Read this. If you have teenagers, they should probably read this, too. (note to my friends who met me pre-2005: you should have your teenager read this even if you are concerned about the candor about sex being "unbiblical"). Whatever your beliefs, this is real stuff and the book could be a great tool for conversation.

Okay, so my opinion on this book is going to take up waaay too much space here and I just have a lot of comments on it, so I'm going to blog about it. If you want my blog address, email me. If you have it already, you can see what I thought of it there. Should be up within a day or two.

This book had been recommended to me many times, but I just couldn't see why I should read it. Why would I want to read about a girl who committed suicide, and mailed audio tapes to 13 people who she blamed for her suicide? It seems like a morbid and selfish concept for a novel. I was mistaken. It's a unique and captivating book. I think it has an important place in YA literature, and I'm glad I took the plunge.

Dari dulu selalu pengen baca buku ini dan selalu tertunda. Soalnya rada males kalau cerita nya tema bunuh diri gitu. Temen-temen yang udah pada baca ngerekomendasiin buat segera buka bukunya. Tapi lagi-lagi aku beralibi buat baca buku lain dulu.
Berhubung ceritanya akan segera difilmkan, buru-buru lah baca, apalagi movie trailer nya keren, jadi penasaran ceritanya.

Ternyata dari awal buka lembaran pertama nya, langsung berasa suspense nya dan ga sabar pengen tau apa yang terjadi sama Hannah, tokoh yang bunuh diri disini.
13 reasons why, 13 nama dalam 7 kaset tape yang dikirimkan Hannah kepada tokoh-tokoh yang berhubungan dengan alasan ia bunuh diri.
Yup sebelum Hannah mengakhiri hidupnya, ia membuat rekaman kaset tape.
Bagaimana kalau kau termasuk salah satu nama yang disebut Hannah dalam kaset tersebut, pasti bakal merasa bersalah dan dihantui selamanya.

Setelah aku nyelesain buku ini, kesimpulan ku adalah kenapa Hannah begitu egois dengan alasan tersebut langsung mengakhiri hidupnya. Masalah Hannah masih bisa ditolong, dan kenapa kayana ni Hannah lembek banget, sekali-sekali stand up for yourself Han! Jangan mudah nyerah gitu dong..
Bunuh diri itu sangat egois!

Wow. Just ... wow ...
Drop by drop until the earth shattered upon all the weight that pressed upon it ...

Is this novel really well written? No. Is it a poetic language that will enlighten the mind? Still no. And yet ... I got captivated. Racing along with Clay, listening/reading the tapes and going from 'teenage-drama, sad to think she killed herself for stuff like this' to 'holy shit, all of this TOGETHER is enough to crack any shield'. Slowly understanding why somebody is giving up while still thinking 'damn it, you should've fought harder'.

It is a beautiful example of :
- you never really know what somebody is going through, you're not walking in their shoes
- lies can maim and torture the soul
- be kind, respect can save a soul
- good friends are so valuable, bad friends can tear you apart
- small actions can have a huge impact (bad and/or good)

Can't wait to check out the series! Directed by the amazing Selena Gomez, yes!

Wow, I adored this book as a teenager ten years ago. I just reread it for a class assignment and could barely finish it. That said though, it’s doing its job if it’s appealing to a teen audience.

I decided to read this book after binge watching both seasons of the show in 2 days. The book is so much better. Tightly written, compactly plotted, way less graphic, and with no real opening for a sequel. There are two fairly obvious messages: there is always hope if you reach for it; and no matter how funny or even warranted it might seem in the moment, cutting another person, especially by withdrawing support, is never a safe move because you really can't ever know what little bit that person is clinging to. The author also manages to make both points without being overly heavy-handed, which can be hard for adults to do.

On a personal note, I admire 13 Reasons for being the only book I've ever read that follows a teenager's rational thought process all the way through to suicide. As hard as it is getting to know her and wanting to see her survive somehow, I had to admire her determination and resolve in putting together and going through with such a complicated, days long, project. As opposed to, say, Gayle Forman's If I Stay, where a girl barely survives a car wreck that kills her entire immediate family, has a lengthy out of body experience wherein she learns of her family's demise, the extent of her own horrific injuries, and thoughtfully contemplates her future before deciding to go ahead and let herself die while comatose, only to change her mind on a whim and wake up because a guy breaks into her ICU cube and plays her a song on his iPod*. I'm sorry, but that girl didn't have half of Hannah Baker's character, although we're supposed to applaud her for making the "right" choice. I've always imagined she gives up just as easily on her grueling PT regimen four months later, when her high school crush boyfriend gets tired of being with a physically and emotionally broken girl he barely knows, and spends the rest of her life in a wheelchair whining at her devastated grandparents about how unfair everything is.

But unlike Forman's Glass Barbie, Hannah got it wrong. She made a rational plan based on irrational ideas (that *everyone* believes some rumor, that high school is forever, that time doesn't radically alter facts as well as perceptions) and didn't ask for help until her mind was made up. I hope other kids with similar ideas read her story and see that help, and hope, are everywhere. And I hope all the other kids, the non-despairing, take note and throw bits of hope to the walking dead. You never know how important a very small act might be.




*I swear I'm not pro-suicide. I'm just anti-bad fiction of the sort where a person has made a decision, carefully and rationally, based on many well-thought-out factors, and then arbitrarily does the complete opposite not because it makes sense for the character or the story, but because it's the "right" message.

Kind of disappointing, but I may have liked it more as a teen. I loved the format and premise but it just fizzled out and fell flat in the end. I think this needed an author willing to be more, I don't know, unflinching I guess? The main character's role in the story felt like a cop-out to me. I also feel like the notion of a girl's "reputation" being ruined by rumors, thus completely destroying her life, is a bit dated. Kind of a miss here.