Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Brief Summary:
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 learns the truth about himself-a truth he never wanted to face.

Positive Content:

Clay is really a "good-guy" model throughout the story.  He doesn't use people like some of the other characters.  He's certainly not perfect, but he's not a bad guy.

Hannah's story is absolutely heartbreaking, and really shines a lot on how much of an issue teenage suicide is in this day and age.  She wasn't a completely terrible person either; she just made a lot of mistakes, and people chose to start terrible rumors about her.

Possible Objectionable Content:

Clay lies to his mother about where he is and steals from his friend.  Characters lie and insult one another.  Hannah is the victim of a lot of drama and the center of many bad situations. The things people say about her are very harsh and sometimes inappropriate. The majority of these rumors are false, but Hannah does do a few sinful things. There are multiple usages of bad language, also.

Also, the book centers around the suicide of a teenage girl.  Although it's not looked at as a good thing, it's definitely a deep, dark topic that can't be taken lightly.

Conclusion:

Thirteen Reasons Why is an excellently written story, yet sadly, very realistic.  These "thirteen reasons" push teenagers to chose suicide all too often.  And even more sadly, it's almost always preventable.  If people had only listened to her or only been kind to her, Hannah never would have chosen to kill herself instead of enjoying her life.  Although heartbreaking, this book is definitely worth a read, as it really makes you think twice about gossiping about people behind their back - you never know if those rumors are true, and who they might hurt.

Rating: 10/10

Recommended age: 16+
Genre: Contemporary/Romance

Part of a series?: no