I RECEIVED a copy of Jay Asher’s young adult novel, 13 Reasons Why, long before the acclaimed Netflix series based on the novel was released. I kept putting it off, reading it again and again because there was a part of me that felt that the book would join the long list of YA novels that contain clichéd love triangles, teenage against, and teenagers rebelling against insufferable, overbearing parents. Once the TV show began to pick up steam, however, I turned again to the book and on one of those slow nights, I started reading. I finished reading the entire novel in two days.

The book, geared towards young people as it may be, does not trivialise or soften any of the heavy issues (suicide, bullying, depression, rape) that it forces its readers, as much as the author forces his characters, to grapple with. Perhaps, that aspect is the most outstanding thing about it – its ability to present real issues that teenagers face in their everyday lives, but told in a way that does not glamourise these problems and in a way that does not belittle young people but, rather, plays on their own knowledge and experiences of high school life in order to gain a thorough understanding and appreciating for the story that Asher is telling.

The structure of the book too is interesting and unconventional. Hannah Baker, who has committed suicide before the story begins, sends thirteen messages recorded on cassette tapes to fellow high-schooler, Clay Jensen. Each recording contains a reason why Hannah has killed herself and gives the names of the individual who has contributed to each reason, detailing their involvement and the role they played. These tapes are sent to all the main players involved in Hannah’s death. The novel is told from both the perspectives of Hannah, recording herself on the tapes, and Clay, listening and reacting to the recordings.

This kind of parallel, interwoven structure works well in 13 Reasons Why, especially because Hannah and Clay, despite their limited interaction with each other in real life, are so connected on multiple other levels, which the structure helps to emphasise, and it also works well because as you read, you get a blow by blow account not only of what Hannah is feeling and saying, and not only of how she is, layer by layer, unfolding the events that culminated in her death, but also you also get Clay’s reaction to the things she says; you learn how he feels, how it affects him and how it affects those around him, especially the people Hannah calls out in her tapes.

Occasionally, the book does lapse into the realm of what might be referred to as slight-melodrama, but, thankfully, it never lingers there and for the most part, the story is one that is filled with lifelike characters and, equally importantly, situations and scenarios that are able to invoke real emotions. Another of the novel’s great strengths is the way it manages to tug at the heartstrings. It swells with emotional content and at juncture after juncture, are scenes that will make you think of your own problems and struggles with depression and suicide, or, if not, will at the very least force you into thinking of that individual whom you know who suffers with these issues. And perhaps that is one of the author’s purposes.

Throughout the novel, there are many references to the fact that people who are sad and desperate and suicidal often provide clues, and often reach out, to others and yet, sadly, these moments are often overlooked as people rush through their daily lives oblivious to the pain experienced by those who are unable to call the name of the monster who lives in their minds. The book reminds us to be vigilant and to look after each other.

Another important element of 13 Reasons Why is the way it forces the reader to try and understand that despite all the assumptions you make, you might actually never learn about someone’s life entirely unless that person chooses to tell you about his/her life. As Hannah says at one point:

“You don’t know what went on in the rest of my life. At home. Even at school. You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life.
Everything affects everything.”

Our actions, even the smallest ones, can have larger ramifications and repercussions, regardless of whether we ourselves are aware of the harm they can bring to others. 13 Reasons Why presents this philosophy and suggests, more than anything else, that this the ultimate reason for Hannah’s tragic fate in the book – all the seemingly trivial things, along with horrible things, that come together, building up and becoming more overpowering until Hannah, unable to bear it any longer, makes her decision and starts to compile the tapes.
13 Reasons Why is beautiful in its characters, in its theme of redemption and forgiveness and of learning from one’s mistakes, but it is also sad especially because it brings to the fore, the pain and heartache that we thought we had left behind in our teenage years. Thankfully, in the final pages, there is a message of hope that is not needed only because the book makes us want to have that sort of hope for the characters at the end, but also because hope, the book seems to tell us, is also what is needed, the thing that can help us in real life.