Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is a grim psychological thriller from the perspective of a high schooler named Clay Jensen. Clay, like several other people at his school, is the star of one of Hannah Baker’s suicidal tapes. The tapes cover several different stories. Some stories start dark and end darker, and others start happy and end dark. But every one of the tapes adds to Hannah Bakers' suicidal end. Clay receives the tapes and doesn't think much of it initially but as the tapes go on, Clay connects each piece of this grim puzzle together building up more guilt and foreign nostalgia. In the end, Clay must accept the shocking reality of Hannah Baker’s darkest secrets. I thought that this book really reached me more than most novels because the story is based around a high school setting. The problems addressed in this book are very serious in real life too and the author conveys his message through the sinuous turns of perspective that the book takes. The main character is also very relatable as his actions and personality illustrated in the book really resemble things I’d do in real life. This book is a read you’ll look forward to if you read it in intervals and its pace is the perfect speed for a thriller-mystery-like book. However, I felt the ending wasn’t as dramatic as I predicted it would be, it ended on a cliffhanger that didn’t really interest me and also stopped at a lot of points that the reader would've wanted to keep reading about. I also felt that this book brings up certain concepts but forgets them as it moves on, this may be part of the plot but I do feel that certain problems the main character faces could've been further explored. The speed of the emotions that Clay's faces are also exaggerated regarding the fact the entire book happens in less than a day. In conclusion, Thirteen Reasons Why is eulogizing and well-displays the effects of suicide on others and is the perfect read for someone who is bored and has lots of time to go through an emotional rollercoaster.
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