Turn of the Page: 'Thirteen Reasons Why'

by Elizabeth Ostrem and Kayla Werner

“Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher is about a girl named Hannah Baker who commits suicide. Before her death, she mails out a package with seven cassette tapes with 13 stories and “reasons” to the 12 people that, in one way or another, lead to her demise. 

The book is told from the perspective of Clay Jensen, one of Hannah’s classmates and one of the 12 people, as he listens to the tapes to find how he was involved in her death.  As he listens to Hannah on the tapes, Clay gradually realizes that he saw many warning signs for her suicide but at the time did nothing to attempt to change her mind.

Liz:

I was looking forward to reading this book after hearing everyone speak so highly of it, but I have to say I was thoroughly unimpressed after finishing it. 

The way Hannah talked on the tapes struck me as incredibly pious, and the fact that she placed blame on the various persons for “causing” her death seemed pretty juvenile. The back and forth narrative between her and Clay also ruined the book’s rhythm for me.

The biggest thing I came away with from “Thirteen Reasons Why” is that you can have a bigger impact on another person than you might think; even if it seems trivial to you, sometimes words or actions can affect someone else deeply. I guess I’m glad I read it, but I don’t think this is a book I’ll care to revisit in the future.

Kayla:

I thought that “Thirteen Reasons Why” was a fantastic book. It has easily become one of my favorite books to read. While reading it, I found that it was hard for me to put down because each story kept getting more and more interesting. The closer I got to the end, the more I wanted to finish it, but I didn’t want it to ever end. 

The story itself is an extremely sad one to read, but the way it is written makes it so interesting. Some of the reasons are terrible while others aren’t as bad, and one is somewhat apologetic. The details that the author puts into Hannah’s reasons are incredible.

After reading this, I realized how the words of people could affect someone. It makes you think about how you could be affecting people each day.