The Fault in Our Stars Movie

This is not going to be a movie review or book review but those will come soon. I literally just came home from seeing this movie and it was absolutely amazing and I think that everyone should know. I saw this movie with my mom and brother and we all loved it but found it depressing at the same time. Both my mom and myself were crying throughout the entire movie because it was so sad but was only so because of the amazing performances done by all of the actors. Everyone needs to see this movie whether you have read this book or not.

Book Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why

Author: Jay Asher

Genre: Contemporary

Page Count: 288

Publication Date: June 14th, 2011 (first published 2007)

Publisher: Razorbill 

Awards: Georgia Peach Honor Book Award (2009),  South Carolina Book Award for Young Adult Book Award (2010), California Book Award, Abraham Lincoln Award (2013)

Source

*NO SPOILERS*

     Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is about a high school boy, Clay Jensen, who finds a box of old cassette tapes on his front porch. He finds out that these tapes are from Hannah Baker who recently committed suicide. These tapes are of Hannah talking about thirteen people who influenced her to kill herself. The tapes get passed around to everyone who was on the list so they can hear what they had to do with her suicide. When Clay receives these tapes he starts to freak out because he has absolutely no idea of why he would be on that list. This story was very engaging and kept me enthralled the entire time. The whole time I was anxious to find out each reason and to see how each person's story ended. The cassette tape narration was captivating, Clay's reactions to the tapes were spot on, and the overall storyline was excellent.
     The cassette tape narration was excellent. Throughout the story we hear Hannah Baker talking about the people that caused her to take her life. I found it very interesting to hear this because it is not everyday that we get to hear what goes through a suicidal person's mind and what they're going through. Hannah seemed so relaxed and confident in what she was talking about which was not what I was expecting at all. Also, in the tapes you could really get a sense of what Hannah was feeling while she was recording the tapes because her emotion was so clear. You could really tell how she felt about each person she was talking about and how much she disliked them. It was very easy to empathize with Hannah because of this. At some points in the book I found myself getting teary-eyed over the situations Hannah was put through.
    Clay's reactions to the tapes were very realistic. If you were to randomly find a dead girl's audio recordings on your doorstep you would freak out right? Well, that's exactly what Clay did. When Clay found Hannah's cassette tapes on his front porch he went a little crazy about what it could possibly mean. I found this to be very realistic because being associated with a person who committed suicide is a very traumatic experience. Also, once Clay actually started listening to the tapes he felt guilty and his mind starting reeling with possibilities of why he was on the tapes. I don't know about you, but if I was put in that situation I would immediately start feeling a great deal of remorse and want to know how I could possibly be responsible for another person's death just like Clay. I feel that the author, Jay Asher, did an excellent job of displaying Clay's emotions.
     The whole storyline was outstanding. The author, Jay Asher, is so good at intriguing his readers with his descriptions of Hannah's life struggles and showing how she dealt with it. The way Hannah felt about each of the people that were on her list kept me totally engrossed to keep reading. Also, since Hannah's tapes were so well done, I constantly wanted to see what Clay would do and how he would react to each of the tapes. The back-and-forth narration between Hannah's tapes and Clay's perspective also absorbed my attention to keep me reading for hours.
     All in all, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is a magnificent book. Hannah Baker's cassette tape narration was excellent, Clay's reactions to the tapes were realistic, and just the overall story was marvelous. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a sad story that touches your heart.