Th1rteen R3asons Why. I didn`t realize what a good book it was until my daughter was addicted to reading it. She couldn`t focus on anything else, and that`s when I know she`s reading a very good book. A week after reading this, that`s all she could talk about. I finally decided to take on reading it and after I was done, I realized what teenagers these days are going through. This book has won very many awards, such as New York Times Best Seller Publishers Weekly Best Seller, the California Book Award Winner, and the Best Books for Young Adults (YALSA). I agree that it should have won all of these awards and many more. The way Jay Asher describes everything, was wonderful. I could imagine a reel playing in my head, the exact way I was reading every word. Asher is a very good writer and this is only his debut book. I have written down an excerpt, and after that is a brief plot I have come up with. This might be a Young Adult book, but I suggest you read it yourself. It will really change your perspective of people. Even if you do not enjoy the book, you will have learned something about people.
EXCERPT
A shoebox-sized package is propped against the front door at an angle. Our front door has a tiny slot to shove mail through, but anything thicker than a bar of soap gets left outside. A hurried scribble on the wrapping addresses the package to Clay Jensen, so I pick it up and head inside. I take the package into the kitchen and set it on the counter. I slide open the junk drawer and pull out a pair of scissors. Then I run a scissor blade around the package and lift off its top. Inside the shoebox is a rolled-up tube of bubble-wrap. I unroll that and discover seven loose audiotapes. Each tape has a dark blue number painted in the upper right-hand corner, possibly with nail polish. Each side has its own number. One and two on the first tape, three and four on the next, five and six, and so on. The last tape has a thirteen on one side, but nothing on the back. Who would send me a shoebox full of audiotapes? No one listens to tapes anymore. Do I even have a way to play them? The garage! The stereo on the workbench. My dad bought it at a yard sale for almost nothing. It's old, so he doesn't care if it gets coated with sawdust or splattered with paint. And best of all, it plays tapes. I drag a stool in front of the workbench, drop my backpack to the floor, then sit down. I press Eject on the player. A plastic door eases open and I slide in the first tape.
MY PLOT
Nobody knows much about Hannah anymore. Not until her desk is always empty, and peopl start to think she disappeared. Her parents shop has been closed down for some time now and only a few really know what has happened to her. One day Clay Jenson, a normal boy who went to school with and admired Hannah, received a box full of numbered cassette tapes. He listens to the first tape, hearing Hannah's voice. He thinks it couldn't be. How could it? Her voice tells him he was on her list of 13 reasons of why she committed suicide. All night he goes to places where she suggests, following along with the story. He learns about the 13 people who made Hannah kill herself. Hannah tells him that he was on her list for a reason, and Clay becomes anxious and stressed out to finally hear his name. After hearing the thirteen reasons he is shocked and mails it to the next girl on Hannah's list, so she can hear the list and go through what he did.
To find out what happened, I suggest you read this book.
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