Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Thireteen Reasons Why Review

Release Date: October 18, 2007
Publisher: Razorbill
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 288

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several 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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

After hearing how amazing this book was, I decided to step out of my usual comfort zone and try it. The plot sounded pretty interesting. I have to say that it left me disappointed.

Hannah was such a whiner. Maybe that's just me being insensitive, but I couldn't relate to her at all. Towards the end, her reasons were more convincing, but she seemed very melo-dramatic to me. Clay seemed like a much better character.

I had no trouble putting this book down. It didn't grab me like some books that I've read. It took me six days to read, and that's not a very good reading time for me.

The one thing that did impress me with this book was the writing. It surprised me that this was Jay Asher's debut novel. He had a great voice, and I can see him going far.

Overall, this book was OK. I'd recommend it to realistic fiction fans. I do plan on reading any more books Jay Asher has to offer, though.



2 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm sorry to hear this one didn't work for you. I'm one of those people who could not put it down. I picked it up at 2 in the afternoon - no one warned me - and around 11 I told my husband I was not going to be able to go to bed until I finished. I think that was around 1.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha, I've SO been there! Not with this book, but many others.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments feed the greedy comment-addicted blogger inside of me. Thanks for keeping me going.