Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why




Summary
            Clay Jensen receives a package on his front porch when he gets home from school one day. In the package, he finds seven cassette tapes and the sides are labeled from one to thirteen. When he listens to the first tape, he can’t believe that he is hearing the voice of Hannah Baker. The reason this seems impossible is that Hannah Baker is dead, because she recently committed suicide. On the first tape, she explains that the tapes contain information about the thirteen people who lead to her death. She reveals that the tapes are being passed around and that if they don’t make it to all of the people, then a second set of tapes will be released to the authorities. She explains on the first tape “When you are done listening to all thirteen sides- because there are thirteen sides to every story- rewind the tapes, put them back in the box, and pass them onto whoever follows your little tale. And you, lucky number thirteen; you can take the tapes straight to hell. Depending on your religion, maybe I’ll see you there.” Clay can’t understand why he ended up on the tapes but he has to find out. As he listens to the tapes, he uncovers the events that lead to Hannah’s death and he finds out the effect that he had on her life.

Themes
            The main theme in the novel is suicide and the fact that it should not be an option and the ways that people can help to prevent it. It also discusses the fact that people need to be more aware of the effects they can have on the people around them without even realizing it.

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