Five reasons why 13 Reasons Why was Cliché and Unrealistic
Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why is a book about a high school girl who leaves behind a set of tapes after committing suicide. The tapes contain stories she tells about the experiences that led to her decision to end her life. She gives instructions to pass on the tapes to each person she mentions, each person she blames for killing herself. I think the author wanted the reader to see Hannah, the suicidal teenager, as a relatable hero of sorts. A girl who's life was so bad she had no choice but to kill herself and make sure everyone responsible knew why. The book for me was a huge disappointment and I felt the plot was cliché and unrealistic. I was expecting a book about suicide to be a little more insightful and contain more depth, but I found the book to be somewhat immature and dramatic.
Reason 1- The first unrealistic thing about the book is the idea behind the tapes. "Rule number one: You listen. Number two: You pass it on. Hopefully, neither one is easy for you." Hannah states these rules at the beginning of her tapes and goes on to explain how they will be released to everyone if they fail to pass them on. I find it unbelievable that someone would actually leak the tapes of a girl who could do nothing about it. The tapes contain secrets that could really get kids in trouble and maybe that's what they deserve. But most of the people mentioned on the tapes had no idea what they were doing and do not deserve what Hannah is threatening. I know if someone left me the copy of the tapes to release, there's no way I'd be able or willing to do it.
Reason 2- The source of many of Hannah Baker's troubles came from not one but four different high school parties she chose to attend; chose being the key word. Nothing about theses parties was different from anything you would see on TV or in a movie. "Did I mention we were two and a half blocks away? That's how loud it was. That party was absolutely begging for a police visit." Drinking, loud music, property destruction- textbook high school party. If you've seen one show or movie with this kind of party, well, you've seen them all. And that's exactly how I felt while reading this book. The worst part is, Hannah could have at any time chosen not to attend any of these parties and avoided all the problems that resulted. To me it seemed she was seeking drama and attention.
Reason 3- The boys. Many of the people mentioned on the tapes are boys who are disrespectful and treat Hannah badly. The boys often tried to do inappropriate things to Hannah, which made her very upset. "For everyone listening, let me be clear. I did not say no or push his hand away. All I did was turn my head, clench my teeth, and fight back tears. And he saw that. He even told me to relax." Of course this situation would be disturbing to any girl in high school, but Hannah even says she didn't try to stop it. She explained how she went to the party knowing this would happen. I find this so unrealistic. I can't believe that any girl would put themselves in this situation when they didn't want anything to happen. Hannah literally seeks trouble so she can feel bad for herself when bad things happen.
Reason 4- Along with the tapes, the book is told from the perspective of Clay, a classmate and somewhat of a secret admirer of Hannah's. In my opinion, Clay is a very stereotypical male teenage character. He's the shy boy who has a crush on a pretty, popular girl that never got his chance with her. "Just hearing my name, the pain in my head doubles. I feel an agonizing twist in my heart." Throughout the book he makes comments and expresses his thoughts about what Hannah says on the tapes. The things he says are so cliché and overdramatic, it was hard for me to read without it sounding sarcastic. And of course the only reason he's on the tapes is so she can apologize to him as if there's no one else who ever did anything right in her life. The real people she should be apologizing to are the other people on the tapes who's lives she's ruining.
Reason 5- A very cliché ending to a very cliché book. After listening to the tapes, Clay returns to school and recognizes that a girl he once knew may be feeling the same way Hannah felt, and by reaching out to her the book hints that he may have saved her life. "A flood of emotion rushes into me. Pain and anger. Sadness and pity. But most surprising of all, hope. . . Two steps behind her; I say her name. 'Skye.'" When I read the last line of the book, the first thing that popped into my head was who the heck is Skye? The book maybe mentions her once in the beginning, but doesn't say much about her. The author couldn't have chosen a more insignificant character to end the story. Of course Clay becomes the hero at the end of the book who saves another girl when he couldn't have saved Hannah. I see what the author was trying to do, but the cliché ending left me disappointed and feeling like I had wasted my time.
As much as I talked about the negatives of the book, it wasn't completely terrible. I think part of the problem was that I read this book as a 17 year old. I probably would've enjoyed it a lot more if I had read it in middle school. The book just seemed immature and I felt like the author way oversimplified suicide. The idea behind the book, although something that would never happen, was interesting and was the reason I decided to read it. I think it could've been a really good book, but unfortunately it fell short. The characters seemed like they were taken straight from High School Musical and maybe that's why I found the book to be completely unrelatable on every level.
Reason 2- The source of many of Hannah Baker's troubles came from not one but four different high school parties she chose to attend; chose being the key word. Nothing about theses parties was different from anything you would see on TV or in a movie. "Did I mention we were two and a half blocks away? That's how loud it was. That party was absolutely begging for a police visit." Drinking, loud music, property destruction- textbook high school party. If you've seen one show or movie with this kind of party, well, you've seen them all. And that's exactly how I felt while reading this book. The worst part is, Hannah could have at any time chosen not to attend any of these parties and avoided all the problems that resulted. To me it seemed she was seeking drama and attention.
Reason 3- The boys. Many of the people mentioned on the tapes are boys who are disrespectful and treat Hannah badly. The boys often tried to do inappropriate things to Hannah, which made her very upset. "For everyone listening, let me be clear. I did not say no or push his hand away. All I did was turn my head, clench my teeth, and fight back tears. And he saw that. He even told me to relax." Of course this situation would be disturbing to any girl in high school, but Hannah even says she didn't try to stop it. She explained how she went to the party knowing this would happen. I find this so unrealistic. I can't believe that any girl would put themselves in this situation when they didn't want anything to happen. Hannah literally seeks trouble so she can feel bad for herself when bad things happen.
Reason 4- Along with the tapes, the book is told from the perspective of Clay, a classmate and somewhat of a secret admirer of Hannah's. In my opinion, Clay is a very stereotypical male teenage character. He's the shy boy who has a crush on a pretty, popular girl that never got his chance with her. "Just hearing my name, the pain in my head doubles. I feel an agonizing twist in my heart." Throughout the book he makes comments and expresses his thoughts about what Hannah says on the tapes. The things he says are so cliché and overdramatic, it was hard for me to read without it sounding sarcastic. And of course the only reason he's on the tapes is so she can apologize to him as if there's no one else who ever did anything right in her life. The real people she should be apologizing to are the other people on the tapes who's lives she's ruining.
Reason 5- A very cliché ending to a very cliché book. After listening to the tapes, Clay returns to school and recognizes that a girl he once knew may be feeling the same way Hannah felt, and by reaching out to her the book hints that he may have saved her life. "A flood of emotion rushes into me. Pain and anger. Sadness and pity. But most surprising of all, hope. . . Two steps behind her; I say her name. 'Skye.'" When I read the last line of the book, the first thing that popped into my head was who the heck is Skye? The book maybe mentions her once in the beginning, but doesn't say much about her. The author couldn't have chosen a more insignificant character to end the story. Of course Clay becomes the hero at the end of the book who saves another girl when he couldn't have saved Hannah. I see what the author was trying to do, but the cliché ending left me disappointed and feeling like I had wasted my time.
As much as I talked about the negatives of the book, it wasn't completely terrible. I think part of the problem was that I read this book as a 17 year old. I probably would've enjoyed it a lot more if I had read it in middle school. The book just seemed immature and I felt like the author way oversimplified suicide. The idea behind the book, although something that would never happen, was interesting and was the reason I decided to read it. I think it could've been a really good book, but unfortunately it fell short. The characters seemed like they were taken straight from High School Musical and maybe that's why I found the book to be completely unrelatable on every level.
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