Ya know what? Fuck the maths exams. I’m doing this.
As I mentioned in my last post, last week, I read Thirteen Reasons Why. I had bought it at the previous Bookyard and I couldn’t wait to finally read it. I dropped Adultery because it was downright boring and started it.
I was immediately sucked in. A dead girl sending cassettes to those who made her take her own life? GEEZ!
It was really such an original concept, the kind that just makes you want to find out more. Instead of chapters, each part of the book was a different side of the cassettes. I mean even if the story was a horrible mess, I think I’d have read it.
The good thing was, the story was not at all a horrible mess.
It talks about a teenager, Clay Jensen, who one day found a box of cassette tapes on his doorstep, numbered 1 to 13, with no explicit instructions. He popped the tape numbered “1” into the player, and was welcomed by the voice of Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush, who had commited suicide two weeks ago. She said that there are 13 reasons why she killed herself, and if he listened through all of the tapes he’d find out where his part in her story comes. He then will have to mail the tapes to the person who follows in the story, just like the person who preceded mailed them to him.
Clay then embarks on a journey, wandering through town, following a map Hannah had left him before her death marking all the ‘hot spots’ in her story, while listening to every tape and learning more and more about why the girl he once loved decided to take her own life.
This book was by far one of the best I’ve read in a while. The story is unbelievably compelling. I could literally not put it down. During the two days it took me to finish it, I had rehearsals for a show the school was putting up. The book was constantly with me and I read as much as I could between every break, so much I wanted to know what happened next. If you’re looking for a thrilling read, definitely pick it up.
And the message. God. It will make you rethink the whole way you treat everyone around you. Everything you do, every little thing you think is insignificant, can change someone else’s life forever. And this is not forever in the exaggerated sense, which I totally despise, but in the literal one. As in, that person could die, and they’ll stay dead forever.
Hannah’s reasons, taken apart individually, might seem like everyday life issues to some. “Not worthy of suicide”. But put together, they really tell a heart-wrenching story that has happened countless times before and is happening right now.
Each and every one of us could be Hannah. Everything that happened to Hannah wasn’t a product of special circumstances. These are things that happen in our every day life, that we often overlook. Spreading a stupid rumor. Throwing a hurtful joke. Rating people on their appearance. Using someone for your own benefit. (Along with many other things I will not mention to avoid any spoilers)
Reading this book will make you open your eyes and notice all the small details, and all the people affected by them. And you will know what to do about it.
And if you’re on the other side of the road, if you’re relating to Hannah, it will make you realize that you are not alone. You’re never alone. And you’ll always find someone who cares.
The last couple of chapters made me very emotional. And the author couldn’t have gone with a better ending to get the true message through.
In the subsequent few days, I found myself inexplicably sad. But it was a good kind of sad. You know it, the beautiful kind of sadness, that you don’t want to let go, that makes you want to cry while listening to Lana Del Rey and looking at old pictures.
That’s how that book made me feel. And I BEG you, if you have read any books that made you feel the same way, PLEASE recommend them to me. Because I’m craving that feeling.
Finally, this book should be a must read. Everyone can benefit from it, and I’m going to lend it to as many friends as I can. Jay Asher did a beautiful job, and it’s a shame he doesn’t have a lot more novels to his name. I recommend this for all of you, and I hope this novel will strike all the chords it struck with me.
Rating: 5/5.
I love books like this, I’m so happy you recommended it! There was a book I read when I was about 13 called The Butterfly Clues and even though I was 13 I accidentally picked up something pretty mature (from what I can remember) It’s basically about this girl who tries to solve this murder but it’s sort of like about how all these people were linked in the girl’s life and also about the protagonists only personal story outside the girl’s murder. But it’s like one of those really urban, grimy books that deals with like really dark stuff but I remember it being my favourite book at the time. Maybe I’ll read it again and I’ll trust young me and recommend it to you too. Also I highly recommend The Lovely Bones, something I read more recently and it’s about another girl’s murder and the girl who is murdered is the narrator and from heaven she narrates the lives of her family after her death and it’s so gripping and shocking and it made me cry buckets and it also terrified me. I recommend that too, it really changed my outlook on life.
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Oh my god. That last book sounds like exactly what I need. I HAVE to get it, it’s on my list. Thank you so much for these! Im also trusting your young self and searching for the butterfly clues.
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YAY!
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Thirteen reasons why is just stunning. Read Here’s to falling by Christine Zolendz. It’s a really heart wrenching book and its story just touches you. I read parts of it over and over again for a whole week after finishing it.
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I’ll look it up now, thanks!!
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I’ve always wanted to read it, but I never got around to it. Yep, now I’ve definitely got to read it. It sounds so good
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It is! You’ll definitely like it
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YAS
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I read this book on a flight and I absolutely adored it! It was brilliantly written and touched on very important subjects!
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Oh and I forgot to mention, Have you read Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver? Touches on the same themes 🙂
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I haven’t! I am getting so many recommendations, I’m thrilled!! I hope I get my hands on all of these books.
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I absolutely love this book! It’s one of my favorites 🙂
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I was in tears when I read this book. And I absolutely agree with what you said about Each and every one of us could be Hannah. We face whatever she faced.
Btw, have you read Landline by Rainbow Rowell? It’s a nice lil’ feel good book about how someone tries to save her marriage by trying to fix her past by going back in time. It’s pretty awesome 😛
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That sounds interesting! And I’ve been wantint to read a Rainbow Rowell book fot a while, so I hope I’ll find that one!
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YAAASSS!!!! XD
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Ahh I literally just read this book and it was amazing!! Definitely agree w/ you on how it makes it more evident that little events can contribute to something larger.
Also, I think you’ll like Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang 🙂 well hopefully aha
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Ah just like me! 😀 and thanks for the nomination
what no LOL I meant to write recommendation but I’m watching the oscars red carpet and I got caught up in the noms XD
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Bahaha you’re most welcome for the ~nomination~ XD
Leo finally won an oscar hey 😀
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YAS HE DID RIP to all the Oscar jokes about him but HE DESERVES IT! Still not over his shady Gaga look from the Gokden Globes tho
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Yes goodbye all those memes bahaha and omg yes that shady look
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I loved this book! I read it over the summer and while it made me relive the worst moment of my life, the perspective and idea was chilingly refreshing.
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I really have no idea how this book could affect people who actually have went through this… Because I read on Goodreads about a girl who was helped and then another person who says that the book will only encourage you to go through with suicide.
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Well I think in a way it fantasizes it, and also says that it is people’s fault (the opposite of what we’re usually told) and for me it kind of gave me the recognition that you know what, even if it wasn’t my “fault” it’s likely that I could’ve done something “different”, but it also shows that’s it happens “because of” a lot of people, not just one. And that at the end of the day, we can all go through our lives and find numerous people who have done us wrong, and then we decide where it goes from there. (Sorry that probably didn’t make any sense and was super long xD)
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Nah that’s okay ^^ some things are hard to express I guess. I think I can understand where you’re coming from.
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Yeah, and it all depends on the person’s situation and everything too. But good, at least I didn’t sound like a complete idiot xD
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Ahahahha noo of course not
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I loved this book! It was written so so well and completely impossible to put down
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The first few lines made my day because I hate math too .
I read the book a billion years ago but I still would re-read it and I don’t do that with just any book. I do agree that the story line is very original. I just loved the way it was writen and the way the story flows together .
Great review 😀
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Thanks a lot 😀 and I agree, it is all so connected and interwoven that you can’t stop reading and the story keeps flowing.
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Why the hell would you post something like this during both of our exams? This review’s gonna make me restless until I read this book…
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HUEHUEHUEHUE I felt the same before my *previous* exams but I read it afterwards. Just think of it as a completion reward weeeee
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One of my favorite books! Great review. 🙂
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Thank you! 😀
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Hmm. I’d say, read Only Ever Yours – maybe. You MIGHT like that one. It kind of destroyed me emotionally, and made me think.
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Yay for emotional destruction!!
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Yaaayyy!
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