Thirteen Reasons Why is a touching and thought provoking novel. After reading it I thought about every action I made and every word I said. Jay Asher does an amazing job of writing a beautiful book about the typically sensitive topic of suicide. His writing does not sound insensitive or general. He wove the words to form a personal and intimate story.

This book tells the story of Hannah Baker through her fellow peer, Clay Jensen. A couple of weeks after Hannah has committed suicide she sends tapes to thirteen different people. After Clay finds the tapes on his porch, he is excited to see what is in the box, but instead he finds an unpleasant surprise. He learns that these tapes hold stories of the thirteen people that are the thirteen reasons why Hannah isn’t alive anymore. Clay follows Hannah’s tapes around his town, and finds new places he never noticed before, or different pictures he’d never seen. Through the book you not only learn what happens to Clay in the moment, but also what happened to Hannah weeks, or even years ago.

I greatly appreciated this book because it showed the personal aspects of suicide. The book wasn’t just another statistic, it was a real story. Not only that but I felt like I was in the book. I kept feeling like Hannah was going to come alive and start to talk to not just Clay, but me too. Jay Asher’s words flew off the page and surrounded me. I was there on the playground, in the café, and in the hallway of their school. I wasn’t just reading the book; I was living it. The ending shows that there is something you can do about suicide. Being kind and observant can make or break someone.

Thirteen Reasons Why was a book that has changed me as a person. After reading it I have become more sincere and mindful. It has helped me learn that one sentence or act can literally change someone’s life; whether it be good or bad. Novels as honest as this are hard to find, which makes this book even better.