13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Clay Jensen's classmate and crush, Hannah Baker, has recently committed suicide. One day he discovers a package on his doorstep that contains several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah herself. As he begins to listen to them he discovers that they contain thirteen reasons -thirteen people- why she killed herself and that he is one of them. Now, he must listen to all the tapes and find out why.

This is a really hard review for me to write since I try really hard to not a negative person, so please bare with me. I just really didn't like this book. I wanted to. I'd read great things about it and had a friend whose opinion I trust tell me that she loved it. However, I found it, at best, boring and, at worst, insulting. Unfortunately, since this is a pretty new book and I don't want to spoil it for anyone, I won't be able to clarify my beliefs as much as I would like, but here we go...

First, Hannah's reasons for suicide seemed completely implausible to me. With the exception of a few of the thirteen, I can't see how they would be anything more than a fleeting pain in the ass. From everything I had heard, this book was supposed to be so emotional that one would have to put it down and take a break for a few moments. You know what, they're right. Only with me, and I kid you not, I put it down in order to yell "are you fucking kidding me?" over and over. Now, I'm pretty sure my parents think I hear voices in my head and that I'm now conversing with them. Thanks, book.

Next, is there a male term for the literary Mary Sue? Because Clay is a Mary Sue if I've ever seen one. He's so sweet and perfect and no one can say anything against him and....gag me with a shovel. And the reason he's to blame for Hannah's suicide, I'm still comprehending that one. I'm by no means a dumb person, but it made no sense to me whatsoever.

Third, and this goes for just about every book, there's a certain little four letter word that keeps popping into books as a plot device that I wish we could put a moratorium on, just for a while. I saw it coming a mile away in this book and lo and behold, it showed up twice! It's not even that I find it offensive to use this horrific thing as just another plot device (because I'm not someone who thinks that just because I'm offended at something, no one should be exposed to it), it's that it's become so common, so predictable. The fact that, as a reader, I can actually say "oh great, another **** book" without irony, actually makes me sick to my stomach.

Look, I love a good depressing, sad, or heavy story every once in a while. But the key word there is "good" and I just don't feel like Thirteen Reasons Why fits that bill.

http://thechickmanifesto.blogspot.com/2009/07/thirteen-reasons-why-by-jay-asher.html