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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
I read this book in less than a flight cross country. High school is a crappy time. Suicide is horrible. The premise was interesting but made me uncomfortable too. Bottom line: in life don't be an asshole.
All I can really say was I didn't really like this book. I felt it was too contrive and just frustrating and depressing. I understand what the author was trying to do, but honestly the book didn't really move me. I just made me sad.
Halfway through the book, I genuinely thought this was about to be one of the best books I've ever read. But then the story stopped making sense and I only got confused.
A very amazing book. So much that I finished it quickly. Well, the impressive writing style let you get into it and feel the intense moments that happen in Hannah's last days.
First, I began to think that Hannah was a little bit too sensitive and that she exaggerated on making from such an insignificant events her reasons to kill herself. Really, I was telling myself "Foolish, that's not realistic at all"; and it seemed so predictable, I even guessed what was Clay's role in the whole thing. Then, when we progress in the reading, and approach Clay's tape, we start to figure out that such events, one after the other, when all this happens in a small lapse of time, it becomes too much to handle.
What we can learn from this book is how things you do to people can affect their entire life. I think it's an important thing to deal with, someone else's feelings.
First, I began to think that Hannah was a little bit too sensitive and that she exaggerated on making from such an insignificant events her reasons to kill herself. Really, I was telling myself "Foolish, that's not realistic at all"; and it seemed so predictable, I even guessed what was Clay's role in the whole thing. Then, when we progress in the reading, and approach Clay's tape, we start to figure out that such events, one after the other, when all this happens in a small lapse of time, it becomes too much to handle.
What we can learn from this book is how things you do to people can affect their entire life. I think it's an important thing to deal with, someone else's feelings.
Easy read dealing with heavy stuff, so it’s a fantastic book for voracious readers like myself. We’re forced to take a moment to step back and breathe and really *consider* the words on the page. Consider their implications and why they’re so important and how they apply to us in the here and now.
I saw the Netflix series before reading this book, so the visuals were already in my head, and the plot was already neatly outlined. But I was still taken aback by the real ness of it. The characters who reflect the high school experience so well. Well done, Mr. Jay Asher. Well done.
My only criticism? I wish it could’ve been a tad more descriptive at times. Like I said, I already had the Netflix-provided imagery, but I wish I could’ve seen things from Asher’s direct POV in the book.
EDIT: those marking it down on reviews because it glorifies suicide- I’ve gotta disagree. I was absolutely of that opinion after watching the series but now...now I get it a little more. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I respect the opinion that does say the book glorifies suicide, but hear me out. Hannah’s story isn’t meant to glorify suicide. It’s meant to make us contemplate all the various factors that can contribute to someone’s self-image and quality of life. It’s meant to make us realize that we never know what’s going on in someone’s head.
Hannah needed help. And she tried to get it, but she had various blocks in one way or another and ultimately that led to her end. The process in the book might seem romanticized at times, but really it’s just a story about a girl. It’s an account to help people see themselves and others in a different light. It’s supposed to highlight means of self-awareness and improvement as well as emphasize empathy. At least, that’s my take.
I saw the Netflix series before reading this book, so the visuals were already in my head, and the plot was already neatly outlined. But I was still taken aback by the real ness of it. The characters who reflect the high school experience so well. Well done, Mr. Jay Asher. Well done.
My only criticism? I wish it could’ve been a tad more descriptive at times. Like I said, I already had the Netflix-provided imagery, but I wish I could’ve seen things from Asher’s direct POV in the book.
EDIT: those marking it down on reviews because it glorifies suicide- I’ve gotta disagree. I was absolutely of that opinion after watching the series but now...now I get it a little more. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I respect the opinion that does say the book glorifies suicide, but hear me out. Hannah’s story isn’t meant to glorify suicide. It’s meant to make us contemplate all the various factors that can contribute to someone’s self-image and quality of life. It’s meant to make us realize that we never know what’s going on in someone’s head.
Hannah needed help. And she tried to get it, but she had various blocks in one way or another and ultimately that led to her end. The process in the book might seem romanticized at times, but really it’s just a story about a girl. It’s an account to help people see themselves and others in a different light. It’s supposed to highlight means of self-awareness and improvement as well as emphasize empathy. At least, that’s my take.
I rarely write book reviews, I usually just give out grades. But for some reason I felt compelled to write a review for this one.
It’s not the greatest or the worst book I’ve ever read. I neither hate it nor love it. When it comes to literary devices, it has both strengths and weaknesses, none of which I wish to discuss right now.
The main reasons for wanting to write a review were the comments from the readers who absolutely hated the book. In other words, their reason why they hated the book is the reason why I’m writing this. So this is the one reason why people who didn’t like the book didn’t like it: the reasons leading to Hannah Baker killing herself are not strong enough reasons to make a person want to end their own life.
Well, my question is: who are you to decide that? Maybe, they’re not good enough reasons for you. They sure as hell are not good enough reasons for me. But they were clearly good enough for her.
Not all people are the same. Not all people are strong enough. We are not all equally equipped to deal with the level of shit that life throws at us on a daily basis.
Can you imagine a situation where you are one of the characters in the book and for some reason Hannah decided to tell you what she was going through. She told you her thirteen reasons and you were all like: ‘Bitch, those ain’t good enough reasons!’ Well, people who are having thoughts about suicide are probably afraid of that kind of reaction, which is exactly why they don’t ask for help. And rightfully so, if we take into the account all those negative comments about Hannah’s reasons.
Hannah’s reasons were immature. Trivial. Not big enough. Not traumatic enough. To you. To me. But not to her, because they were hers. I bet you think you could go through what Hannah did, plus a billion worse things, without contemplating suicide. So could I. But Hannah couldn’t.
She did annoy me A LOT, especially through the first half of the book, because I couldn’t relate to her and her problems. But later I found myself really feeling sorry for her because her problems were smothering her, not allowing her to live and I just wanted to help her. I wanted to talk to her and let her know that I understood how she felt. That I often felt exactly the same, but for completely different reasons. My own number of reasons that someone would laugh at and discard as not important enough. Not that big of a deal.
We always think our own problems are the worst in the world. And we should because they’re ours and only we deal with them. Some people are really good at it. Others struggle a lot, but at the end of the day they somehow manage. Some people just can’t. It is not fair to judge someone’s actions based on what we think we would do if we were in their shoes. We can never know what goes on in their heads. We can never know what it’s like to be them.
So let me tell you my ONE reason why I decided to give 4 stars to “Thirteen Reasons Why”, rather than 3 as I originally intended. Even though I said it’s not the greatest book in the world and not even close to becoming one of my personal favorites, it clearly did leave a strong impression on me. So strong that I decided to write my own opinion about it, which I almost never do.
And I can’t wait to discuss this with my book club in February! I have a feeling it’s going to be an epic debate :)
It’s not the greatest or the worst book I’ve ever read. I neither hate it nor love it. When it comes to literary devices, it has both strengths and weaknesses, none of which I wish to discuss right now.
The main reasons for wanting to write a review were the comments from the readers who absolutely hated the book. In other words, their reason why they hated the book is the reason why I’m writing this. So this is the one reason why people who didn’t like the book didn’t like it: the reasons leading to Hannah Baker killing herself are not strong enough reasons to make a person want to end their own life.
Well, my question is: who are you to decide that? Maybe, they’re not good enough reasons for you. They sure as hell are not good enough reasons for me. But they were clearly good enough for her.
Not all people are the same. Not all people are strong enough. We are not all equally equipped to deal with the level of shit that life throws at us on a daily basis.
Can you imagine a situation where you are one of the characters in the book and for some reason Hannah decided to tell you what she was going through. She told you her thirteen reasons and you were all like: ‘Bitch, those ain’t good enough reasons!’ Well, people who are having thoughts about suicide are probably afraid of that kind of reaction, which is exactly why they don’t ask for help. And rightfully so, if we take into the account all those negative comments about Hannah’s reasons.
Hannah’s reasons were immature. Trivial. Not big enough. Not traumatic enough. To you. To me. But not to her, because they were hers. I bet you think you could go through what Hannah did, plus a billion worse things, without contemplating suicide. So could I. But Hannah couldn’t.
She did annoy me A LOT, especially through the first half of the book, because I couldn’t relate to her and her problems. But later I found myself really feeling sorry for her because her problems were smothering her, not allowing her to live and I just wanted to help her. I wanted to talk to her and let her know that I understood how she felt. That I often felt exactly the same, but for completely different reasons. My own number of reasons that someone would laugh at and discard as not important enough. Not that big of a deal.
We always think our own problems are the worst in the world. And we should because they’re ours and only we deal with them. Some people are really good at it. Others struggle a lot, but at the end of the day they somehow manage. Some people just can’t. It is not fair to judge someone’s actions based on what we think we would do if we were in their shoes. We can never know what goes on in their heads. We can never know what it’s like to be them.
So let me tell you my ONE reason why I decided to give 4 stars to “Thirteen Reasons Why”, rather than 3 as I originally intended. Even though I said it’s not the greatest book in the world and not even close to becoming one of my personal favorites, it clearly did leave a strong impression on me. So strong that I decided to write my own opinion about it, which I almost never do.
And I can’t wait to discuss this with my book club in February! I have a feeling it’s going to be an epic debate :)
I didn't realize when I picked this up, that it was a young adult book, so it's writing is geared to that age group. This book is about a teen-age girl's suicide and the reasons that led up to her taking that step. What I didn't like about the book was the last reason--I felt that it was crammed in there to make sure someone with authority felt some complicity to her suicide. What I did like about it was that it shows how a series of events--especially in the life of a teen--can lead someone to feel like an outside, or foolish, or disgusted with themselves. I also though the storytelling mechanism was clever.
Suicide is a hard topic to broach with that age group, and yet, it's probably the age group that needs to be looked after most when it comes to suicide because I'm sure that the though enters every teens mind at least at some point during puberty. I think this is a good book to give to any teens in your life so they realize they're not alone in what they're feeling and that talking to *anyone* is more helpful than going it alone.
Suicide is a hard topic to broach with that age group, and yet, it's probably the age group that needs to be looked after most when it comes to suicide because I'm sure that the though enters every teens mind at least at some point during puberty. I think this is a good book to give to any teens in your life so they realize they're not alone in what they're feeling and that talking to *anyone* is more helpful than going it alone.
The only reason I gave this four stars instead of five was because of how abrupt the ending was.
The narrative was quite impressive with two storylines moving along side - of the listener and the speaker. Though it fell a bit on the side of 'fuck up one's mind so much', it was a good book. We all go through experiences like these and that's what makes it so very realistic. Highly recommended to those who talk behind someone's back, aware/unaware of contributing to the neverending snowball. Teenagers and college students likewise should read this.
This book was extremely sad. It was insanely good, too. It held a ton of emotion and character. I really think that anybody (Over 13) would really enjoy this book. All throughout the book I was silently hoping Hannah would really be alive. Just joking with the tapes, but No. This book is def. easily one of my top 5 favorite books.