Friday, May 10, 2013

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons WhyThirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published October 18th 2007 by Razorbill
 
Synopsis: Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.
Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

My rating: 3 stars of 5
Just okay
Too much hype
Well written

I've read a lot of books. I work in a library. I know what books are popular and what books kids/teens read that are short to make school projects a breeze. This book, in particular, isn't necessarily short and isn't necessarily a book kids read to make school projects easier; but, it is extremely popular and because of it's popularity, I tried avoiding it for as long as possible. I guess I'm one of those people that get tired of hearing, "OMG, have you read Thirteen Reasons Why or The Fault in Our Stars or Perks of Being a Wallflower? They're like my faaaave."

They're EXTREMELY popular books that EVERYONE is familiar with. So when you're carrying the book around because you're a casual, constant reader and someone you don't even know comes up to you to express their opinion that you really don't want to hear just because they're familiar with the book AND THEY WANT TO PROVE TO YOU THAT THEY'VE READ IT TOO BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY BOOK THEY'VE EVER READ AND THEY THINK THEY'RE THE ONLY ONE THAT HAS READ IT BUT IN REALITY, EVERY OTHER TEENAGER HAS READ IT, YOU START TO GET ANNOYED AND YOU STOP READING BOOKS THAT ARE "IN" NOT BECAUSE YOU'RE A HIPSTER BUT BECAUSE YOU'RE JUST ANNOYED THAT PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO WALTZ THEIR WAY INTO YOUR "READING" WORLD AND I REALLY HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY BECAUSE THIS IS SO DAMN HARD TO EXPLAIN.

Oh, so you want my opinion?

I guess I should give that to you.

So this book is about a girl who commits suicide. And no, that wasn't a spoiler because if that's what shocks you most in this book then you're reading this backwards. The girl sends out cassette tapes before she dies of thirteen reasons why she killed herself. Thirteen reasons, thirteen people. Uh, I don't really remember. But, she pretty much tells her story of all the reasons that led to her finally committing.

Our main character is Clay who recieves the tapes and truly has no sweet clue why he's getting these tapes. Oh, and the girl's name is Hannah. Clay barely knew Hannah. But Clay's name appears in the recording and supposedly, he's apart of her story of why she committed suicide.

There isn't much dialogue in this book so I hope you're not one of those people that reads mostly the dialogue, you finish the book in a day and call yourself a "fast reader". Because if you are one of those people, don't read this book and if you choose to read it, it's going to take you a very very long time.

This book is entirely Hannah's story. So I guess we should call her the main character instead because we barely get to know Clay. I guess the author just needed to pick someone to narrate although Hannah does most of that in her tapes.

Does it kind of sound like I don't like the book?

Well, I didn't like it very much. You're right.

I didn't understand what all the hype was about. Sure, it was wonderfully written and the plot and construction was different and interesting. There were unexpected twists and turns. But for a story that's meant to be an emotional roller coaster, I didn't feel it.

This book is about suicide. I'm supposed to feel SOME SORT OF SORROW. But no. I hated Hannah. I just declared her "main character" and you're NOT SUPPOSED TO HATE THE MAIN CHARACTER and considering Clay doesn't do much in the entire story WHO AM I SUPPOSED TO LIKE? I didn't feel bad for Hannah. She put herself in a lot of those situations that she talked about in her side of the story and sure, most of it she didn't deserve. Maybe my high school was a bit different than hers because none of this grabby grabby stuff ever happened in my school or maybe guys at my school are a little bit classier (a very little bit).

This book just didn't feel real to me. I was highly annoyed and I'm sorry if this is insensitive. Some of the situations Hannah talked about, I would probably feel the same way she did but I just didn't understand how she was able to give up so easily.

I think I'm having a hard time expressing my feelings towards this book but the author just didn't put forth enough emotion to make me feel sorrow and that's what I was expecting.

I mean, I was also expecting this book to be a phenomenal read just because of all the hype but whatever.

HA, WOW THIS WAS A REALLY LONG A POINTLESS REVIEW I'M SO SORRY IF THIS ISN'T SUPER INFORMATIONal... INFORMATIONfilled... FULL OF information.

View all my reviews

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Friday, May 10, 2013

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons WhyThirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published October 18th 2007 by Razorbill
 
Synopsis: Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.
Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

My rating: 3 stars of 5
Just okay
Too much hype
Well written

I've read a lot of books. I work in a library. I know what books are popular and what books kids/teens read that are short to make school projects a breeze. This book, in particular, isn't necessarily short and isn't necessarily a book kids read to make school projects easier; but, it is extremely popular and because of it's popularity, I tried avoiding it for as long as possible. I guess I'm one of those people that get tired of hearing, "OMG, have you read Thirteen Reasons Why or The Fault in Our Stars or Perks of Being a Wallflower? They're like my faaaave."

They're EXTREMELY popular books that EVERYONE is familiar with. So when you're carrying the book around because you're a casual, constant reader and someone you don't even know comes up to you to express their opinion that you really don't want to hear just because they're familiar with the book AND THEY WANT TO PROVE TO YOU THAT THEY'VE READ IT TOO BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY BOOK THEY'VE EVER READ AND THEY THINK THEY'RE THE ONLY ONE THAT HAS READ IT BUT IN REALITY, EVERY OTHER TEENAGER HAS READ IT, YOU START TO GET ANNOYED AND YOU STOP READING BOOKS THAT ARE "IN" NOT BECAUSE YOU'RE A HIPSTER BUT BECAUSE YOU'RE JUST ANNOYED THAT PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO WALTZ THEIR WAY INTO YOUR "READING" WORLD AND I REALLY HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY BECAUSE THIS IS SO DAMN HARD TO EXPLAIN.

Oh, so you want my opinion?

I guess I should give that to you.

So this book is about a girl who commits suicide. And no, that wasn't a spoiler because if that's what shocks you most in this book then you're reading this backwards. The girl sends out cassette tapes before she dies of thirteen reasons why she killed herself. Thirteen reasons, thirteen people. Uh, I don't really remember. But, she pretty much tells her story of all the reasons that led to her finally committing.

Our main character is Clay who recieves the tapes and truly has no sweet clue why he's getting these tapes. Oh, and the girl's name is Hannah. Clay barely knew Hannah. But Clay's name appears in the recording and supposedly, he's apart of her story of why she committed suicide.

There isn't much dialogue in this book so I hope you're not one of those people that reads mostly the dialogue, you finish the book in a day and call yourself a "fast reader". Because if you are one of those people, don't read this book and if you choose to read it, it's going to take you a very very long time.

This book is entirely Hannah's story. So I guess we should call her the main character instead because we barely get to know Clay. I guess the author just needed to pick someone to narrate although Hannah does most of that in her tapes.

Does it kind of sound like I don't like the book?

Well, I didn't like it very much. You're right.

I didn't understand what all the hype was about. Sure, it was wonderfully written and the plot and construction was different and interesting. There were unexpected twists and turns. But for a story that's meant to be an emotional roller coaster, I didn't feel it.

This book is about suicide. I'm supposed to feel SOME SORT OF SORROW. But no. I hated Hannah. I just declared her "main character" and you're NOT SUPPOSED TO HATE THE MAIN CHARACTER and considering Clay doesn't do much in the entire story WHO AM I SUPPOSED TO LIKE? I didn't feel bad for Hannah. She put herself in a lot of those situations that she talked about in her side of the story and sure, most of it she didn't deserve. Maybe my high school was a bit different than hers because none of this grabby grabby stuff ever happened in my school or maybe guys at my school are a little bit classier (a very little bit).

This book just didn't feel real to me. I was highly annoyed and I'm sorry if this is insensitive. Some of the situations Hannah talked about, I would probably feel the same way she did but I just didn't understand how she was able to give up so easily.

I think I'm having a hard time expressing my feelings towards this book but the author just didn't put forth enough emotion to make me feel sorrow and that's what I was expecting.

I mean, I was also expecting this book to be a phenomenal read just because of all the hype but whatever.

HA, WOW THIS WAS A REALLY LONG A POINTLESS REVIEW I'M SO SORRY IF THIS ISN'T SUPER INFORMATIONal... INFORMATIONfilled... FULL OF information.

View all my reviews

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Post a Comment