After hearing all the hype around the Netflix series I knew I had to read the book before allowing myself to watch the series. I wasn't sure what to expect all I knew about '13 reasons why' was that it was about a suicide.

The storyline was very fast paced and easy to read, I finished the book within a couple hours. Overall I think the book addresses some major issues within teen culture today, especially with regards to rumours and how an opinion about someone can have so much of an impact on their life. I think this book is good for young adults to understand the need to find the truth about a rumour before believing it and shows teenagers that it is okay to share your feelings or get help from others. Whether this is from professional help or family and friends.

I would recommend this book to a friend and would definitely encourage schools to consider putting this book on the curriculum to show how easily one rumour, and the after affects of that rumour, can have on an individual.

This is a story about suicide and revenge. A culmination of 13 individual events, some seemingly shallow or inconsequential on their own, push Hannah over the edge and she takes her own life. However, before doing so she records the details of those events on to several audio tapes to be passed down a list of her antagonists.

We hear the story from Hannah's point of view, through the tapes she has made as they are listened to by nice guy Clay after he receives the package of tapes in the mail. But why is he on Hannah's list when he only ever wanted to help her?

Obviously this is a very sad story, but I do not agree with those who say that it glamorises suicide. It is a perfect example of why we should all be a little kinder to each other, and to ourselves.

First of all I would like to thank Jay Asher for writing this brilliant novel, this is one story that will stay with me for a long time.
I could give you thirteen reasons why I loved this book so much but I would be giving away the plot and I don't want to I want you guys to read it for yourselves it's a rollercoaster ride filled with every emotion you could ever want to feel in a book it truly is.
This book teaches you a life lesson and that is that all actions have consequences and you may not realise that what you are doing is affecting someone now but it may hurt them later and if you don't have anything nice to say about someone then please don't say anything at all.
I urge all you readers to read this novel ...I know it's been adapted to a tv series which I kinda watched first before I read the book refrain yourselves people this is what you need to read first.
A brilliant thought provoking genius of a book and I cannot recommend it enough!
Jay Asher I salute you!

Still a relevant and engaging read almost ten years after publication, however I don't think it explains or details enough ways in which Hannah's suicide could have been prevented.

This book was ok I guess... But it just seemed way too much like Paper Towns... Like... "Here... Follow the trail to find out what happened to me..." Ummmm... Ok.

Also, Hannah is such a bitch! I mean WHAT KIND OF PERSON SENDS ROUND A TAPE TO 13 PEOPLE AND BLAME THEM FOR HER DEATH! She wasn't exactly an angel either... I think the fact that doing this doesn't make her a good character role model at all and it depicts suicide in a jokey-'haha it's all your fault' way which I think is very very wrong. There's a way to portray suicide and this just wasn't it.

So yeah the story was similar to John Greens's but the way that Asher goes about it is very different.

I did like the format in how the story was told and the suspense Asher created to get us excited for Clays's section of the tape. But when it finally did get to Clay's section... I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED! LIKE HOW UNBELIEVABLY PREDICTABLE WAS THAT??!!!! Ugggghhhh!! AND HOW MEAN OF HANNAH TO DO THAT TO CLAY! AGAIN, WHAT. A. BITCH. !

I think that this book is ok - hence the 2 stars - but I don't think it's one that I would instantly go out and recommend

As much as I liked the story though, I have one major gripe, and it's about Clay and his reaction to Hannah's decision to end her life. I didn't notice it much at first, but as the story progresses, there's a lot of 'you didn't tell me,' 'you could have let me help you,' 'you made this decision,' bullshit. I found it really annoying. When a person contemplates suicide, it is usually the result of being ground down to the point where you can't imagine life getting any better. In a way, Clay is blaming Hannah for her 'decision' to not ask for his help, to 'choose' suicide instead. He seems to think that he could have saved her if only she'd let him. His ego pissed me off, particularly towards the end. While I do believe that talking about problems is a positive action, I don't think that Hannah talking to a boy that she doesn't really know that well would have made a huge difference to her perspective overall. What she needed was some meds, to get away from that town and a health professional to speak to.

I still really enjoyed this book. Hannah was a really great and tragic character who was bombarded by so many awful things that soon became overwhelming.

This would have been a 5 star read if only Clay hadn't insisted on his ability to be her saviour. Oh well...

Thirteen Reasons Why is the story of a teenage girl called Hannah Barker who kills herself. A week later Clay Jensen a teen boy who loved Hannah receives a package on his doorstep containing a bunch of cassette tapes which Hannah recorded before her death, to provide Thirteen Reasons Why Hannah was driven to do what she did.

For obvious reasons it's a very emotive novel. Suicide, teen or otherwise is a trigger subject and very upsetting. I suppose I half expected it to be very dramatic, which it wasn't.

But wait... that's not a criticism, far from it. As someone who was bullied all the way through high school I understand what this book is trying to say, and what I hope is that other people do too. I hope this book and for those who don't read, this series, achieve what it has set out to do. That is, the way that things which some people perceive to be 'small' or insignificant things, can really affect other people's lives.

It highlights how bullying is more than just attacking people physically or verbally. How it can be small things like spreading a 'little' rumour, or stealing something which would have made that persons day.

But what this book is also about, is the people left behind. There is a lot of focus on blame but also on the things that the person themselves could have done differently, the way that Hannah towards the end almost sets herself up to make her life as terrible as possible in order to finalise her decision. It explores the complexity of the depressed mind and how reason can go out of the window when life becomes so terrible and you feel so alone. How one chain of events can cause you to make a decision about ending your life.

What I hope this book, and this series does is reminds people to be nice to other people because you don't know how much that person needs just one smiling face in their day.

I had heard of Thirteen Reasons Why many moons ago, it was one of those books that I promised myself I would read, but my reading list got ridiculously out of control and this book slipped from my mind. Then suddenly there was a flurry of conversation on social media as it was announced that it was being adapted for Netflix and once again I was reminded that I wanted to read this. What I did instead was binge watch the 13 Netflix episodes with the idea being that I would still read the book at some point in the future. But upon finishing the series I struggled to organise my thoughts, I wasn't entirely sure how I was supposed to feel. So I did the only thing I knew how to do and I read the book too. Only I'm still sat here trying to process my thoughts and feelings. And I think that's the whole point.

You aren't supposed to be able to read this and just move on with your life. The death of anyone, let alone a teenage girl with her entire life before her, should never be easily dismissed. Whether you are a teenage reader or an adult one, this book should make you feel uncomfortable. Some of Hannah's reasons may be small and insignificant to you, but when you put them all together you can begin to understand the snowball effect and why it may weight a person down. Something I remember thinking of Hannah when watching the first episode, when she was pursuing Justin Foley, was just how happy and confident she seemed... compare that to the Hannah in the last few episodes and its easy to see the difference (something that wasn't so obvious but definitely implied in the books), but we don't always notice the changes when they happen slowly.

I have urged my teenage daughters to watch this series, to read this book. I want to open up the discussion about mental health, about bullying and about suicide. I want them to know that Hannah's story doesn't have to be their story. Hannah had people that she could have confided in but for whatever reason didn't.

There is no part of this book or tv series that is easy, but Asher has handled the subject matter beautifully.
It's also worth noting that the copy I read was the original copy in which Hannah succeeds in killing herself, I've heard in the anniversary edition she is found in time and survives.... and I would definitely be looking to read that for myself.

I find the discourse this book arose quite interesting, I do see why it is seen as a problematic portrayal of suicide victims but I also believe that censorship will do no one any good. I found the style and structure quite unique, interesting and somewhat gripping. I wasn't a fan of the Clay Jensen, the voice through which the story uncovers, because he acted too much like a Nice Guy™, too relieved that Hanna wasn't what the rumors suggested her to be, because in reality she also was a Nice Gal™. I also found Hanna's last act too selfish and vicious, way too vicious. You cannot unload that many faults onto someone to then decide you won't be around to talk things out anymore The story was pretty quick paced though and it flew by in a matter of hours.

Sometimes it's hard to see why other people might dislike a book you enjoy, but with Thirteen Reasons Why, I can understand it perfectly.

It is told from the perspective of Clay, but is mostly about the life of Hannah - a girl who recently killed herself. After her death, Clay receives a set of cassette tapes on which Hannah explains the thirteen reasons why she decided to kill herself. And he is one of them.

It is extremely compelling - unputdownable almost - but a problem many readers have is that the book relies on your sympathy for Hannah to effectively relay its message, and yet Hannah comes off as bratty, selfish and ofttimes over-sensitive. Many of her "reasons" are things that everyone has experienced at some point and people generally file those under "bad days" and definitely don't kill themselves because of it.

But actually, I completely understood and sympathized with Hannah. As a suicide survivor, I even related to her at times. And, though I don't attempt to speak for everyone, I feel in a position to attest that there can be something bratty and selfish about suicide.

I think this book captured a certain feeling very well and I disagree with those who thought Hannah wasn't realistically suicidal. It's true that nobody kills themselves because they get stood up, and nobody kills themselves because some douche groped their ass, and nobody kills themselves because of a mean rumour... but each of these is a little bit more added to the weight that is crushing down on someone.

People like to look for clear-cut reasons that make sense. They want Hannah to give a good reason why she killed herself. But, in reality, it so rarely is one big reason you can point to. Most of the time, the little things all build up, day after day, one small thing after another, until the little reasons all blend into a single feeling of hopelessness.

That is what this book is about. And it's also about taking responsibility for your actions and understanding how your small selfish acts can affect someone else.

I did not have an issue believing in or finding sympathy for Hannah. My only real issue with this book was Clay, the revelation about him, and the way he viewed the truth about Hannah. Clay changes his mind about Hannah based on what he hears and decides she did not deserve to be slut-shamed because the rumours weren't true. But - would she have deserved the treatment any more if she had done what the rumours said? "No" is the answer. And I wish the book had taken the opportunity to address that.

But otherwise, this is a creative pageturner, even if it seems a bit strange that cassette tapes were being used in 2007. I liked it a lot and it really made me think.