MARIAH'S THOUGHTS on Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Genre:

Young Adult Contemporary Romance

Mystery

Publish Date:

June 14, 2011

Publisher:

Razorbill

Format:

Paperback

Summary from Goodreads:

You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret...is to press play.

Clay Jensen doesn't want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her.

Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes-- and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.

All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah's recorded words throughout his small town...

...and what he discovers changes his life forever.

     

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**About the Author**

Jay Asher was born in Arcadia, California on September 30, 1975. He grew up in a family that encouraged all of his interests, from playing the guitar to his writing. He attended Cuesta College right after graduating from high school. It was here where he wrote his first two children's books for a class called Children's Literature Appreciation. At this point in his life, he had decided he wanted to become an elementary school teacher. He then transferred to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo where he left his senior year in order to pursue his career as a serious writer. Throughout his life he worked in various establishments, including as a salesman in a shoe store and in libraries and bookstores. Many of his work experiences had an impact on some aspect of his writing.

He has published only one book to date, Thirteen Reasons Why, which was published in October 2007. He is currently working on his second Young Adult novel, and has written several picture books and screenplays. Thirteen Reasons Why has won several awards and has received five stars from Teen Book Review. It also has received high reviews from fellow authors such as Ellen Hopkins, Chris Crutcher, and Gordon Kormon.

Stay connected with Jay Asher

Website

   

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***Review***

“Everything affects Everything.”

Remember that line. “Tony, Abigail, Max, Juan, Maria, Marvin, TK, John, Alex, Sydney, Taylor”, do you know any of these names? Maybe you should, try looking around class, work, the neighborhood, maybe in the family. Even when people think they know a person because of rumors, I’ll tell you they’re wrong. It’s a good thing that Clay Jensen didn’t believe in any rumors of his high school crush Hannah Baker. In “Thirteen Reason Why”, we as the reader jump into the head of Hannah Baker, no, not through her telling the story as if we were in her head because we are listening to her... through a old tapes, I bet none of us have anymore. Hannah’s words right before her death take us and the main protagonist, Clay, through what happened to Hannah through his little town and as the title says “why”. And that’s pretty much the overall read and the synopsis on the back of the book :). But you have to read the whole story if you want the juiciest parts because… I ain’t about spoiling the entire plot.

The story is one we can all relate to and questions we should be asking ourselves: “Could I have helped them”, “Should I say hi”, “Am I a bad person”, but most importantly “What should I do”.  Thirteen Reasons Why is a beautiful novel by Jay Asher. It’s suspenseful, intriguing, and eerie; your regular day(s) of reading will keep you awake at night. Not out of fear or sadness but it’ll keep you awake just to think. Remember when I said “Remember that line”? Well, here it is: “”Everything affects everything”, everything you do will affect someone or something somehow and even a little greeting can make a stranger’s day. Try it :), I did and that girl was so happy afterwards, but then again I was screaming and laughing that day and it’s easy to play with the emotions of people at my school.

At most Thirteen Reasons Why took a measly five hours to read and that’s saying something if you knew I read books about 300 pages long in a month. I refused to sleep until I finished the book because you’ll want to know, “How are these tapes important” and maybe “Why are we listening to this with Clay of all people”. It’ll be a complete “mind reset” because you never know something until you push and shove. Compared to any of the three reviews I’ve done before, I can honestly tell you this novel deserves 5 stars. If you hadn’t interpreted why I like this book so much from what I’ve told you here… I can’t tell you. It would be too primeval or maybe too complex to put those delicate feelings from this novel into black and white or whatever color the screen you have will take.

My rating: