Thirteen Reasons Why

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why

Author: Jay Asher

Pages: 304

Pub: 2007; Razorbill (Penguin)

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction

Etc: Check out the website: Thirteen Reasons Why

The Short of It

Haunting voice identifies pain and despair. 

The Long of It

Hannah Baker kills herself. And maybe it was unexpected and maybe her friends would have questioned why…  But she doesn’t really give them an opportunity to ask questions. Through a pre-recorded tape she shares thirteen moments in her life that changed her.  Thirteen reasons why she could never be the person she felt she was inside.  Thirteen people who hurt her in ways that perhaps they didn’t even realize.  Like a bad chain letter, these tapes end up in the hands of every person mentioned on the recording.

The Thoughts about It

Whoa!  How’d I wait this long to read this book?  And god, what are even the RIGHT things to say about it?  Thirteen Reasons Why is an emotional experience.  I read it during the read-a-thon and literally had to step away from books while I brought myself back to the present. 

Some thoughts: many of the suicidal warning signs were there but overlooked.  Maybe because some are unassuming, maybe because most are not aware enough to call a spade a spade, who knows. 

I do know that this is perhaps THE BEST book I’ve ever read dealing with suicide.  Following Clay Jensen through his whole process of the tapes grounded the tale.  I travelled with him as he followed Hannah’s walk.  I ached every time he anticipated hearing his name on the tapes.

I am desperate to get my hands on the audio version of this book.  

A Long Way Down

Title: A Long Way Down
Author: Nick Hornby
Pub Date: 2005
Pages: 333
Genre: Fiction
Challenges: 100+
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary:

Four people meet on top of a building New Year’s Eve night planning to plummet to their death.

The characters in six words:

• JJ: Depressed musician who’ll never be famous
• Martin: Newscaster likes young girls; marriage over.
• Maureen: Dowdy mom cares for vegetable son.
• Jess: Borderline Personality who’s sister goes missing.
  

The NYT’s says: “At its heart, [it] isn’t really about suicide itself, anyway…it’s more about what happens when you don’t kill yourself…”

I couldn’t have said it better.

My thoughts:

This is the second Nick Horby book I’ve read. The first one was How to be Good, and truthfully, I don’t remember being all that impressed with it. (At least not impressed enough to read anything more from him at the time). I’m really glad that I gave this one a chance.

Hornby writes his novel from the point over view of each character, alternating personalities every couple of pages. Generally I find this style to be annoying and confusing. Jodi Picoult does this frequently and often I’m jarred out of the story. Hornby has a gift, because not only does the novel flow, I moved from character voice to character voice flawlessly in my head. I believe ultimately it’s because each character has such a distinctive voice. Take Jess for example. Whether Hornby planned it this way or not, I couldn’t believe how case study “borderline” she was. I thought back to my psych classes and words of wisdom from professors when seeing clients with BPD and want to send them each this book to use Jess to illustrate their lectures when studying personality disorders.

There are many aspects that I liked about A Long Way Down. There was nothing grandiose about the plot or character developments which only added to its realism. The four find each other and they form a pact rather unwillingly. But they don’t really like each other much. They don’t have this near-death moment and become fast friends. In fact, Martin often struggles because the three other pact members are *so* not his type; he wouldn’t normally be caught dead with the lot of them. Their friendship isn’t about warm fuzzies. Many of the statements that they share to one and another are rude, cruel, and fierce. But it works.

Also, the ending isn’t all neatly tied up with a pretty bow. The foursome doesn’t all of a sudden find this new appreciation for life, this new drive to change the world. They just find hope. A glimmer of hope, even: “hard is trying to rebuild yourself, piece by piece, with no instruction book, and no clue as to where all the important bits are supposed to go.” (322).

Important Side Note: Johnny Depp bought the rights to the movie and he hired the same writer who wrote the adaptation for High Fidelity to handle this screenplay. (I stress this as an important side note because, really, no one else is more dreamy than Johnny Depp! Just a little eye candy for the blog. LOL).