Blogocentric Formulations

Thirteen Reasons Why

Well, I found my first "must read" book of 2013. I've read a few good ones already, but this is the first one that I completely and unreservedly recommend that you read, especially if you are of high school age or have children of high school age. Fair warning; the book does deal predominantly with the theme of suicide, but it's a fascinating look into the mind of a teenage girl who decides to end her life, and what led her to ultimately make that decision. The book is:

ASIN: 159514188X	Thirteen Reasons Why Product Type: Book
	Amazon's Price: Price N/A Buy Now!

SYNOPSIS (from Amazon): Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush - who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself-a truth he never wanted to face.

In a word, this book is heartbreaking. As Clay listens to the tapes and you hear Hannah explain the events that led to her decision to end her life, there are times when you just want to cry because of the way so many small things caused such a tragic outcome. The thing about the thirteen reasons is that most of them are relatively innocuous and the people who did these things to her at the time would probably have no idea how much their actions affected her if they hadn't heard the tapes. I won't spoil too much for you, but the first two reasons are the guy she shared her first kiss with spreading a rumor that he also let her feel her up... and the second was another juvenile classmate putting her on a list as having the "best ass" in the freshman class.

What's so poignant about this book is that it's little things like that, and the ripples they cause later in the story, that are at the root of Hannah's depression. It's not some manufactured melodrama centering around deep psychological issues like sexual abuse or neglectful parents; it's the story of a lonely girl who decides to end her life because rumors and jokes and childish behavior and the betrayal and inaction of people she thought were friends led her to believe that life was just going to be a series of hurtful disappointments. And it's truly heartbreaking because, as you follow Clay and the progression of the tapes, you realize that all it would have taken to convince Hannah not to kill herself was a kind word here, or a ray of hope there. A kind word or a ray of hope she never received.

This is easily the best book I've ever read about the issue of teen suicide and depression. It so clearly shows how even the little things can have a huge impact in another person's life. You don't know what that person is going through, or the other things that are happening in their life, so you'll never truly know if that rumor you spread or that note you pass around or that time that you could have stood up to someone being bullied and didn't is just another day, or if it's the day another kid decides that there's no reason to continue living.

It's a heavy book, and I sat in my car (I listened to this one on audio) for a good twenty minutes after the book ended just reflecting on what I'd just read/heard. If you want a better understanding of why suicide is such a concerning issue, especially among youths, and how even the smallest things can have a disastrous impact on the mental well-being of a teenager... all told within a compelling narrative... I highly recommend you check this one out.