Book Report

The novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher is about a girl, Hannah Baker, who killed herself and the thirteen reasons why. Before Hannah committed suicide, she recorded a series of tapes and compiled a list of people who were meant to receive the tapes and listen to them. Clay comes home after school one day and finds the box of cassette tapes from Hannah. They are labeled numbers one through seven, sides A and B. Each person on the list was supposed to listen to all of the tapes and then pass them along to the person that followed them on the list. Clay Jensen is the narrator of this realistic fiction novel. Throughout the novel you know all of Clay’s thoughts and feelings about what he is hearing. It is a thought-provoking, engaging book that is addicting to read!

The story Thirteen Reasons Why is set in a very small town named Crestmont and takes place during modern day. The setting is imaginary but it resembles any average town in the United States. Hannah also sends a map along with the tapes. Clay follows the map around town visiting places he finds significant to her story. She sends this map along with the tapes because she wants people to actually see the places as they are listening to what happened at them. “…maybe it’s not a red star on her map, but it should’ve been. It’s a red star to me” (142). The Crestmont Movie Theatre, where Clay and Hannah worked together was not a star on the map because to Hannah it was not a very important place although it was to Clay. It was important to him because that is where he got to talk to her. Another major setting of the book was different parties she attended. Many of the people that were on the tapes were on them because of what they did at a party or on the night of a party. The setting contributed a lot to the plot of the story.

The overall mood of the novel is depressing and dark in general. 1Clay’s mood changes after he hears the tape about himself. Clay is on cassette number five side A soup until...