Review

Where does 13 Reasons Why Fit?

I don’t think I could classify 13 Reasons Why as just one genre. It’s a tragedy and a thriller mixed with romance and mystery. There are just so many things happening throughout the book that you can’t just stick it in one section and define it completely.

It’s a tragedy because we’re dealing with a girl’s suicide letter (or tapes, in this case). It’s the story of why she decided to end her life and all the little things that piled up over time. Each tape tells a different story and is its own mini tragedy in itself.

It’s a thriller because it keeps you guessing. On the edge of you seat. It’s one of those books that you can’t spread out over weeks or months. It has to be read in the fastest amount of time possible because you have to know what happens. You want to know the ending.

It’s a romance because she tells about the first guy she kissed and talks about how- even though most of it was a rumor- her life was changed because of boys trying to take advantage of her. It’s also told from Clay’s point of view and he really liked Hannah.

Finally it’s a mystery. You want to know why Clay’s name is on the tapes. You want to know who else contributed to Hannah’s death. You have to figure out what contributed to her finally deciding to kill herself.

So where do all these genres fit? In the broadest section. Inside realistic-fiction. This is a story that could have happened to anyone. It just happens to be filled with complex stories that help build the book overall. That’s one of the reasons I think 13 Reasons Why is such a good book. You can’t define it in just one word. It’s a little bit of everything.

Review #2

The cover of 13 Reasons Why

I think that the publisher choose the colors of gray and black for 13 Reasons Why because it’s a dark book. It’s about a girl’s suicide message and if the cover was happy and cheerful it wouldn’t fit the tone of the book. The cover also shows a girl on a swing, and I never really got it until today. It’s from a couple of parts in the book, but the main character, Hannah loved the swings at this nearby park. Many of the people she talked about in her tapes and her shared a memory there. The summary on the back is really good at getting the audience’s attention. It introduces Hannah and that she killed herself, but it makes the audience want to know why she left the tapes and especially why Clay received one. It does a good job at not giving too much away, but also at drawing the reader in. If I could change anything about the cover I would probably show a couple of tapes because that’s what Hannah used to record herself. Another cool option would be to show a 13 faces, each looking guilty or upset. They could represent the people who Hannah mentions on the tapes. I would still keep the gray tones or have everything in black in white in order to keep the dreariness that comes with reading this book. I don’t think 13 Reasons Why was the best book I’ve ever read, but it definitely made me think. I feel like I could reread it and still feel the emotion I did the first time. I finished the book in one day, so that just shows that it was something I couldn’t put down. I had to know what why Clay was on those tapes. This was a great read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

Review #4

Adapting 13 Reasons Why

I think since most of Thirteen Reasons Why is an “audio recording”, it would make it difficult to be put on the big screen. The filmmaker would probably have trouble finding someone who could capture the emotion and draw the audience in all with their voice. A way to make this work is to have Hannah Baker narrating the flashbacks, but also show them as well. Instead of just following Clay around town, they could cut back to the scenes to show what she’s talking about. One scene they’d have to keep is the opening scene where Clay receives the tapes and how he reacts to hearing her voice for the first time. I feel like this was one of the most important scenes because it’s just days after her death and he’s hearing her voice for the first time since. It’ll be eerie and sad, but if they find the right actor to play Clay he can show just how important it is for Clay to keep listening. Another scene I think is essential to keep is the scene where Hannah cuts her hair. It’s a big thing for her and it’s the point where she decides that she’s going to commit suicide. I think that the hair cutting symbolizes her last cry for help and it’s important to show that she really didn’t want this to happen. Another important scene to include is the where Clay finally learns from Hannah’s messages and runs after the girl in the hallway. It’s the turning point for the book because Clay learned from Hannah’s death and you can see that with his actions. I really can’t decide on anything to cut from the book. Each of the characters was important because they contributed to her death and the audience needs every reason to hear why Hannah decides to kill herself. If they make a movie out of this book, it would be important to include just about everything.

Weekly Review #2

Last 45 pages of book -

I noticed that the author, who’s anonymous, has a very strong voice throughout the piece. In fact, I even noticed that as Alice moves on through life, the voice changes with her, adapting to her situation. For example, when she’s living with her parents in the beginning of the book, even though things aren’t the best at times, she writes in a happy go lucky way. After heading to the party where she takes drugs for the first time, I noticed that her preppy attitude leaves her, and instead enters a girl with a pessimistic outlook. She complains about the family she once was so happy to have. She runs away, more than once, to start life on her own. Yet every time she returns, so does her naïve personality. I noticed that every time she’s away and using drugs, she changes not only her character, by doing things she’d never do sober, but by changing her voice in word choice, attitude, and diction. Since the book is in diary format, it was easy to hear her talking; she was pouring her heart out onto the pages. In fact, Alice kept the notebook locked away in a container for fear that someone would read her secrets. That just goes to show that when she wrote about her life, she didn’t hold back, especially how she was feeling or thinking. That’s why I think her voice/ tone is so strong in this book. It’s really coming from her heart. Not to mention, this book is based off a real diary. When you think about the fact that these words didn’t just come from an author’s head, but from real life experiences, it makes the story more real. Actual thoughts and feelings come across the pages, altogether developing the voice in the book.

Weekly Review 11/28/12

As the book starts out, Alice is just your average girl trying to cope with a lonely high school life. When she tries acid at a party her whole life begins to change for the worse. So why does she give up everything that she has: a loving family, a best friend, and her school life, all for drugs? I think there’s more than one thing to blame here. I think that one reason could be the loneliness. Alice talks about how the drugs make her feel and how the drugs brought her the friends she never really had. Maybe with the drug life, it brought her an instant group of friends, one who didn’t care about her faults, especially when she was on drugs. Which brings me to the next reason. She always felt like her family was constantly judging her. The drugs made her feel perfect. For someone who’s always felt like they’ve never measured up, that sense of peace and strength that comes from the drugs could be the one thing that makes them feel special. Even if she could only feel like that for a short matter of time, it was worth it. There was finally something in her life to make her feel like she was special. When her family life and school life wasn’t bringing her that kind of relief, it’s no wonder she turned to drugs as an outlet to finally feel free. I’m not saying that feeling lonely or judged is an excuse to do drugs; I just can understand why she would choose the high of drugs over a life of pain. Once she states, “Once you’ve tried drugs, there isn’t a life without them.” So maybe the real problem here is the addictiveness of the drugs, because in the end there’s no escaping them.