Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is a story told by two separate narrators: Hannah Baker, a girl who recently committed suicide, and Clay Jensen, a boy who knew her. Hannah had many terrible events in her young life snowball out of control, leading to her decision to commit suicide. Before taking too many pills, she recorded each event on one side of an audio tape. Each side of 7 audio tapes was dedicated to one person - the one who was responsible for the event leading to Hannah's downfall. Her only request was that each person named on the tapes pass the tapes on to the next. Clay's name came up in the middle. When he got home from school one day, a box of tapes was waiting for him at his door with no return address. Clay had to listen to the entire collection before finally realizing what had happened to Hannah, the girl he had secretly loved since she moved to town.

This was a really interesting book. As I read, I really felt like I was in Clay's shoes as he listened to the tapes for the first time. The story was told through the tapes as well as Clay's reactions to them. I went through all of the emotions Clay experienced as he listened - anger, frustration, confusion, compassion, regret. This novel was very compelling. It makes me really think about how I will treat other people and about the consequences of my actions. This book is for a more mature audience.