13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

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A lot of people have heard of and read 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher. If you haven't, it's about a girl (Hannah Baker) who commits suicide because of 13 people and she sends a shoebox filled with cassette tapes for the people to listen to. She sends it to the first one, and then they send it to the next one on the list. The book follows Clay as he listens to the tapes for the first time, but he is confused. Why is he on this list? What did he do? Is he the last one on the list? If so, what does he do with the tapes if he has no one to pass it on to? So many questions will be answered by the time you reach the end of the book.

I really enjoyed the book and I think she had a reason to commit suicide, even if the reasons in particular seem unimportant, she explains to an extent that you (or at least I) understood why she wanted to commit suicide. Some people are saying that her reasons weren't enough for someone to commit suicide. Whether she had a good enough reason or not, that's up to you. I think she did.

I would definitely recommend this book, especially to someone of at least thirteen years old. I think a lot of people would enjoy it (even the people that have told me that she didn't have a reason to commit suicide said that they enjoyed it and that they would recommend it to others). I also think that some people who might have been depressed or suicidal in the past would be able to relate to this book. This is just a guess though; I wouldn't know because I have never been suicidal or depressed before.

I really like this book because of the moral behind it. Basically, this revolves around the fact that you never know how your actions (even the smallest or "unimportant" ones) can affect someone else's life. I think people should read this book for that reason alone. If we really took that into account the next time we spoke or interacted with others, we would have no bullying or suicide (especially amongst teens). There would be a lot less racism, homophobia, and just plain old judgment towards others. People would feel a little more free to be themselves because there would be less fear of someone judging you and hurting you; we'd be a little more confident, comfortable, and proud to be who we are. If you get anything out of this book, it should be to really think about how your words and actions can affect others, even if they are done in a "jokingly" manner (because we know that every joke has a little bit of truth in it).  It really opens up your eyes on how what you do or say can really have an impact on someone's outlook on life and I think Jay Asher did a beautiful job of getting that point across. And for that, I applaud him.

P.S: A movie is going to be made for this book and I heard that it will be staring Selena Gomez as Hannah Baker and hopefully she will do an amazing job.