I first read 13 reasons why when I was around 15 in 2013, before the infamous, eponymous show on Netlfix. The show (first airing on Netlfix in 2017 when I was around 17), follows the story of a teenage girl, Hannah Baker, also 17, who takes her own life, only to live on posthumously through a series of cassette tapes explaining to her classmates how she was hurt by their unsuspecting actions. As a result, many critics and audience members have called out the show as one which promotes a dangerous and vindictive message about suicide. In light of this, it is in fact quite hard to talk about the book, without mentioning it's counterpart web-series. One has to wonder if the book that preceded it had provided the original 'script' so to speak on what was later developed into an inappropriate message about suicide. Point being: Does Jay Asher's novel, 13 reasons why, also promote a bad message?
The context behind 13 reasons why is that it was based on the author's niece, who attempted suicide and survived, not someone who successfully ended their life, like Hannah Baker did. It is important to note this origin because it was in fact only after she survived and decided to continue her life that she was able to explain what led her to such an act, unlike Hannah Baker, who expresses these things in death. Asher realised his niece's decision resulted from an accumulation of events, not just one thing, hence his inspiration for writing a book detailing thirteen reasons why. It was only when Asher was listening to audio tapes in a museum, observing their eerie yet personal quality, that he decided to write in the use of cassettes from beyond the grave. So the question here then is, was Asher exploitative of his nieces situation, dramatising it and turning it into a bitter and vengeful story for the sake of an interesting story? Personally, I disagree. But I'll get into this later. First of all, we should familiarise ourselves with the plot.
13 reasons why is a book about a teenage boy named Clay, who finds a random package addressed to him, which turns out to be 7 tapes. These tapes detail the series of events that caused Hannah Baker, a girl Clay knows from a summer job, to commit suicide. Hannah explains retrospectively that if you were sent the package it means that you are one of the people who had a hand in her decision to kill herself, and that should listen to all the tapes until you find yours. This makes Clay sick with guilt, despite the fact that he only recalls working with Hannah Baker in a cinema over the summer, and can't particularly remember anything cruel he has done to her.
Clay decides to visit all the locations Hannah has mentioned in her tapes, telling his parents he is going to a friends house for an all night project. Visiting the exact places where Hannah has experienced her troubles, Clay becomes immersed in Hannah's story, finding out that she has suffered a great deal more than he knew. Hannah goes through a great deal of betrayal from those around her, adding up to strong feelings of worthlessness, and hopelessness. She goes through intense heart break from her first love, intimate stalking, sexual assault, bullying, theft, and shallow friendships. Eventually she writes an anonymous note in a group discussion, asking about suicide. Instead of help, the majority of her classmates talk about how attention seeking the person who wrote the note must be, not realising the full gravity of the situation. Eventually Hannah loses faith in her classmates, thinking of herself as a social pariah, and she commits suicide, leaving the cassettes as a way to get back at those who have hurt her and to express her pain.
As for the plot, I thought it was well devised. It's the sort of book definitely that you would call a 'page turner.' There is enough mystery to warrant interest from the reader, you want to continue with the novel in order to find out who the 13 or so people are and what they've done that is vile enough to receive a tape.
My first impressions of these characters were that I wasn't a fan of Clay's character. He felt ambiguous and dull, and he didn't have much reason to be in the story, except for the fact that he was the lens by which we witnessed the events of the novel. He himself however, didn't have enough relevance to the story to substantiate his presence. Even his reason for involvement with the story's initial conflict seems to fall short: when Clay finally gets to his tape, Hannah simply tells him that he didn't do anything wrong, and that she wanted to put his name there to tell him something else. Then Clay continues through to the next tape. This concludes the tense build up we've been waiting to see, where the reader has been eager to know what it could possibly be that makes Clay a bad person. Instead we're confirmed with the fact that Clay really is the nice guy we thought he was, and that his place in the story isn't particularly relevant. I would like to say that Clay's 'point' is that he's a nice person, in a sea of toxicity, at least, that is how he is supposed to be portrayed. Clay is seen as a shy, boy next door, out-of-the-way sort of guy, an admirer of Hannah's, too inhibited to be capable of the toxic involvement that the other characters were able to achieve.
I understood how Clay was supposed to be portrayed, however I rarely saw any such indication that he was this type of person. From what I read of his actions, rather than what people like Hannah said of him, Clay seemed to be a chilled out, boyish, even occasionally mean person. He seemed lifeless, but this might just be my Miyazaki esque bias towards emotionally connecting more with female characters and feminine traits perhaps. Masculinity in general can feel a bit robotic to me, I feel like the balance between showing Clay as a typical teenage boy, and writing Clay as an extremely noble and kind character ended up a bit skewed towards the former. For example at one point recalling the valentines day date match up that their school has organised, Clay talks about how he filled out his profile as a joke to be a 'Holden Caufield type' and that the girls who replied are the exact sort who'd be impressed by a Holden type. He reads as judgemental, yet he's supposed to be a nice guy who has some sort of cosmic role in Hannah's life.
It certainly sensationalises suicide, Hannah's death is an interesting plot device, the disequilibrium of the entire book, a launch into the mystery genre, however I do think the novel, much better than the television show, makes an attempt to turn Hannah's suicide into a life lesson for a young and impressionable audience. The TV show faces censure for it's protagonist's seemingly rewarding vindictive behaviour. In the novel this is questioned a lot more. For example, Hannah talks in one of her tapes about how she had to take her own life because of what happened to her, to which Clay remarks to himself "No, you didn't Hannah" "You had options." Clay is embittered by Hannah's choices, which is emphasised as the wrong ones. In the novel, both Hannah and her classmates have taken the wrong route, of which Hannah's is irreversible, and her classmates choices are.
The context behind 13 reasons why is that it was based on the author's niece, who attempted suicide and survived, not someone who successfully ended their life, like Hannah Baker did. It is important to note this origin because it was in fact only after she survived and decided to continue her life that she was able to explain what led her to such an act, unlike Hannah Baker, who expresses these things in death. Asher realised his niece's decision resulted from an accumulation of events, not just one thing, hence his inspiration for writing a book detailing thirteen reasons why. It was only when Asher was listening to audio tapes in a museum, observing their eerie yet personal quality, that he decided to write in the use of cassettes from beyond the grave. So the question here then is, was Asher exploitative of his nieces situation, dramatising it and turning it into a bitter and vengeful story for the sake of an interesting story? Personally, I disagree. But I'll get into this later. First of all, we should familiarise ourselves with the plot.
13 reasons why is a book about a teenage boy named Clay, who finds a random package addressed to him, which turns out to be 7 tapes. These tapes detail the series of events that caused Hannah Baker, a girl Clay knows from a summer job, to commit suicide. Hannah explains retrospectively that if you were sent the package it means that you are one of the people who had a hand in her decision to kill herself, and that should listen to all the tapes until you find yours. This makes Clay sick with guilt, despite the fact that he only recalls working with Hannah Baker in a cinema over the summer, and can't particularly remember anything cruel he has done to her.
Clay decides to visit all the locations Hannah has mentioned in her tapes, telling his parents he is going to a friends house for an all night project. Visiting the exact places where Hannah has experienced her troubles, Clay becomes immersed in Hannah's story, finding out that she has suffered a great deal more than he knew. Hannah goes through a great deal of betrayal from those around her, adding up to strong feelings of worthlessness, and hopelessness. She goes through intense heart break from her first love, intimate stalking, sexual assault, bullying, theft, and shallow friendships. Eventually she writes an anonymous note in a group discussion, asking about suicide. Instead of help, the majority of her classmates talk about how attention seeking the person who wrote the note must be, not realising the full gravity of the situation. Eventually Hannah loses faith in her classmates, thinking of herself as a social pariah, and she commits suicide, leaving the cassettes as a way to get back at those who have hurt her and to express her pain.
As for the plot, I thought it was well devised. It's the sort of book definitely that you would call a 'page turner.' There is enough mystery to warrant interest from the reader, you want to continue with the novel in order to find out who the 13 or so people are and what they've done that is vile enough to receive a tape.
My first impressions of these characters were that I wasn't a fan of Clay's character. He felt ambiguous and dull, and he didn't have much reason to be in the story, except for the fact that he was the lens by which we witnessed the events of the novel. He himself however, didn't have enough relevance to the story to substantiate his presence. Even his reason for involvement with the story's initial conflict seems to fall short: when Clay finally gets to his tape, Hannah simply tells him that he didn't do anything wrong, and that she wanted to put his name there to tell him something else. Then Clay continues through to the next tape. This concludes the tense build up we've been waiting to see, where the reader has been eager to know what it could possibly be that makes Clay a bad person. Instead we're confirmed with the fact that Clay really is the nice guy we thought he was, and that his place in the story isn't particularly relevant. I would like to say that Clay's 'point' is that he's a nice person, in a sea of toxicity, at least, that is how he is supposed to be portrayed. Clay is seen as a shy, boy next door, out-of-the-way sort of guy, an admirer of Hannah's, too inhibited to be capable of the toxic involvement that the other characters were able to achieve.
I understood how Clay was supposed to be portrayed, however I rarely saw any such indication that he was this type of person. From what I read of his actions, rather than what people like Hannah said of him, Clay seemed to be a chilled out, boyish, even occasionally mean person. He seemed lifeless, but this might just be my Miyazaki esque bias towards emotionally connecting more with female characters and feminine traits perhaps. Masculinity in general can feel a bit robotic to me, I feel like the balance between showing Clay as a typical teenage boy, and writing Clay as an extremely noble and kind character ended up a bit skewed towards the former. For example at one point recalling the valentines day date match up that their school has organised, Clay talks about how he filled out his profile as a joke to be a 'Holden Caufield type' and that the girls who replied are the exact sort who'd be impressed by a Holden type. He reads as judgemental, yet he's supposed to be a nice guy who has some sort of cosmic role in Hannah's life.
It certainly sensationalises suicide, Hannah's death is an interesting plot device, the disequilibrium of the entire book, a launch into the mystery genre, however I do think the novel, much better than the television show, makes an attempt to turn Hannah's suicide into a life lesson for a young and impressionable audience. The TV show faces censure for it's protagonist's seemingly rewarding vindictive behaviour. In the novel this is questioned a lot more. For example, Hannah talks in one of her tapes about how she had to take her own life because of what happened to her, to which Clay remarks to himself "No, you didn't Hannah" "You had options." Clay is embittered by Hannah's choices, which is emphasised as the wrong ones. In the novel, both Hannah and her classmates have taken the wrong route, of which Hannah's is irreversible, and her classmates choices are.
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