I really don't understand the hype surrounding this book. I thought it was poorly written and one that I could not even finish.
I have experience with suicide and I do not think this gives a fair and honest representation of it. The fact that this girl blames some pretty innocent people for the reasons why she has taken her own life were shallow and somewhat ridiculous. I think this is a terrible book to let young people read and I would not adopt it into my own curriculum.

I thought this book was well written and tackled a very difficult subject which is not talked about enough. I thought it was written in a way that would speak to young adults and make them think about mental health. I would recommend this book to my friends.

Before I begin I’m going to say one thing: I will not be watching the TV show. I have many issues with it, BUT I did find the book compelling and thought-provoking.
I get why this book is huge. I don’t get why people thought it needed a show, and I definitely don't get the ‘fan vids’ of Hannah and Clay, which I’ve seen floating around social media. Or the memes: someone upsets you, queue the “Welcome to your tape” jokes. Hell, even my friends have made these jokes on various group chats and to use that word, I was triggered.
I’m mentally ill, have been for years, lets get that out there. I’ve been suicidal, I’ve been through therapy and I’m on medication. Yet, this book itself wasn't triggering. What WAS triggering was what happens when a much wider audience gets hold of something and it becomes pop culture. I have many issues with the show, but I’m going to stop here. That’s for another day.
I can see why people feel strongly about this book, whichever camp they fall into; I get it. However, unlike many people reviewing this I was kind of ‘meh’ about it.
It’s told in the POV of Clay, but through the words of Hannah - a girl who has recently killed herself - through the narrative she encloses onto 13 tapes. On them are the reasons that pushed her to suicide; the 13 people, of which Clay is one.
I will however, say it was compelling - I flew through it on a train journey. But it made me so angry. Not for her reason for killing herself, I get that. I get that it’s the little things building up on you that break you down. But romanticizing this? I understand this is an unpopular opinion, but as a society we need to stop romanticizing mental illness – it is not pretty. This book was brutal, but the way her tapes are portrayed is absolutely toxic.
It’s creative, it’s original, I didn't enjoy it. But I can appreciate why people find it compelling.


Thank you to Netgalley for my review copy, also a big thank you to @hobbitasha​ for editing this for me.

'You took that hope away. You decided I didn't deserve to have it'.

Confession: I haven't watched the Netflix show based on this book, so I went into the story with an open mind and completely unaware of where the plot was heading. The result, for me, was a little mixed.

Clay Jensen receives a mysterious package in the mail that contains 13 tapes. On listening to the first cassette, he realises that the voice he's hearing is that of Hannah Baker, a student at his high school who's recently taken her own life. By listening to the tapes, and visiting the places Hannah has been in the recent past, Clay begins to put together the 13 reasons Hannah committed suicide, and why he's made 'the list'.

I liked the premise for this - the idea that it isn't one incident that leads to someone taking their own life, but rather a series of seemingly small and insignificant things that can build up to push someone too far. I felt Hannah's loneliness and desperation in the story, and although some may call her selfish and hyper sensitive, I could relate. I liked her. I understood her reasons behind wanting to finally stop her life, and by the end I was (like Clay) willing someone to intervene - even though we know it's hopeless.

Although we know the inevitable outcome of the story, I enjoyed the journey it took to get there. I was genuinely surprised by some of the revelations that were revealed, and I liked discovering things at the same time as Clay. It felt that we were learning about Hannah together. Having said that, I thought the ending was a little flat. I wanted to see how things turned out with Skye, and what he would have said and acted differently, knowing what he now knows about Hannah.

At times I also found the jump between narrators confusing and a little off putting. I sometimes has to reread previous sentences from one narrator to the other so that I could remember what was going on.

This was an easy read, and although I wouldn't call it enjoyable due to the subject matter, it was interesting, and I genuinely wanted to know more about Hannah's journey.

When Hannah took a handful of pills and killed herself everyone was shocked. What could have caused a young girl with her whole life ahead of her to have decided that there was no way forward for her? These questions were asked throughout the community but there were some who knew the answers. Hannah had made a series of audio tapes. She had left explicit instructions about who should receive these tapes and when.
Told through Hannah’s voice on the tapes & Clay, a young man who knew her, we build up a picture of the sometimes horrific way young people can treat each other- sometimes deliberately & sometimes unthinkingly.
This was an absorbing and engrossing read. It is one that will stay with me for a long while. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for giving me the chance to read this five star book.

I’ve actually been putting off writing this review. I finished this book well over a week ago, and had I written a review straight away, it would have been a rambling mess of emotion written through my own tears.

This book isn’t perfect, and there were things that occasionally irritated me about the characters, but I am giving this book 5 stars because of the intense emotional impact it had on me. If you have never been bullied, then you are unlikely to experience this book in the same way I did. If you have been bullied in the past or are being bullied right now, then I suspect you will find this book very emotional, especially if you have ever reached the stage of not knowing how much more you can take.

Even two weeks on from starting this book, I’m still not sure how I would have felt if I read this book as a teenager during the time I was being bullied. Would it have helped me or not? I really can’t answer that question.

I started feeling suicidal in my mid-teens due to bullying. Luckily for me, my parents worked out something was wrong, and managed to get me to open up. They contacted the school and put a stop to it. This book made me question what might have happened if the bullying hadn’t stopped, and I'd slipped deeper and deeper into depression. Would I have ended my life? What a huge loss that would have been.

When you’re young everything seems so overwhelming. A broken heart is the end of the world and you'll never love another person. Humiliation means you can’t show your face in public ever again. But now I look at all the things I’ve experienced and achieved since a decade of on and off bullying during my years at school. I wouldn’t describe myself as confident, but I certainly have much higher self-esteem than when I was at school. Over the years I’ve got very good at pretending to be confident, and that really helps you get on in life. My life is far from perfect, but focusing on the positives helps me deal with the negatives. I experienced my first love, my first job, studied a fascinating degree at university, made loads of wonderful friends over the years, met my husband who I’ve been with for twenty years, run my own online retail business, lived all over England, had dogs of my own, seen my extended family expand, and of course, read so many wonderful books. To think I might have given all that up because of bullies that probably don't even remember who I am!

By the end of this book I was so emotionally drained after my mind had spent three days back in the corridors of my old school. It did raise another question though. What would past bullies think of this book? Would they even accept that they were bullies at school or have they conveniently forgotten that? Would they make this book out to be trivial? Perhaps it would remind them of the thrill they got out of bullying the shy kid at school, or would it make them feel guilty about their actions?

If there is anything to be learnt from this book, it is to treat people kindly. Listen to and be there for friends and family. Even those that appear fine may be struggling with something in their life, and you could be that person to help them open up and deal with it. Smile at strangers in the street. Talk to the person all on their own on the bus. Don’t underestimate the power of compassion. You might just make that person’s day and perhaps even change the direction of their life!

If you are reading this review and are a victim of bullying or feeling suicidal, please believe me when I say there is a way through it and things can get better. Your life is yours alone. Make the most of that life. Stay strong!

*Sigh of relief* I managed to write this review without crying. Just. Phew!

Okay, I’m just going to start with I thought it was good but I didn’t love it. I didn’t dislike it either, I’m just sort of ambivalent towards its. I watched the show before I read this – and had pretty much the same feeling – so I spent a lot of time comparing the two.

It got into the story really quickly… almost too quickly. I hate when it takes forever for a story to start but I like a bit of a lead up. I like seeing how the story affects the main character and for that you have to see what they are like before the plot starts, but it doesn’t here, the plot starts within the first couple of sentences. So you don’t see that change really. Funnily enough, I found it ended kind of abruptly as well.

Structure wise I liked how Clay’s narration and Hannah’s tapes were interwoven. The recordings were in italics, in between Clay’s thoughts, so easy to read and understand, though I did get confused sometimes when I didn’t notice the italics, but that’s my own fault rather than the book’s. It also helped highlight some of the parallels between Clay and Hannah, as they both had similar thoughts or did the same thing. For example, after leaving the room they first kissed in, they went downstairs and grabbed / leaned against the piano. They left the room at different times and both did it for different reasons but it’s interesting that they did the same thing. Or how they both wanted to be new and improved to those that didn’t know them, Clay to Hannah and Hannah to the school.

Character wise, I found everyone one-dimensional, other than Clay and Hannah. It’s actually where I think the show really outshined the book. I understand why it’s like that – the book is limited to the two points of view while the series can show multiple – but I think the show demonstrated the message more, about how you never know all that’s going on in a person’s life, how your actions can effect another or how everything can just build up. In the book we see it only with Hannah, and to a lesser extent Clay, but the series shows most of the people on the tapes. We see how Alex is affected by Hannah, while he deals with his feelings for Jessica and his insecurities with his dad, the pressure from the jocks. We see what this situation has done to Tony, along with how his past relationships have affected his current one and what he would do for his family. Sonder is a good word for the show in comparison to the book. It’s not a complaint on the book, just saying in this aspect the show was better. Hell if the book did try to put everyone’s POV I might of got bored tbh.

Keeping with the characters, a quick note on the mains. I can understand where Hannah was coming from, I don’t agree with but I could see what led to it and can’t say for certain that I wouldn’t do the same if I was in her shoes. Clay, I found more likeable than his TV counterpart … Hannah too for some reason… but I still don’t understand why he couldn’t just ask for the walkman.

Hope I got my thoughts across here, I found it hard to work through them for this, and I’m not sure I’m explaining it very well. I may not have loved it but I’m glad I read it and for all my criticisms I do recommend reading this and would love to hear your thoughts on it.

An interesting premise which has been re-enacted for the small screen as an 18 rating. Not ideal, particularly as the novel has been changed in the process. A difficult novel to follow at times as it moves to and fro in time, with only a change in font to indicate it.

I did generally find this book interesting, but at the same time kind of weird, it was hard to read because of the subject matter sometimes, and the traumas involved, i know its only fiction but this book hit me hard because there were so many signs leading up to what happened, and no one noticed or did anything and that really got to me.
This book was so deep, and intense, and I don't think I quite realised how much it would affect me. I'm glad I read it.

The story wasn't told as well as it could have been. Of course, the subject matter was serious and emotional. I just didn't feel the connection. and found the writing to be a little mixed up.

My thanks to the Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this Young Adult story a 3 stars or 6/10.

I really enjoyed the premise of the story and the way that it was told as if Clay was listening to the tape that Hannah had recorded. However, by the time I'd read the story I wasn't really bothered why she'd done it as to me, none of the reasons seemed to be valid enough reasons to make someone take their own life. I do appreciate that the actions of others, can and often do affect us all differently. Hannah could've been any High School student as most of what happened could've happened to anyone, unlike Hannah though they might have reacted differently.

It's not easy being a teenager, their bodies are changing, they have so  many pressures put on them from loads of different directions. It's no wonder really that something that we would perceive as not being a problem, to them it's immense. Hannah it appeared had loads of problems, that she saw fit enough to be reason enough to cause her to take her own life.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is so true, people young and old need to remember this or they too could be the one of the reasons that someone deems big enough cause to make them take their life.

This has been made into a TV drama and I would be interested in watching it, to see how it compares to the book.

I loved this book, no kidding. I first watched the Netflix series so I wasn't really sure if I was going to like the book but omg, its just so real and good!

I kept thinking about the series all the way through but I liked what happens in the book more than what happens in the series even though the series seems more tragic to me. They're completely different platforms but I liked the book and how it was written. Full review coming soon....

As a prolific reader of YA, this is a hard one for me. This book covers a number of extremely difficult and timely issues. That of mental health in teenagers, depression, anxiety, paranoia, and foremost, suicide. But it also covers other societal issues like drugs, underage drinking, bullying, sexual consent and rape.

It is not for the younger of the ‘Young Adults’ unless, perhaps studied in a class under strict supervision of a teacher to mediate discussion.

It is difficult for me because while I’ve suffered from mental health issues, I have never tried to take my life and so I feel somewhat unable to comment on the ‘believability’ of the reasons ‘why’ the protagonist wanted to take her life.

My personal view was that they did seem to be the expected issues one would find at school, often peer pressure and bullying. However, that is not to undermine the character’s feelings or that of anyone who has ever been a victim of bullying (as I, myself, have been). These things do build and can severely damage and affect one’s mental health. Just because I got through the bullying doesn’t mean another could. We are individual for a reason. But this is a book review and not a debate on mental health.

Therefore, I think a fair criticism is in terms of the believability of the writing. For me, the justifications/ thirteen reasons ‘why’ did not provide enough depth for me to believe the character. I needed more, and on reflection I think this was not because of the reasons provided but because of the Points of View (POV).

The book is told from two POVs one of the main character and the second through taped audio recordings from the girl who committed suicide. The two were woven together so that often there were two different parallel conversations running simultaneously AND interspersed. It was confusing and not always clear. That said, it was also very cleverly done.

My biggest disappointment with this book, however, was the ending. For me, it fell completely flat. The author brought back a character that we had only seen once or twice the entire book and it felt like a deus ex machina.


My thanks to NetGalley and Razorbill publishers for a review copy of this book (although I actually purchased a copy before the review copy was accepted!)

Reviewed on Goodreads and Amazon

This book addresses a bunch of serious issues that face teenagers today - I decided to read the book before I watched the show so I wouldn't ruin it for myself. This book had me in tears for Hannah and I was glad she wasn't a perfect character, she had some clear flaws that made her feel more human, more relatable to me.

Clay returns home one day to find a box of cassettes waiting for him. On them is the voice of his classmate Hannah....the girl he has had a crush on throughout high school. The only thing is she committed suicide two weeks before. The tapes are her suicide note, written to the people she feels collectively brought her to this point. And Clay is one of the people she wants to listen....

So there's a lot of arguing about this book. Some say it gives suicide glamour, that her reasons are not enough to justify such a drastic step....yada yada yada. Here's the thing. Suicide needs no reasons. To really mean to kill yourself you are mentally ill in some way. And for teenagers who are inclined that way suicide doesn't need to be glamorised. What Hannah gives in this book isn't reasons.....it's justifications. Her justifying why she has reached this point. And if you really want to kill yourself the smallest thing can tip you over.

Anyway that's my opinion on suicide. On this book I must say I liked it. I can't say I enjoyed it as it is an emotive subject. Reading it as an adult I can recommend it heartily. I wouldn't be happy about my daughter reading this as a teenager. I know it isn't a self help manual but because of the subject matter I wish it had rested more on mental health issues and it been a bit clearer that really Hannah didn't look for help. Even when she approaches a teacher she doesn't really say directly she needs help. She comes across as an intelligent girl but she hints to the world anonymously she's in trouble and expects people to know. Actually thinking about teenagers that's pretty realistic!

So if your 18 upwards read this, it's a great read. If you're under that read something happier.

I received this novel from Netgalley for an unbiased review.

[July 2017] I thank Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this gem a second time.

***********************************************
"You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life. Everything. . . affects everything."

This book describes something I wished I had done. And sometimes, I still wish I would do. So Jay Asher's words crept right under my skin and into my soul. I listened to the audiobook and it felt like listening to Hannah.

People should read this book! They should, so that they know how easy it is to hurt, to ignore, not to care. And it's not just teenagers. Adults, too, can hurt just as easily.

Thirteen Reasons Why is about a girl who committed suicide. She was not crazy, she was not a coward. And she left thirteen cassette tapes, explaining the thirteen reason she decided to end her life. Each reason revolves around a person and these persons are bound to pass the cassettes or another set will become public.

"If you hear a song that makes you cry and you don't want to cry anymore, you don't listen to that song anymore.
But you can't get away from yourself. You can't decide not to see yourself anymore. You can't decide to turn off the noise in your head."

Suicide is an uncomfortable subject. It sounds almost like an obscene word. And it's a reality.

We should start looking more closely to the persons around us. And parents ought to really see their children.

"After all, how often do we get a second chance?"

2 stars

I had the hardest time trying to work out what to rate this book. I’d heard a lot about this book, some of it good, some of it bad, all of it quite controversial. I wanted to read it with my own eyes, to see where my own opinions fell on the spectrum.

I had a vested interest in this book, as someone who a) had been a depressed teen and b) is someone considering specialising in child and adolescent mental health in my medical career. My general feeling is that I’m struggling to vocalise what I felt about this book. It didn’t feel like my depression at all, but I know that I can’t speak for everyone. Depression is an amorphous entity, as varied as there are people suffering from it, and everyone’s ‘black dog’ is different. I would say that I didn’t think the book delved into Hannah’s depression particularly deeply, it made the decision to focus on external motivators for her suicide, which, in my opinion, made this book more about how people treat others than suicide.

I liked the message that people should always be kind as no one knows what anyone is going through, but I also felt very uncomfortable with the idea that depression, and suicide, had a basis that could be entirely based in environmental interactions. Depression and suicide are very very complicated subjects and part of me did feel that this story oversimplified that.

I was also wary of the message that all of these ‘crimes’ towards Hannah were ‘reasons’ for her suicide. One of the characters only crime was to let a friendship drift? That’s not a crime against Hannah, that’s life. I feel uncomfortable with the idea that someone who lets a friendship drift (and herself is assaulted later in the story) is in the same league as a rapist. I’m also wary of the message that it sends teens, watching these ‘reasons’ stacking up in their own lives and wondering at what number their life starts to become unliveable. As someone who lived through a not particularly happy high school situation, that experience does not have to follow a person. Who cares who your friends and enemies were in High School? Odds are that you’re never going to see them again. Yes, the issues and problems born in teenage life can plague a person, but there’s therapy and medication and life beyond High School, and I worry that this book did not give that as an option. I wish Clay had challenged some of what Hannah had said, rather than believing it word for word. Depression can make people bitter and angry, it doesn’t necessarily make them the perfect sage counsellor for a book about how people should treat others.

That, I think is key. I don’t think this book was written for suicidal teens. I think it was written for teens who couldn’t even begin to consider that feeling. That job I think it does very well. People should be considering how their actions affect others, one person’s actions can create a domino effect. ‘Treat others as you’d want to be treated yourself’ is the lesson we try to instil in all kids, but sometimes it just doesn’t seem to get through. So, I hope that all kids reading this book take that message away, but for kids reading this who are suicidal, this is not the only path you have ahead of you. Please talk to people in your life, don’t waste your precious breaths on a cassette recorder…

Here’s a list of some resources for people who are currently struggling, or those who know someone who is struggling:

-currently suicidal or having thoughts of suicide? Here’s a list of suicide helplines around the world: http://www.suicide.org/suicide-hotlines.html

–for parents or educators who want help in raising the conversation of suicide: https://teenlineonline.org/13-reasons-help-parents-educators/

-for American Teens, ‘teenline’ offers phone/ text/email support from fellow teens in discussions of mental health and social problems: https://teenlineonline.org/

-As always, if you feel in danger, whether it be from yourself or others, your local emergency room, accident and emergency department (UK) or crisis centre should be your first port of call. Mental health is health and you deserve to have your illness treated just like any other illness.

Thank you to Penguin Random House UK and Netgalley for a copy in return for an honest review.

I wanted to read this as I had heard a lot about it due the Netflix series and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, but I don't think it lived up to the hype surrounding it. I was expecting it to be sad, however I felt that Hannah just cane across as bitter and hell-bent at getting back at the kids who mocked her, as a result I didn't feel sorry for her or much empathy for her, no matter how I tried.

She was happy to blame everyone else for her problems but 1. I think she needed to take the blame for some of it, as she allowed/didn't discourage some of the things to happen 2. She mentions her parents so WHY??? didn't she talk to them, even though they were busy I'm pretty sure any parent would listen 3. Okay high school sucks, boys are jerks and girls are cruel, it's life, but I think she over-reacted, she shouldn't have expected some one else (reason 13) to magical snap their fingers n fix things for her, if she wanted things to get better SHE was the only person that could do that for herself. Everyone at some point has been on the receiving end of someone's unkindness, but it depends on how you deal with it. 4. My brother suffered with depression and I'm pretty sure even at his lowest point he wouldn't have done what Hannah did (with the tapes, as he just wanted to be left alone, he didn't want to talk). I feel Hannah was just after revenge, to me she didn't sound depressed, she sounded angry, and for a couple of the reasons I agree she had the right to be angry, but I go back to, she could have handled them differently.

All that being said I didn't want this to be all negative, because I think it's great that someone had the guts to write a book on the subject of teen suicide. And I hope that it opens people's eyes to the fact that yes this does happen (all too often).

After ranting about my perceived flaws in this book, if even one person picks this up and it makes them think twice about how they act/ treat/ talk to somebody else. If it makes them realise that actually what they say and do could effect somebody deeper than they think and like in the book possibly contribute to a snowball effect on someone's life. If their altered attitude helps to save someone's life as a result of reading this, then at the end of the day there are no amount of stars I could ever give this book that would do it justice.

An interesting storyline. Those little things that you do that may not matter; they actually do, especially when there are lots of little things. I read this book with great interest but felt that it was a little lacking in places when I really wanted to love it. An important message and what that raises questions, good for a discussion book.

It was a strange urge to read this, a large par of me was intrigued by the concept, there is a mystery edge to the book and I felt it would help if customers had questions about it. Without doubt it was technically good, the plot circled slightly which was confusing but the tension and pace were there. I felt for Clay. As a piece on teen suicide I am confused. For someone feeling depressed the lack of drama that led to Hannah's decision may not be reassuring. The "it get's better" argument was never used. But for friends and classmates there was a lot here. Subtle hints on what to watch out for, advice on reaching out and there was a lot of thought into her depressive state. Whatever Clay did at the party is was already too late, which could reassure a victim's friend.