I got the book 13 Reasons Why as a reading assignment for my English class and I enjoyed it so much! It gave me a new perspective on how depressed people actually think. 13 Reasons Why also taught me that the very little things can push someone over the edge. In case if you don't know, 13 Reasons Why is about Hannah Baker who recently OD'd on pills and before she died, she records her last words on cassette tapes (you know, the ones that go in the walkmans) which explained why she killed herself. The book is told from the point of view of Clay Jensen, who received the tapes as a package. In a message recorded by Hannah in the first tape, it is revealed that Clay was one of the reasons why she killed herself. To find out why, Clay listens to all of them, one at a time. I've heard that there is going to be a 13 Reasons Why movie! Best of all, it stars Selena Gomez! I'm still not used to seeing her do "un-innocent" things in her music videos due to watching Wizards of Waverly Place back then. I wonder how she'll do in the movie. It's like watching Melissa Joan Hart play a ditzy, bouncy, and silly student in Sabrina the Teenage Witch and all of the sudden, you see her on Law and Order: SVU playing as a teacher who was raped and sought for an abortion.
I had a number of issues with that book when I read it a couple of years ago. Subtle conflicts can indeed cause an individual who has already been weathering through depression and sadness to end their life, but subtle issues almost never the sole cause of suicide. I understand that Asher stuck with subtlety as a way to make the events of the story relatable to the average teen; however, the average teen does not go down the path that Hannah does in the story. At some point, the reader needs to be able to pinpoint what it was that set her apart from the average teen, internally or externally, and what it was that set her off for her story to appear more realistic. I just didn't feel that realization was relayed very well in the novel. Though I always psychoanalyze characters to unnecessary length, so it might just be me who felt that way.
