other apart in an attempt to keep their secrets? Yes, Hannah would be in danger, but it would add much more tension to the plot and make the story far more interesting.

That being said, I just don’t think Jay Asher knew what he was doing with this story. Hannah’s character is all over the place, and she switches quickly from being a victim to being a bystander enabling abusers to get away with their actions while all the time pretending to have a backbone. Most of the events of Thirteen Reasons Why are completely unfeasible (which is probably why it made for such a popular TV adaptation – who doesn’t love wild and wacky teen drama shows like Pretty Little Liars or Riverdale?!).

Another issue I have with Thirteen Reasons Why is that Clay is completely right: he shouldn’t have received the tapes. Hannah herself says that he’s a nice guy and she shouldn’t have sent them to him! The choice to narrate things from Clay’s perspective detracts from the impact of the novel. The majority of the other twelve people who receive the tapes have done heinous things to Hannah, and seeing their reactions to receiving the tapes – anger, denial, remorse and guilt – would have been much more interesting than following a “nice guy” like Clay.

The only reason we should have been following Clay would have been if the tapes had had the reverse impact on him: if he’d gone from being a “nice guy” to being hellbent on revenge and determined to destroy all of Hannah’s bullies and tormentors. Instead the sole change to his personality is him finally being brave enough to talk to girls, which means the only impact Hannah’s tapes had on him was the ability to forget about her and move on with someone else. Bleurgh.

I think the most frustrating thing about Thirteen Reasons Why is that it had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. I absolutely loved the first quarter of the novel, because the pacing is impeccable. It’s almost as though Clay and Hannah are having a conversation, because his mental asides are interspersed between her tape dialogue and it makes for such interesting reading. Unfortunately as soon as it starts to fall apart, it does so SPECTACULARLY.

Definitely one of the worst books I’ve ever read.

I don't often rate books one star, but I really, really didn't enjoy this. My issue isn't that this is a book about bullying and suicide. Books can be about those things. I'm just really unhappy with the way this was dealt with.

I requested this because of how popular the book and the Netflix show were, but after hearing some things about its content and some of the themes, I wasn't so interested to read it. But thank you very much for accepting me to read it.

I liked the concept but the execution was off for me. It’s a sensitive subject and needs to be executed perfectly.

I absolutely loved this book. What an eye opener. In Thirteen Reasons Why we listen to audio tapes that was sent to 13 people by Hannah who committed suicide, to explain her reasons why.

Personally I thought it was amazingly done and very realistic. There weren't any embellishments or glorifications, it was true portrayal of teen suicide. We go through the story with Clay while he is listening to Hannah's tapes. The narration goes back and forth between the tapes and what Clay is doing/thinking. I really though this was a great way to pace the story and build up the suspense. And every single page is full of suspense. I really could have stayed up all night reading it.

The story contains a lot of emotions; Intense and raw emotions. We go through them with Hannah as well as Clay, simultaneously. Hearing her tapes makes us realize that our actions, however small, can have a whirlwind of an effect on others. Yes, sending those tapes may have been a little mean. But obviously there was a lot going on with Hannah and she needed to get this out. I don't condone her for it, but I can understand why she thought it necessary.

It's not an easy subject to talk about, and suicide is not something to take lightly. Asher did an amazing job of taking a sensitive subject and writing a very touching, mesmerizing novel.

Whilst I appreciate the writing style of this book and the fact that it could start conversations about teenage suicide and mental health, I was left feeling like I didn't really understand Jay Asher's message.  Hannah's suicide seemed romanticised and at times it felt like so much energy went into creating the tapes to get back at those that hurt her, when she could have been getting help from an adult, or reaching out in some way,  Don't get me wrong, I know this is a novel that needs conflict, and I understand that sometimes teenagers don't reach out, I just feel like Asher had a platform here to do more with the issues than was actually done.

Definitely a good next step for fans of the Netflix adaption. Always interesting to see how the book differs from the adaptation

With this book I liked the idea of the different narrations, but I did often get quite muddled between them (as I often do with dual narration). I do think suicide is a topic that should be more addressed, especially in the YA community, but having read a lot of mixed reviews I'm not sure how successful this book is. I personally have never dealt with depression so I can't really offer insight. I didn't hate this book, but I also didn't love it. I thought the idea was good, and it was a gripping read, but something in the execution just fell short.

WOW A huge thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Publishing and Jay Asher could not stop reading this page turner as needed to know what happened next.

I absolutely loved this book and such an amazing way of dealing with a delicate subject as suicide and the effect it has on the people we leave behind. It was written in such a likable way without being morose and also draws the reader into seeing how much a persons mental health can affect with how they deal with life situations.

Compelling and thought provoking. This book tackles issues that are very prevalent for any teenager.

I'm sorry, I wished for this book on a whim but then found that it wasn't to my taste, as I don't normally read YA contemporary.   
Sorry for any inconvenience and I will be more careful with my wishes in the future.

I purposefully held off reading (and then watching) this until all the hype had died down.

This book covers the topics of suicide, bulling, rape, drug and alcohol abuse. And it also just goes to show how much society as a whole, turns a blind eye at these topics. For Hannah she did speak out about feeling suicidal towards the end only to be told to "get over it and move on" - honestly I wanted to grab Mr Porter and slap him silly. Even when she went for help, her last hopes were dashed when she was told that, so she felt she had no choice to end her life.

There were 13 tapes, 13 reasons and 13 people that could have stopped her from ending her life but each and everyone attributed to her wanted to die in the first place. Apart from Clay, he did to an extent but in my eye it was stupidity of not saying what he felt at the time that was his downfall.

I would say if you are having suicidal thought please do not read this, please seek help and don't let anyone tell you to "get over it and move on"!

A moving story which makes you think about how your actions effect others. 
I’ve read this after watching the Netflix show and think that the show is very true to the book - reading it or watching it gives you the same end result. 
Thanks to Netgalley and Razorbill for the copy.

I, like many, watched the tv series first. I have no regrets about that as reading the book after gave me amazing insight into characters I already knew. What i didn't expext was the level of heartbreak I would feel reading it. Such a good, important, moving book!

I enjoyed this title although I didn't feel that it was quite worthy of the hype, and perhaps that's why I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Hype is a very dangerous thing for a book because it leads to people being easily disappointed. Having said that, this was still an enjoyable read and I can see the book appealing to teenagers and young adults. The topic i.e. suicide, is a difficult one to write about and I thought the author did a great job of creating an engaging story around such a difficult topic.

I'm sorry I did not receive a notification on this and did not download it in time to review. However the TV series is very good and maybe I will someday read the book.

13 reasons why a young girl killed herself. 
The reasons are actually people. 
Some hurt her, some misunderstood her, some did horrible things. 
And no one had cared enough (or so Hannah thinks) to be truly for her. 

The story of the novel is well-known, so I am not going there. 
I have mixed feelings about this. I understand that the impact is aimed at caring more, be here more, have our eyes more opened for the others and their pain and problems. And I could not agree more! Very few go the extra mile for the others (and if the said others are not quite lovable ones, it is even worse) - and I need to play that unselfish motive at my mind´s player more, too. 
But while the book is impactful and very well-crafted, it feels emotionally manipulative. True, not all of the manipulation is negative in itself and it is the prerogative of literature to try to get the readers at the point the author has in mind. But the suicide and the teenage angst are very powerful weapons and teenage mind might be very fragile and very open to the unhealthy appeal of "I will show them!" by taking their own life. And Hannah has this attitude.
She is also not that lost, too, as the book would like to suggest. The suicide was not the impulsive decision. Was it not some weeks before the tapes went out that she had drawn and delivered the maps? 
And yes, Hannah is (clinically) depressed. And we all should learn more about this subject. And we need to be more open to all the signs. But...still. Will people be more selfless, more attuned to the others because of the tragedy? Some will - but these are probably in the better category yet. Some can learn. And some will continue in their ways - and they need someone else to stand up against them and fight them for the better world. And Hannah´s story does not cover that aspect. The victim mentality hurts souls of the victims - and the way out is only through all the mess and pain to become the more strong, more wise person. This is hard, yes. But this is the most important lesson.
So while the discussion of the suicide and mental health is very important, I would love to have a more positive model of strenth here. While Clay can offer that, I would wish that for Hannah, too. And I am not saying that coldly and paternizingly, I am saying that as a fellow victim mentality´s occasional sufferer, too.

I'm not sure saying I enjoyed this book is the right way to phrase it. I found it interesting, captivating and sad all at the same time. It's easy to see how seemingly small events can bubble up in to something that feels like too much, and that's not something I had realised properly before. I like the way the book was laid out with the different tapes splitting the story up. I haven't yet watched the Netflix series but I will do now!

Provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! The internal monologue of the main character was interesting. I found the ups and downs and her mood swings a touch scary, but you can see why the story holds an edge because of this.

The story moves along at a good pace and you do wonder what happened and what’s coming next. Good twists and turns!

I found the ending a little bit of a let down. It was all a little too neat.

I feel very, very conflicted after reading this book. For now I'm giving it 3 stars but it might change, right now I just have no clue what to rate this book. To keep things simple, here is a list of my likes and dislikes:
- I feel as if the book is a very raw draft or a very simplified version of the TV series. The TV series had changed some things and I think that a lot of those changes improved the story. The easiest example (without any spoilers) is the high school senior that died. I think that the TV show did that so much better.
- Another thing that the TV show did better was Clay. The show really takes us back to the past while also showing us the future, I really felt for him and what he experienced. I really liked Clay as a character. In the book though, we could easily skip Clay. He doesn't add anything to the story besides telling us how much he misses Hannah, how she never really wanted help and how he regrets not approaching her sooner. He literally adds nothing to the story, he is just the person that we use to listen to the tapes. It would have been a lot more interesting if we had followed a different character.
- I really like the tape format, both in the TV series and in the book. It is such an interesting medium to use, really original and interesting.
- I'm not sure how I feel about Hannah. I feel sad for her and the choices that she made. But how she was blaming some people for it... I'm not sure if I'm okay with that. I do believe that other people can push someone towards suicide but there are two things that I feel should also be there if that is the case: a) the person is already considering it/vulnerable for suicidal thoughts and b) the events should be major. While some of the events in Hannah's life are pretty major, I also think that some aren't as much. I can see how Hannah could blame people for her suicide but in the end it was her choice. Like she said, she gave up on herself and from that moment on she was lost no matter what anyone did.
- This book was a very quick read. I might even consider it an easy read but only because I have seen the TV series and the book feels like a quicker, slightly more bland version. Maybe, if you haven't watched the TV series yet, you feel less inclined to call this a quick read.

So there you have it, those are my thoughts on Thirteen Reasons Why. My rating might change, as I have said. For now though I will leave it at that.