图书作者与内容简介

Thirteen Reasons Why, is a debut novel by Jay Asher. It was very astounding. The descriptive and illustrative terms used to express the inner thoughts of a character too create vivid emotions, and the neat arrangement of events that keep the readers immersed in the story, are reasons this book is the New York Times Best Seller.
Hannah, who had bewilderingly ***d. The only thing she left behind is a set of tapes, 13 tapes that tell the hidden truth. 

我的观点

Have you ever felt pushed closer and closer to the edge of a cliff named 「Suicide」 by stress before? You wave little and give minor signs to your friends and teachers, (not to family because you don't want them to worry) hoping that they will notice and save you, their words will save you. Suicide is happening every day in our modern society, yet people do not seem to notice. An article published by the CDC, "Center of Disease Control and Prevention" and a chart made by the" American Foundation for Suicide Prevention" mentioned that on average there are 132 ***s happening per day in the US, and almost 2 million people have attempted to kill themselves. The *** rate of juveniles is even more appalling. Out of 10 thousand people, 15 boys and girls about my age chose to end their own lives. Have people you know tended to the thought before? Do you know how to save him or her? Or, will you even notice?
 
"Thirteen Reasons Why" is a novel written by Jay Asher. The book revolves around a teenage girl, Hannah Baker’s ***. The story unfolds through a sequence of cassette tapes left behind by Hannah. Every tape is addressed to an individual whom she accused has contributed to her emotional and mental decline. The tapes are keys that enable us to open the doors of secrets and lead us toward the truth. A package without a returning address lies in front of the front door of Clay’s house. In the box, there are 7 cassettes, 13 sides of tapes of 13 reasons, reasons Hannah took her life. With a sense of confusion and shock in Clay’s mind, he went through the set of tapes, to find out the 13 reasons why. Starting with Cassette 1, side A.
 
Behind each of the 13 reasons why Hannah took her life, Asher links every story to a problem in our modern society, some are problems that teenagers might have to face and overcome. The novel includes topics such as sexual assault, ***, isolation, empathy, and personal boundaries. These can be huge topics that can take you centuries to discuss, but Asher excelled at it. He did not eloquently consult every section of the problem but focused on how Hannah faced it.
In the novel, Asher uses many literary devices to create a unique flow for the story, such as flashbacks, metaphor, and 2nd person perspective writing. With all these literary devices used, Asher’s usage of two-perspective writing and internal monologues are what took the story up to the next notch. The story is told from the perspectives of Hannah and Clay. The readers will follow Clay’s pace and listen to the tapes with him, this gives the readers a taste of slowly revealing the whole picture. The truth is getting clearer and clearer as you keep on reading. Internal monologues serve as an exquisite ornament, they not only allow the readers to understand the conflicts between characters but also their internal thoughts. Beyond that, Asher uses a main event, and several side events to link all the characters together, which drags the readers into the world inside this book.
 
The chapter that kept hovering in my head is not the cassette that is about our main character, Clay, but the very last tape, Cassette 7 side A. As Clay goes through the tapes, we fully understand the whole picture, and we notice that this is the last chance to pull Hannah back from jumping off the cliff. The last tape starts spinning in the Walkman, like a countdown timer of Hannah’s survival. Hannah opens the door of the counselor’s room; the counselor, Mr. Porter has been waiting inside. With the recorder in her pocket, we are the audience of Hannah’s swan song. The tape kept spinning, releasing every recorded word.  Hannah obscurely explained her situation and sent out her final last shout of hope, but the response Hannah hoped to hear wasn't said. By interrupting, Hannah hastily ended the counseling and left. Clay shouted towards the Walkman as if it would stop Hannah from leaving, but woefully you can't. We’re informed that Mr. Porter has missed the one and only chance to stop the timer. The doors shut behind Hannah, and so was Hannah’s hope. "A lot of you cared, just not enough. And that…that is what I needed to find out." "Click" The tape popped out of the Walkman, and the countdown timer rang. Hannah chose to end her life, we’ve missed the chance; we’ve let her down. Death might be closer to us than we think, people that you greet today might be gone tomorrow, and people you held now might someday leave the world. Appreciate every moment you all have and appreciate their presence.
 
The reason that I liked this chapter the most is that it perfectly showed the sense of powerlessness when you find out an unchangeable fact. Everyone has a moment, whether you like it or not, you have to accept something that is unchangeable. The fact can be big as someone you value the most has forever gone to sleep or it can be small as your favorite store closed up. For me, the unchangeable fact is that I will no longer be in the international program, which is a program that complies with the international education system. I used to assume I’ll stay in the program and finally go study abroad. It was heartbreaking news for me back then, and I of course blamed my parents. The news sounded to me like how Hannah’s death sounded to Clay, sorrowful. Yet, Clay understands Hannah through the tapes. I realized and accepted this fact by communicating with my parents, this is when I slowly understood the whole picture and learned-Communication is the key to resolving conflicts. The primary reason for conflicts occurring are lack of quality communication. Quality communication includes listening, comprehending, and respect. When two unique viewpoints we have strong beliefs in collide, we tend to convince others to believe what we believe. Instead, having quality communication that resolves the conflict itself and allows you to look from others' perspectives. 
 
"Thirteen Reasons Why" is a book that I will recommend to every young ***. The brilliance of this book will make you believe that it's written by an experienced novelist instead of a debut by a college dropout. The diction used in it isn’t too challenging and fancy, but precise, which makes the main points of the book obvious and clear. With pragmatic words, the book discusses deep topics. Topics that’ll circulate in your mind even after a long period. The novel explores and targets sensitive topics among juveniles. For example, the importance of empathy, communication, and mental health awareness. Nevertheless, Asher spotlighted mainly on the interconnections among people, urging the readers to understand how actions, your advertent actions, no matter how insignificant they seem, might have a huge effect on one's mental condition and decisions.