Asher, Jay: 13 Reasons Why
The story:
The book tells us a really sad story about a girl who commits suicide. Her name is Hannah Baker and she has a really hard life. There are 13 reasons why she decides that she doesn’t want to live anymore.
The book starts with one of the main characters: Clay (who is also a reason why Hannah is dead now). Clay notices a shoebox in front of his door with 13 tapes. Every tape is “for one person”. And these 13 people are guilty for her death.
Hannah recorded the tapes before she died and put them all in a shoebox. On tape one Hannah explain the rules: Rule number one: they have to listen, rule number two: they have to pass it on.
Hannah wants her old (and fake) friends to know why she decided to end her life, so everybody can hear the story from the others. Nobody really knows if Hannah is telling the truth, but as the German title (“Tote Mädchen lügen nicht”) says: dead girls don’t lie.
My opinion:
The book was very catching and moving. I really liked the story and the whole idea of the book. Also, the design is very cool. It is designed like a cassette tape recorder. The language was a little bit hard to understand. I can really recommend the book, but only to people who like sad stories. People who are under 12 or have personal or mental problems shouldn’t read the book, because it’s about a really touching topic.
Asher, Jay: 13 Reasons Why
Pages: 288 pages.
Genre: drama, love story
Rating: ****
Signatur: FE.J / ASH
© Review and Illustration: Elena Wurning, 5Am (September 2018)