My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Clay Jensen comes home one day to find a package on his doorstep without a return address. He opens it, and finds seven tapes. The special thing about these tapes? They contain the voice of Hannah Baker--his first and only crush, who committed suicide two weeks ago.
Clay doesn't want to listen, but he can't stop. Especially not when Hannah tells him that each side of the tapes has a story on it, a story relating to one of the thirteen people who is, in a way, responsible for her death. To have received the tapes, you must be on them.
And so Clay hits play. And he proceeds to listen through all thirteen tapes in one night, hearing Hannah's stories and following her footsteps throughout the town on a map he received before she died.
It wasn't my favourite book in the world, I'll say it honestly. I don't know what, but there was something that annoyed me when I was reading it, I know.
I can't remember what that could have possibly been now.
Hannah's narrative is beautiful and genuine, painful to read in her humour and sorrow. Her stories are heart-wrenching, and will strike a chord with everyone who reads the book because, well, they sound true. They could happen to anyone, really. Formatted with Hannah's tapes in italics and Clay's reactions in plain face, each chapter a different side, everything flows quickly and easily. This book is a true page-turner; I read straight through all day, stopping (barely) once, seeking sustenance. Hannah's story will shock you and break your heart. Clay's words, showing the repercussions of Hannah's death and the tapes, will throw salt on the wounds.
It's a wonderful book.
Listen to the tapes at the book's website here.
(Rated T for suicide and implied explicit scenes.)
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