13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

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.

Stars: 5/5

Cover: B-

Clay comes home from school to find a package waiting for him. He opens it, finds a bunch of cassette tapes, and listens to the first one to figure out what they are.

To say the least, he is shocked when he finds out they are the tapes of Hannah Baker talking, the girl he really liked who had committed suicide two weeks earlier.

Hannah leaves a map with the tapes, with the places that she talks about on the tapes starred. Clay then spends the rest of the day listening to the tapes and going around town to the places Hannah talks about.

I can't really tell you much more about the plot without giving the whole story away.

But, I can tell you how the book made me feel.

It was captivating, and held my attention to the very last sentence. The book was like a magnet, pulling me towards it: all I wanted to do was read it.

I loved the message of the story. What I got from it was that you never really know how one little thing you do could effect someone's life greatly. It really made me think about my life, personally.

The storyline in itself was very, very sad. Hannah was practically screaming for help, especially during her last few days alive, but no one paid enough attention to realize it.

The saddest thing about this book is that people really do commit suicide over things that may seem really small to other people, but actually have a huge snowball effect on someone's life.

This book took the place over one evening, which was pretty cool. The book didn't really have one specific climax, but it wasn't like the book was dragging on or anything. It almost seemed like the climax happened every chapter, when you found out what the person on the tape did to Hannah. If I could have, I would have finished the book in one sitting.

I loved the fact that when I was reading the book in class, people would be like, "Oh, I've read that book and loved it." or "That's my favorite book!" 

I really hope that Jay Asher writes another book, because for a debut novel, 13 Reasons Why was beyond good!

FTC: I bought this book.