Wow! An incredible book with a lesson for every one who reads it. This definitely gets 5*'s from me.

I had been wanting to read this book for a long while because of the Netflix series (which I'll be watching soon) but also because I'd heard plenty about the book. I actually really enjoyed it and I wasnt sure I would.

This book worked for me because I liked the characters. I instantly liked Hannah and cared about her. I genuinely wanted better for her because she got dealt a shit hand. And I liked Clay. O kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and to find the flaw in his apparent nice guy act but he was genuinely this nice guy who wasn't perfect but wasn't malicious with his niceties. 

I respected the book for highlighting suicide and the warning signs to look for. It sounds like the fault for suicide is trying to be passed onto others and in some ways it was other people's fault for putting Hannah on the path she was but I felt this was more about explaining that suicide didn't occur for a single reason and there is no easy fix to help those contemplating suicide but there are signs to look for.

I also liked that a lot of people on Hannah's list are people who many would like and get along with. They weren't all horrible mean people bullying her or anything like that but the simple acts of normal people who to one person can be taken in one way but seen by that person as another. It makes you think about how your actions can affect others and that really is an important thing to remember. Our actions affect not just us.

There were bad guys in this book. People who deserved a comeuppance but then the minor revenge in this book was nowhere near enough.

I think the book was well done. These are only my immediate thoughts so I will need to take time to stew but it really was a quick read which hooked me immediately.

I was late to discover Thirteen Reasons Why, but it is worth the wait.

So poignant and soulful, it shows how every 'insignificant' wrong adds up to something unsurmountable, and how often we do not take the time to consider if the joke/prank actually hurts someone.

Brilliant book, thoroughly recommended!

I really don't understand the hype surrounding this book. I thought it was poorly written and one that I could not even finish.
I have experience with suicide and I do not think this gives a fair and honest representation of it. The fact that this girl blames some pretty innocent people for the reasons why she has taken her own life were shallow and somewhat ridiculous. I think this is a terrible book to let young people read and I would not adopt it into my own curriculum.

I thought this book was well written and tackled a very difficult subject which is not talked about enough. I thought it was written in a way that would speak to young adults and make them think about mental health. I would recommend this book to my friends.

Before I begin I’m going to say one thing: I will not be watching the TV show. I have many issues with it, BUT I did find the book compelling and thought-provoking. 
I get why this book is huge. I don’t get why people thought it needed a show, and I definitely don't get the ‘fan vids’ of Hannah and Clay, which I’ve seen floating around social media. Or the memes: someone upsets you, queue the “Welcome to your tape” jokes. Hell, even my friends have made these jokes on various group chats and to use that word, I was triggered. 
I’m mentally ill, have been for years, lets get that out there. I’ve been suicidal, I’ve been through therapy and I’m on medication. Yet, this book itself wasn't triggering. What WAS triggering was what happens when a much wider audience gets hold of something and it becomes pop culture. I have many issues with the show, but I’m going to stop here. That’s for another day.
I can see why people feel strongly about this book, whichever camp they fall into; I get it. However, unlike many people reviewing this I was kind of ‘meh’ about it. 
It’s told in the POV of Clay, but through the words of Hannah - a girl who has recently killed herself - through the narrative she encloses onto 13 tapes. On them are the reasons that pushed her to suicide; the 13 people, of which Clay is one. 
I will however, say it was compelling - I flew through it on a train journey. But it made me so angry. Not for her reason for killing herself, I get that. I get that it’s the little things building up on you that break you down. But romanticizing this? I understand this is an unpopular opinion, but as a society we need to stop romanticizing mental illness – it is not pretty. This book was brutal, but the way her tapes are portrayed is absolutely toxic. 
It’s creative, it’s original, I didn't enjoy it. But I can appreciate why people find it compelling.


Thank you to Netgalley for my review copy, also a big thank you to @hobbitasha​ for editing this for me.

'You took that hope away. You decided I didn't deserve to have it'. 

Confession: I haven't watched the Netflix show based on this book, so I went into the story with an open mind and completely unaware of where the plot was heading. The result, for me, was a little mixed. 

Clay Jensen receives a mysterious package in the mail that contains 13 tapes. On listening to the first cassette, he realises that the voice he's hearing is that of Hannah Baker, a student at his high school who's recently taken her own life. By listening to the tapes, and visiting the places Hannah has been in the recent past, Clay begins to put together the 13 reasons Hannah committed suicide, and why he's made 'the list'. 

I liked the premise for this - the idea that it isn't one incident that leads to someone taking their own life, but rather a series of seemingly small and insignificant things that can build up to push someone too far. I felt Hannah's loneliness and desperation in the story, and although some may call her selfish and hyper sensitive, I could relate. I liked her. I understood her reasons behind wanting to finally stop her life, and by the end I was (like Clay) willing someone to intervene - even though we know it's hopeless. 

Although we know the inevitable outcome of the story, I enjoyed the journey it took to get there. I was genuinely surprised by some of the revelations that were revealed, and I liked discovering things at the same time as Clay. It felt that we were learning about Hannah together. Having said that, I thought the ending was a little flat. I wanted to see how things turned out with Skye, and what he would have said and acted differently, knowing what he now knows about Hannah. 

At times I also found the jump between narrators confusing and a little off putting. I sometimes has to reread previous sentences from one narrator to the other so that I could remember what was going on. 

This was an easy read, and although I wouldn't call it enjoyable due to the subject matter, it was interesting, and I genuinely wanted to know more about Hannah's journey.

I read this after watching the TV show so I knew the basic plot but there were still a few surprises along the way. It's such a wonderfully written story (even better than the show if I'm honest) and incredibly thought provoking.

When Hannah took a handful of pills and killed herself everyone was shocked. What could have caused a young girl with her whole life ahead of her to have decided that there was no way forward for her? These questions were asked throughout the community but there were some who knew the answers. Hannah had made a series of audio tapes. She had left explicit instructions about who should receive these tapes and when.
Told through Hannah’s voice on the tapes & Clay, a young man who knew her, we build up a picture of the sometimes horrific way young people can treat each other- sometimes deliberately & sometimes unthinkingly.
This was an absorbing and engrossing read. It is one that will stay with me for a long while. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for giving me the chance to read this five star book.

Having watched the programs with my daughters who are 17 and 15 i wanted to see if  like always i prefer the book to the film / series and yes i did. But i also wanted their perspective of this story i know they enjoyed the show so i asked them to buddy read along with me. We all had very different views on this story with a lot of mixed feelings. Love it or hate it will give you pause for thought with its subject matter. All in all an enjoyable and thought provoking read.

I’ve actually been putting off writing this review. I finished this book well over a week ago, and had I written a review straight away, it would have been a rambling mess of emotion written through my own tears.

This book isn’t perfect, and there were things that occasionally irritated me about the characters, but I am giving this book 5 stars because of the intense emotional impact it had on me. If you have never been bullied, then you are unlikely to experience this book in the same way I did. If you have been bullied in the past or are being bullied right now, then I suspect you will find this book very emotional, especially if you have ever reached the stage of not knowing how much more you can take.

Even two weeks on from starting this book, I’m still not sure how I would have felt if I read this book as a teenager during the time I was being bullied. Would it have helped me or not? I really can’t answer that question. 

I started feeling suicidal in my mid-teens due to bullying. Luckily for me, my parents worked out something was wrong, and managed to get me to open up. They contacted the school and put a stop to it. This book made me question what might have happened if the bullying hadn’t stopped, and I'd slipped deeper and deeper into depression. Would I have ended my life? What a huge loss that would have been.

When you’re young everything seems so overwhelming. A broken heart is the end of the world and you'll never love another person. Humiliation means you can’t show your face in public ever again. But now I look at all the things I’ve experienced and achieved since a decade of on and off bullying during my years at school. I wouldn’t describe myself as confident, but I certainly have much higher self-esteem than when I was at school. Over the years I’ve got very good at pretending to be confident, and that really helps you get on in life. My life is far from perfect, but focusing on the positives helps me deal with the negatives. I experienced my first love, my first job, studied a fascinating degree at university, made loads of wonderful friends over the years, met my husband who I’ve been with for twenty years, run my own online retail business, lived all over England, had dogs of my own, seen my extended family expand, and of course, read so many wonderful books. To think I might have given all that up because of bullies that probably don't even remember who I am!

By the end of this book I was so emotionally drained after my mind had spent three days back in the corridors of my old school. It did raise another question though. What would past bullies think of this book? Would they even accept that they were bullies at school or have they conveniently forgotten that? Would they make this book out to be trivial? Perhaps it would remind them of the thrill they got out of bullying the shy kid at school, or would it make them feel guilty about their actions?

If there is anything to be learnt from this book, it is to treat people kindly. Listen to and be there for friends and family. Even those that appear fine may be struggling with something in their life, and you could be that person to help them open up and deal with it. Smile at strangers in the street. Talk to the person all on their own on the bus. Don’t underestimate the power of compassion. You might just make that person’s day and perhaps even change the direction of their life!

If you are reading this review and are a victim of bullying or feeling suicidal, please believe me when I say there is a way through it and things can get better. Your life is yours alone. Make the most of that life. Stay strong!

*Sigh of relief* I managed to write this review without crying. Just. Phew!

Thirteen reasons why by Jay Asher is a fantastic read with great subtext and symbolism used throughout.  When high school student, Clay receives a package in the post, he is bemused.  Until he understands the contents of the package which sends him on a journey of consequential thinking.  A sad one but a good one.

Okay, I’m just going to start with I thought it was good but I didn’t love it. I didn’t dislike it either, I’m just sort of ambivalent towards its. I watched the show before I read this – and had pretty much the same feeling – so I spent a lot of time comparing the two.

It got into the story really quickly… almost too quickly. I hate when it takes forever for a story to start but I like a bit of a lead up. I like seeing how the story affects the main character and for that you have to see what they are like before the plot starts, but it doesn’t here, the plot starts within the first couple of sentences. So you don’t see that change really. Funnily enough, I found it ended kind of abruptly as well.

Structure wise I liked how Clay’s narration and Hannah’s tapes were interwoven. The recordings were in italics, in between Clay’s thoughts, so easy to read and understand, though I did get confused sometimes when I didn’t notice the italics, but that’s my own fault rather than the book’s. It also helped highlight some of the parallels between Clay and Hannah, as they both had similar thoughts or did the same thing. For example, after leaving the room they first kissed in, they went downstairs and grabbed / leaned against the piano. They left the room at different times and both did it for different reasons but it’s interesting that they did the same thing. Or how they both wanted to be new and improved to those that didn’t know them, Clay to Hannah and Hannah to the school.

Character wise, I found everyone one-dimensional, other than Clay and Hannah. It’s actually where I think the show really outshined the book. I understand why it’s like that – the book is limited to the two points of view while the series can show multiple – but I think the show demonstrated the message more, about how you never know all that’s going on in a person’s life, how your actions can effect another or how everything can just build up. In the book we see it only with Hannah, and to a lesser extent Clay, but the series shows most of the people on the tapes. We see how Alex is affected by Hannah, while he deals with his feelings for Jessica and his insecurities with his dad, the pressure from the jocks. We see what this situation has done to Tony, along with how his past relationships have affected his current one and what he would do for his family. Sonder is a good word for the show in comparison to the book. It’s not a complaint on the book, just saying in this aspect the show was better. Hell if the book did try to put everyone’s POV I might of got bored tbh.

Keeping with the characters, a quick note on the mains. I can understand where Hannah was coming from, I don’t agree with but I could see what led to it and can’t say for certain that I wouldn’t do the same if I was in her shoes. Clay, I found more likeable than his TV counterpart … Hannah too for some reason… but I still don’t understand why he couldn’t just ask for the walkman.

Hope I got my thoughts across here, I found it hard to work through them for this, and I’m not sure I’m explaining it very well. I may not have loved it but I’m glad I read it and for all my criticisms I do recommend reading this and would love to hear your thoughts on it.

An interesting premise which has been re-enacted for the small screen as an 18 rating. Not ideal, particularly as the novel has been changed in the process. A difficult novel to follow at times as it moves to and fro in time, with only a change in font to indicate it.

I did generally find this book interesting, but at the same time kind of weird, it was hard to read because of the subject matter sometimes, and the traumas involved, i know its only fiction but this book hit me hard because there were so many signs leading up to what happened, and no one noticed or did anything and that really got to me. 
This book was so deep, and intense, and I don't think I quite realised how much it would affect me. I'm glad I read it.

The story wasn't told as well as it could have been. Of course, the subject matter was serious and emotional. I just didn't feel the connection. and found the writing to be a little mixed up.

My thanks to the Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this Young Adult story a 3 stars or 6/10.

I really enjoyed the premise of the story and the way that it was told as if Clay was listening to the tape that Hannah had recorded. However, by the time I'd read the story I wasn't really bothered why she'd done it as to me, none of the reasons seemed to be valid enough reasons to make someone take their own life. I do appreciate that the actions of others, can and often do affect us all differently. Hannah could've been any High School student as most of what happened could've happened to anyone, unlike Hannah though they might have reacted differently.

It's not easy being a teenager, their bodies are changing, they have so  many pressures put on them from loads of different directions. It's no wonder really that something that we would perceive as not being a problem, to them it's immense. Hannah it appeared had loads of problems, that she saw fit enough to be reason enough to cause her to take her own life.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is so true, people young and old need to remember this or they too could be the one of the reasons that someone deems big enough cause to make them take their life.

This has been made into a TV drama and I would be interested in watching it, to see how it compares to the book.

I loved this book, no kidding. I first watched the Netflix series so I wasn't really sure if I was going to like the book but omg, its just so real and good! 

I  kept thinking about the series all the way through but I liked what happens in the book more than what happens in the series even though the series seems more tragic to me. They're completely different platforms but I liked the book and how it was written. Full review coming soon....

As a prolific reader of YA, this is a hard one for me. This book covers a number of extremely difficult and timely issues. That of mental health in teenagers, depression, anxiety, paranoia, and foremost, suicide. But it also covers other societal issues like drugs, underage drinking, bullying, sexual consent and rape.

It is not for the younger of the ‘Young Adults’ unless, perhaps studied in a class under strict supervision of a teacher to mediate discussion.

It is difficult for me because while I’ve suffered from mental health issues, I have never tried to take my life and so I feel somewhat unable to comment on the ‘believability’ of the reasons ‘why’ the protagonist wanted to take her life.

My personal view was that they did seem to be the expected issues one would find at school, often peer pressure and bullying. However, that is not to undermine the character’s feelings or that of anyone who has ever been a victim of bullying (as I, myself, have been). These things do build and can severely damage and affect one’s mental health. Just because I got through the bullying doesn’t mean another could. We are individual for a reason. But this is a book review and not a debate on mental health.

Therefore, I think a fair criticism is in terms of the believability of the writing. For me, the justifications/ thirteen reasons ‘why’ did not provide enough depth for me to believe the character. I needed more, and on reflection I think this was not because of the reasons provided but because of the Points of View (POV). 

The book is told from two POVs one of the main character and the second through taped audio recordings from the girl who committed suicide. The two were woven together so that often there were two different parallel conversations running simultaneously AND interspersed. It was confusing and not always clear. That said, it was also very cleverly done.

My biggest disappointment with this book, however, was the ending. For me, it fell completely flat. The author brought back a character that we had only seen once or twice the entire book and it felt like a deus ex machina.
 

My thanks to NetGalley and Razorbill publishers for a review copy of this book (although I actually purchased a copy before the review copy was accepted!)

Reviewed on Goodreads and Amazon