Reading Rendezvous: Thirteen Reasons Why

Normally, when someone gives me a book, I feel obliged to read it almost instantly so as to somehow let them know how grateful I was to receive something as personal as a novel for a gift. When I was gifted City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, I attacked it immediately and finished it within the week. When someone bought me a copy of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, I absorbed it in about three days.

But when I received Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher for my fifteenth birthday, I hesitated. I'm not sure why I did, but something about the ominous cover and cryptic back summary made me put it away and read something that had a cover which promised a bright, happy ending.

Recently, while I was looking through my decently large pile of unread books, I found this book and figured it was time to tackle it. Without looking up what the book was about to refresh my memory or asking any of my friends if they remembered reading it, I flopped down on my bed and opened it up.

And now I know why I waited so long.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a dark, introspective novel about the worst several hours of a boy named Clay Jensen's life. He receives an odd package of audiotapes on his doorstep, and when he plays the first one he's shocked to find it is the voice of Hannah Baker. Which might not be the strangest thing in the world, except for the fact that Hannah Baker killed herself.

The tapes tell her tale, each side of each tape directed towards the thirteen people who played large parts in Hannah's decision to end her own life. We hear the heartbreaking tale of how so many little things that don't seem to mean anything individually can add up to destroy a person, and we hear all this through the voice of the dead girl and the horrified Clay, who doesn't understand what he could have done to Hannah that was so bad.

What's crazy is that even though from page one it is quite plain that Hannah is very much so dead, one can't help but want to save her as she weaves her tale. The desire to reach out and tell her everything is going to be alright is so painful because it's impossible, and we get that feeling both from Clay's reactions and within our own hearts. Which I'm sure is exactly what Asher was aiming for.

This book is exactly what it sounds like--hard to read, emotionally devastating, and a genuine tear-jerker. There are very few parts of this book that make you want to smile or laugh. But at the same time, I'd recommend it to everyone, because the message is important: Everything you do affects someone in ways you will never understand, and there are always going to be consequences for your actions.

It's sad, and dark, and eye-opening, and beautifully written. Asher's writing is very comparable to that of John Green (The Fault in Our Stars) and Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower).

I recommend it to everyone inside the parameters I will lay out below, but I also follow that with a warning: prepare for tears and lots of soul searching, because I know it made me cry and think...have I done something to make someone feel like Hannah did?

SUGGESTED AGE OF READER: 14-15 (for some sexual material and drug/alcohol references)
MY PERSONAL RATING: 5/5 stars

~ Lacey :)

Reading Rendezvous: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Reading has been, and always will be, one of my top three favorite things to do, along with watching TV and writing (I wasn't kidding when I said I'm a couch potato). But I've been out of practice for a while. In case you weren't aware, high school is just one big mess of coffee, no sleep, headaches, drama, and of course, schoolwork.

But there was something special about this book, I could tell. So I carved time out of my Friday to read it. I sat in my bed around 8 o'clock at night... and I didn't put it down until I was finished at 1 AM.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, written by Stephen Chbosky, is a coming-of-age novel about Charlie, a fifteen-year-old entering his first year of high school. The book is formatted as a series of letters from Charlie to an anonymous stranger. It's about growing up, finding friends, falling in love, understanding family, experiencing the world, and confronting the past. It's about the interesting relationship between passivity and participation in life.

Charlie absolutely captured my heart. I can't quite put my finger on it, but maybe that's the point. Charlie's outlook on life is so simple, but so emotionally deep and meaningful. He's a wallflower. He looks on at the world from the sidelines, and he understands everything. But with advice from a teacher, Charlie realizes he needs to stop spending all of his life in his thoughts and to start actively participating in life. So he embarks on a journey to do just that.

Be warned. This book covers some very dark and sometimes controversial material, and Charlie's thoughts and struggles to make sense of these things are part of the reason it is so good. Many heavy, emotional topics are discussed or stressed, including drugs, alcohol, sex, mental illness, abortion, homosexuality, sexual assault, and sexual abuse. I'd like to be quite frank with anyone reading this. As a Catholic, I believe certain things and will always uphold those certain beliefs. But the point of the author was not to make the novel revolve around the issues at hand. He's simply telling Charlie's story, and how Charlie reacts and interacts to and with the world. And at the end, they drop a veiled bomb on the reader that suddenly makes you understand why Charlie is the way he is.

This book is happy, and it is sad. It's beautiful, and it is dark. It's uplifting and inspiring, and it is just as equally devastating.

I cried at one point. If you know me, you know that I cry all the time in movies. I guess visually witnessing something prompts tears more effectively for me. But in books, it takes a lot to make me cry. But this book did the trick.

I think my goal in life is to see the world as Charlie does. To understand as he does. If my brain could work like his, I think then I'd really understand how such a mixed up and messed up world could be so dang beautiful.

SUGGESTED AGE OF READER: 15-16 (for some possibly uncomfortable sexual situations and mentions of very controversial issues)
MY PERSONAL RATING: 5/5 stars

~ Lacey :)