Library & Literary Miscellany

Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher (2007)

“And what about you–the rest of you–did you notice the scars you left behind?…No. Probably not…Because most of them you can’t see with the naked eye.”

Clay Jensen, living, and Hannah Baker, recently deceased, narrate Th1rteen R3asons Why. When Clay receives a shoebox-sized package in the mail he opens it to find seven audiotapes. He soon discovers that these audiotapes contain a final message from Hannah Baker narrating the story of why her life ended. She states, “And if you’re listening to these tapes, you’re one of the reasons why.”

Hannah set the ground rules for her listeners: “The rules are pretty simple. There are only two. Rule number one: You listen. Rule number two: You pass it on. Hopefully, neither one will be easy for you.” She also made a second set of tapes which she tells the listeners will be released if they fail to pass the tapes on.

The novel interpolates Hannah taped narration and Clay’s experiences as he listens to it. The two are clearly delineated as Hannah’s narration is italicized and Clay’s thoughts and conversations with other people are in normal font. Hannah also left behind a map that corresponds with the tapes, marking some of the places where the events in her story occurred. Clay follows along with the tapes and journeys to the places marked on the map all in one night as he desperately seeks to understand why he is one of Hannah’s reasons why.

Before her death Hannah made connections–she connected the people and experiences that indelibly marked her life and her reputation with their selfishness, cruelty, voyeurism, ignorance, ineptitude and the like until she began expecting all people to let her down. While Hannah remains ultimately responsible for her decision to commit suicide, thirteen such experiences (as well as indubitably many more that were unconnected and did not make the tapes) helped create her feelings of hopelessness and isolation.

Clay’s a “good” guy with a “good” reputation, and he’s baffled over his inclusion in Hannah’s list of reasons why. While he finds the tapes painful to listen to, listen he does in order to uncover the reason. As Hannah’s thirteen reasons are revealed, Clay experiences unprecedented feelings of anger and loathing for his fellow classmates.

By telling her story, Hannah relates to Clay that “All you really have…is now” when it comes to helping those who are hurting. It becomes clear to him that what’s done has been done; future chances are by no means guaranteed. Clay resolves to be more aware of opportunities to reach out to people he senses are struggling.

Th1rteen R3asons Why endeavors to tap into the human capacity for empathy and to engage us all in considering the influence we have on others’ perceptions of the world and overall mental health. Jay Asher is a member of the Class of 2k7, and Th1rteen R3asons Why is his debut novel. A few other works of young adult fiction that discuss adolescent suicide include Trigger by Susan Vaught, Pitch Black: Color Me Lost by Melody Carlson (Christian fiction), Shooter by Walter Dean Myers, After the death of Anna Gonzales by Terri Fields (Poems), and Tribes by Arthur Slade.

Share This

Poignant, compelling, intriguing, eschew, craft, muse, and lyrical are all showcased in Bob Harris’ article Seven Deadly Words of Book Reviewing over at the New York Times Papercuts Blog (I admit to being guilty of using some of these words…). Readers add many more “deadly words” suggestions in the comments. Speaking of Papercuts, another amusing post this week is Rachel Donadio’s Literary Dealbreaker. She writes about the relationship between reading habits and dating habits (again, don’t miss out on the comments).

On a different track entirely, Wired Magazine just posted Top 10 April Fools’ Pranks for Nerds compiled from readers submissions to the previous year’s April Fools Widget. The Top 10 list contains suggestions such as remapping a co-workers keyboard, changing the language settings in Google, and installing the Blue Screen of Death Screensaver.

And on a track that actually relates to children’s literature, the Washington Post article Question for the Ages: What Books When? provides a look into reading choice, or lack therof for kids these days. From the article:

Some educators and authors say they believe the emphasis on standardized tests in the No Child Left Behind education law has made teachers less willing to experiment with new or unusual books. “Kids are getting less and less choice, and it’s sad,” said author Jon Scieszka, the U.S. National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

Anybody else run across any interesting articles this week, or have thoughts on the above?

Share This