Clay Jensen comes home from school one day to find a strange box lying on his porch with his name on it. Inside, he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush - who had committed suicide just two weeks earlier. Through the tapes, Hannah gives 13 reasons for her ending her life; each reason directed at a different person. Clay is one of them and has no clue why. His curiosity takes over and he ends up listening to all 13 reasons, although he was only supposed to listen long enough to get the name of the person who came after him so that he could pass it on to them next. He discovers not only a lot about Hannah through the cassettes, but also a lot about himself as he listens her pained words.I, typically, am not someone who likes depressing books (which is what I expected when I picked this book up), but i figured I would try it anyway. I'm glad I did. This book was amazing. I wasn't bored at any point during it that I can remember, and it's not as depressing as I expected (although it's definitely not a light-hearted novel). Clay is very easy to relate to in his emotions and reactions, which makes him a good character, and Hannah's tapes depict another likeable character that can be identified with. Hannah's haunting words create a character that you really believe you actually knew by the end of the book. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone who enjoys a book that's not just a remake of the same old story that will really leave you breathless.
Grade: 50/50
