I heard Asher speak about this book at the Texas Book Festival back in October. He was on a panel with three other authors speaking about banned books and he talked about how this book was banned for bringing up the topic of suicide. “Bringing up” would be putting it mildly. School brainiac, but all around nice guy Clay receives a box of tapes in which he is named as one of the thirteen reasons Hannah killed herself. Now I’m not giving away the plot; that is written clearly on the book. He is a part of her story and he has no idea why. He had a crush on Hannah and he has to listen to the tapes in order to figure out his role in her death. It becomes one of those situations where he has to choose whether he can live with himself for knowing or live with himself for not doing what she requested. So Clay chooses to listen and walks around town listening to the tapes and following the map she left. Hannah names off thirteen people and speaks directly to them on these tapes. Her narration is mixed with Clay’s actions, thoughts and feelings as he listens. The dichotomy between the two is a good balance between Hannah’s acerbic tone and Clay’s pain and melancholy over never getting to know Hannah the way he wanted.
First things first, Clay is a likeable guy. He doesn’t have a ton of friends, but he’s a nice guy. People do talk to him and know who he is. He’d gone to some parties, he sees people around town he knew. Hannah is at times a bit frustrating, but just when you begin to think one thing about her, she pretty much says exactly what you’re thinking to the people on the tape. Yes, suicide is selfish. And yes she knows she could have asked for more help. Somehow Asher understands these teenage characters (both male and female) completely. He knows what his readers will be thinking as they’re following Clay in his journey. Poor Clay was heartbroken and wants to know how he could have done a thing to make Hannah feel unwanted. And like Clay, the reader wants to know why Clay is included on the list. We all want answers. Asher’s world is one that makes sense to a reader. I told my fifteen year old cousin I got this book and she told me how much she liked it. He doesn’t make a class that’s untouchable. He doesn’t provide characters that aren’t relatable. We all have the kinds of feelings of loneliness, helplessness, betrayal and hurt that his characters feel. We might not have them to the degree Hannah does, but they are easy enough to identify with. And you feel bad for Clay as he throws up on the sidewalk. You want to shake Hannah just like he does. Ultimately, you don’t just see things through his eyes, but feel it through his heartache. And by the end, I’m glad Asher kept Clay true to his character, real to what his actions should be if Clay were a real person.
I got the special edition of the book that has an interview with Asher in the back. In it, he said he first just wrote Hannah’s side, the voice on the tapes without Clay’s reaction as they were being told. I am so glad he went with changing it because like he says, you get the immediate gratification of knowing exactly how and what he’s feeling. It’s much easier to feel it with him because you know you’re not alone in your own feelings. Suicide is tough and losing someone you really liked it just as hard. I think Asher deals with it in a way that is smart enough to show the pain of both sides - Hannah and Clay. To me, Asher proves that you don’t have to be in high school to remember the agony high school can bring and the consequences of not having an outlet to deal with it. I’m blessed to have read this book. It did make me wonder how I would have thought of it all differently if I would’ve read it as a high schooler myself.
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