13 Reasons Why (Английская Литература)

Book Report

13 Reasons Why

Last month I read a book that you may have heard of thanks to its tv-show adaptation. It's called 13 Reasons Why. It's a novel by Jay Asher, an American writer of contemporary novels for teens. 13 Reasons Why is his most famous work, other novels are The Future of Us (2011) and What Light (2016). 

Let's pass over to the story. It tells us about Hannah Baker - a high school student that committed a suicide. The story is divided into 13 parts - each part is devoted to each person that, as Hannah claims, caused her death. Every story, every single person that is described has inadvertently played his or her part in Hannah's decision to take her life. They didn't know how huge their influence on her life was until they heard the tapes that Hannah had made, explaining every detail of how she came to her decision. 

In my opinion, that's exactly where the message of the story lies.

It is even mentioned in the text, so I'd like to use a quotation here: 

“I guess, that's the point of it all. No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people. Oftentimes, we have no clue. Yet we push it just the same.”

As far as I understand, the author wanted us to think about our actions and their consequences. We never know what other people are going through. They may smile at school, act like everything is okay, but inside, they are suffering. That's why we should be more thoughtful and treat each other well. 

I'd recommend this book to my peers, as I know there is a problem with bullying among people of my age.