When I first heard about the book Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher I immediately was drawn to it. Her thirteen reasons to commit suicide might be questioned because to some it might not seem worthy enough to be considered as severe reasons. Those people who question her reasons don’t understand how sensitive and vulnerable she is. Hannah is described as selfish and bratty by some readers, but I don’t share that opinion.
I don’t think the book was overhyped or mediocre. The author said in a review that the main theme and message he was trying to give out is that everything affects everything. I think the book did its job of sending a message that the tiniest thing can build up to something more. When someone is depressed the smallest things can cause the biggest harm because they’re in a vulnerable position where things are not measured by its importance, but by how sensitive they are at that moment. I read some comments about how terrible this book is because the character was obviously not depressed and how the book instead of helping it actually gave depression a bad name. I don’t think the book gave it a bad name, but instead made more people aware of how others should think about how harmful their actions or words can be to others. I don’t think Hannah wanted to cause harm or was selfish by telling them they were reasons for her death, but instead wanted to teach them a life lesson. In one of her tapes Hannah says, “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,” and hopefully that will impact the other characters life and the readers as well to not be ignorant to other people’s feeling.