Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher - ★★★★ Stars

Hey guys! I'm back again with another book review. With everyone raving about the television series that Netflix came out with, I thought this would be a great book to review.

I have just finished watching the show about two weeks ago, and decided to reread the book! I remember the book was amazing, but there were so many details that seemed to slip from my mind. The back of the book summary says:

"Clay Jensen doesn't want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her. Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death. All through the night,  Clay keeps listening. He follows  Hannah's recorded words throughout his small town...and what he discovers changes his life forever.

-Jay Asher

This review is going to be a little different from the others because I will also be comparing it to the Netflix show. Don't worry though, I won't be giving out any spoilers (super tough, I know!).

The first big thing I noticed is how quickly Clay actually listened to the tapes in comparison to the show. A lot of people were bothered and created memes of the fact that it took him at least a week or two to finish them all. I understand why they did it though! The book is much quicker in pace since it takes place within about 12 hours.

The book was really well written, and really makes you think about how your actions, no matter how small, could really make a huge difference in someone's life.

I feel like since there was so much less back story, you find certain events to be a little...random? You find out that once character has an extra set of tapes, and if you watch the TV show it makes more sense, because it made it seem as if they were friends, but in the book, not so much. It did bother me the first time I read it, but now that I also have the TV interpretation of the book, I pictured the whole thing a little differently.

I definitely have to warn people because in both the TV show and in the book, there are explicit moments that are heart wrenching to read and watch. Therefore if you are extremely sensitive to strong scenes, I would tell you guys to stray away from both versions of this story.

Rereading this book now, affected me way more than it did when I read it when I was much younger. I feel like I am a lot more aware of the seriousness of the book. I feel like I wasn't quite ready to read it when I did. I am glad that I reread this book.

Differences between the book and the show?

There are two big differences between the book that bothered me quite a bit. One thing is the cause of death. I won't say how she did it in either version, but in the book she mentions that she didn't want her parents to find her body in a horrendous way, and in the show they make the scene extremely difficult to watch. I know it's TV, and people are desensitized to certain things so they have to amp it up, but I honestly had to look away.

Another thing is the fact that they made Hannah a little unlikable in the TV show. Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but the book didn't give anything to make her character end up like this, so I was a little confused as to why they changed her character that much! If someone knows the answer to that, let me know below.

I hope you guys liked reading about my opinion on the book! I hope you guys have a great night/day. Sending positive vibes.

-Melina xxx