Book TV review ~ Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why
By: Jay Asher
Published Date: 2017
Page: 320

Summary: 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 one day to find a mysterious box with his name on it, outside his front door. Inside he discovers a series of cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush. Only, she committed suicide two weeks earlier. On the first tape, Hannah explains that there are 13 reasons why she did what she did - and Clay is one of them.

If he listens, Clay will find out how he made the list - what he hears will change his life forever

Thoughts of TV Show:
The show is very graphic, very long and very detailed. I feel like I was almost a voyeur and it was very hard at times to watch this show. I have to say in season 1 (and no I haven’t watched season 2) I had to fast forward parts because it was too hard to watch. The show made you uncomfortable to a point that I didn’t want to watch it with others. I think that as a show it had to take a licensure with the material it was given however, I also think that it took some things too far. I liked how the characters were of different races and ethnicities which is fantastic because I am sure in the book they were not. The show was also very different and put me off from reading the book for awhile due to how graphic the show is. The show made the suicide (no spoiler it is in the summary) a huge thing and graphic, bloody, and almost traumatizing.

Thoughts on the book:
The book however, did just the opposite. We didn’t see Clay struggle as much in the book as we did on the show because he had to do it all in one day. Also, he didn’t have to deal with NUMEROUS rapes like he had to in the show. He also didn’t have to deal with the suicide aspect being so graphic or the parents like he did in the show. In the book it was a done deal and he never had to see the repercussions of it until the tapes. I think the show made Clay a stronger fighter and a righter of wrongs while the book made him a person who just accepted his fate and moved on with the chain and got it over with. The book was good and not graphic I felt more comfortable reading the books and felt less of a creep while learning about Hannah and her decision of taking her life. I also felt more of a connection to her and less of a connection to those that led to the decision since the book did not focus on them as much as the show did. The book is good and if you have a younger teen this is the route I would take with them if you want to talk about the sensitive nature of the topics but not show them.