Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Okay my next review covers a best-seller. I'd been putting off reading the book for a while now since it touches on a heavy subject and I wasn't ready to be gutted just yet. But there's only so long you can put off a book before it eventually calls to you, you know? So I put on my big girl pants and dived right in and I'm so happy I did. So for your viewing pleasure, I present to you Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why.

• Publisher: Razorbill; Reprint edition (June 14, 2011)
• Publication Date: June 14, 2011

You can’t stop the future. 
You can’t rewind the past.
The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.
Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker—his classmate and crush—who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. 
                
Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.

My Review: 

This story had been on my to-be-read list for so long but I never got around to reading it until now. I'm glad I did. Thirteen reasons why takes you on a emotional roller coaster as you listen to a young girl explain why her reasons for committing suicide. But it also shows you that your actions to someone else has its effects. I know it made me more aware of that and I hope it affects you to be more caring and attentive to others as well.

Reading this book really hit home for me because someone I knew recently committed suicide. He was a coworker of mine and I didn't really know him that well since he was in a different department that I was in but the one time we really talked, I had been really tired and hadn't been really wanting to have a conversation first thing in the morning. I wasn't rude or anything. I just wasn't...what's the word...there. And I hadn't had my coffee yet, so talking to me must've been like talking to a brick wall. But he never showed it and happily talked my ear off about pumpkin spice k-cups. And I let him. Even though I didn't say much back because it would be rude to interrupt and walk away, to ask him what was the point of this conversation. But looking back, I wonder if he just needed to talk to someone...anyone...about anything. Maybe I could've done more. Maybe I could've talked to him about how life was treating him but all I remember is wishing him a good morning and walking away. And I didn't look back. Because that's how we all are. We're so focused on our needs, our wants, our problems that we forget to look and see that sometimes behind those smiles and forced laughs, there are eyes begging someone to reach out to them. So I hope this book is a reality check like it was for me. I hope, like me, you realize that sometimes a nice gesture, a kind word or compliment, can really make an impact on someone's life. Because it's like Hannah says in the book: Everything affects everything.