Part I: Bibliographic information
Type: Novel
Title: Th1rteen R3asons Why
Writer: Jay Asher
Copyright Date: 2007
Book Publisher: RAZORBILL, a division of Penguin Group
ISBN: 9781595141712
Audiobook on CD: Random House/Listening Library
ISBN: 9780739356500
Genre/subgenre: Young Adult/Social Issues-Suicide,Bullying
Interest Age: 13+
Reading Level: Upper Grades (UG 9-12)
Pages: 288
Awards: None found.
Part I: Reader’s Annotation, Plot Summary, Critical Evaluation
Reader’s Annotation -- A good-looking high school girl commits suicide and leaves behind seven cassette tapes that lay blame on 13 people who she feels contributed to her decision. Her boyfriend Clay is one of the recipients of the tapes -- and, as he listens to her recorded suicide note, he tries to piece together how and why he will fits into her fatal decision.
Plot Summary --
The story begins with Clay receiving a package of cassettes in the mail. It goes with a map he had received earlier. The voice on the cassettes is his recently deceased girlfriend, Hannah. The tapes begin by explaining the situations involving others that made her feel bad about herself and feeling like she wanted to end her life. These situations mostly involved being treated as sexual object by various boys and having her reputation trashed via gossip and maliciousness by girls that she thought were her friends. Clay is not the worst of offenders but she does reveal how he’s not there for her emotionally as she suffers silently with an increasing sense that suicide is her best option. She even consults a counselor but that conversation comes to a dead end, too. In short, Hannah is not happy and she sees no way out and only find disappointment in those that are around her.
Yes, there are some pretty disappointing happenings in her world, which proves that being the pretty girl is not always easy. But, in the bigger picture, it’s hard to say any one of these justifies her decision or even the bunch of them together. There is no incest or covert abuse happening -- it’s small incidents that breach her trust and make her feel the target of others hostilities, she seems to argue. Clay certainly does not get why he’s on the tapes until she gets to his contribution. This creates an aura of suspense as one wonders how a guy that’s basically loved her gets part of the blame for her death. He assumes it’s his failure to be there for her when she was upset at a party. But ultimately it’s a poor decision of his that leads to a circumstance that he’s not aware had occurred. In short, Hannah calls out the actions that are the result of flaws in judgement that each of the 13 people make -- and she lays the blame for her decision based on the cumulative effect these actions have on her.
Critical Evaluation -- This novel uses a literary mechanism that lends itself to a book on CD form. It’s too bad that it wasn’t released as a book on cassette given the circumstance of her recordings being on cassette. The story is told in vignettes -- each focusing on one of the 13 people who contributed to Hannah’s decision. While connected in subtle ways, each stands on its own as a tale of how the person hurt Hannah. Hannah’s words are her own as the tapes play but interrupted by Clay’s inner dialog as he interprets the meaning as he listens. Because of this back and forth exchange, the book has actually been criticized based on it being a bit confusing. But the recording features a young woman as Hannah and a young man as Clay -- and both deliver strong, believable performances. This solves that problem and makes the tale seem more realistic in my estimation.
Hannah herself is a voice of conscience in the story and the 13 people are forced to look at their moral character -- something we aren’t too accustomed to in our teens. So, while her suicide hardly seems justified, Asher manages to convince us that it’s her disappointment in humankind on the whole that is the real driving force behind the decision to end it all. It’s certainly food for thought for teens who act out of impulse and give little thought to consequence. He manages to convince us that maybe the little things do matter and maybe they matter a lot in ways we don’t even consider. However, the rather predictable device he chose to embrace -- a suicide tape -- ironically lends itself best to the audio media format. It’s there that we are able to delve into the dramatic effect of the inner thinking behind a devastating decision and its effect on one those left behind who perhaps bore some blame for the circumstance.
Part III: Author Info
Jay Asher is a 38-year-old writer of young adult fiction who lives in Central California. Thirteen Reasons Why (2007) is his most successful work to date. He more recently co-wrote The Future of Us (2013) with Carolyn Mackler about two teenage friends who see themselves 15 years into the future. He participates in a blogged called The Disco Mermaids. He dropped out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with the idea of becoming a writer. (Jay Asher, wikipedia.org, n.d.)
Amazon provides the following about him: “Jay Asher has worked at an independent bookstore, an outlet bookstore, a chain bookstore, and two public libraries. He hopes, someday, to work for a used bookstore. When he is not writing, Jay plays guitar and goes camping. Thirteen Reasons Why is his first published novel” (Asher, n.d.).
Part IV: Curriculum Ties, Diversity, Booktalk Ideas, Challenge Issues
Curriculum Ties, if any -- Some high schools offer psychology classes and this would be a good read to engage students in a discussion of suicide -- and use of stereotype and associated bullying.
Diversity of Cultures -- Though written by an adult male, this book does a good job at looking through the eyes of a young woman -- and a good looking one -- to show how sexualizing and labeling can be hurtful to a person’s self-worth.
Booktalking Ideas -- Suicide is a hard topic to discuss. But it’s a very real problem among young people today. What sort of things might drive a person to suicide? How can we as friends or family react if we know there’s a possibility that person is considering it?
Challenge Issues -- This work has been challenged for it’s potential to inspire copycat scenarios. I’d suggest that it’s a subject that is hard to engage juveniles in a discussion about due to its very personal and dark nature. Asher manages to overcome that barrier with a relevant, age specific account. It’s something that could make young adults thing about how their thoughts and interpretations might be extreme -- all or nothing thinking, for instance -- as well as how their thoughtlessness might affect others.
Part V: Reasons chosen
This novel has been criticized mostly on the basis that it’s unrealistic inasmuch as anyone that close to suicide is unlikely to have the mental wherewithal to make such tapes (Perring, C., 2007). That interpretation is valid but the plot does effectively engage the reader in the inner thoughts of the young person, Hannah. The issues addressed also relate to how high schoolers tend to label pretty girls (and guys) as either pure or slutty. Unfortunately, Hannah earns the latter distinction and it’s not deserved in her case. This triggers a lot of sexual harassment by boys that pretend to be her friend, which is deeply hurtful to Hannah.
Part VI: Citations
Asher, J. (n.d.). Jay Asher: From the Author. Amazon.com [website]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Jay-Asher/e/B001JP9NLW
Jay Asher. (n.d.) wikipedia.org [website]. Retrieved from
Perring, C. (2007). Review: Thirteen Reasons Why. MentalHelp.net [website]. Retrieved from http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?id=3984&type=book&cn=9
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