Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

What an emotional rollercoaster of a book. I think this should be added to high school reading lists. It gives an insightful look into what can lead a person to suicide and the thought process it takes to get there.

there are good, inoffensive ways of going about addressing the increased amounts of mental health issues and suicides amongst teens. this is not one of them.

i'm writing this review many years after reading this book, but i remember going into this knowing that i wasn't going to enjoy it. while that sounds really stupid of me, i still read it in the hopes that it was going to surprise me and have a story or a takeaway that hit home or really shined a light on some pressing issues today that lead to teen depression. let me tell you: i did not get that.

i feel bad saying all this, i do, especially since it's a story that i'm sure some people can relate to. but there is no reaction to the tapes or the girl's suicide that really round out the story and make it a lesson. i wanted there to be some sort of solidarity between the people she left behind, a movement that she creates through the tapes to prevent further suicides, a higher reason for her suicide besides just making people feel bad for the way they treated her. this book had potential to be so much more, but fell short, and it's utterly disappointing.

don't @ me about the tv series, which i will not touch, not even with a 500-meter long stick.

Eh. Felt a little too forced and overdramatic, but that's probably becaue I'm not a teenager myself (thankfully!). I do still think it was interesting and know quite a few kids I would recommend it to.