Log #2

Book: Thirteen Reasons Why

Author: Jay Asher

Page: 146 – 288 (finished)

        I have finished reading this book, and now I know the thirteen reasons why Hannah committed suicide, including the one about Clay, a boy who didn’t seem to have done something wrong that could contribute to her death. Hannah apologized for involving Clay in her list. She just considered Clay important in her life and wanted him to know more about her feelings and motives for suicide, so she made him receive the seven tapes as well.

Clay was a very nice person who actually wanted to get closer to Hannah and was willing to listen to her story. However, he was so shy that he didn’t dare to approach her. The only connect between them was a party, at which they finally had a chance to chat with each other. As Hannah was about to open her heart to Clay and told him all her sufferings, she suddenly felt scared and a sense of inferiority because of the rumors and hurt to her. Thus, she pushed him away and again bore the sorrow all by herself.

Although in the tape Hannah said that Clay’s story should not be included as a reason for her suicide, I think it did; however, I think the inflictor here was not Clay but Hannah herself. For the other twelve reasons, the twelve people all did something harmful to Hannah, but in Clay’s case, Hannah was the one who did damage to herself. It’s her who made herself lose a chance to have a listener, which further let her fail to find a way to release her emotions and pressure and led to such a tragedy to happen.

From Hannah’s story, I know the importance of releasing pressure. In my opinion, although Hannah did encounter something very frustrating, some acts from the thirteen persons were not so serious at all. I personally think some people were innocent and should not be included in the list and blamed for her death. Perhaps Hannah just ran into too many things at the same time, so those trivial acts became the last straw to make her finally chose to end her pain in the most extreme way. Thus, I think we should all learn to find a way to let go of our pressure instead of just bearing all the negative emotions in mind.

I think the ending of this book is very good. After Clay finishes listening all the tapes, he finds himself unable not to think about Hannah. He regrets that he didn’t show much care to Hannah, but no one can rewrite the past. Thus, he keeps Hannah’s story in mind and starts caring for other classmate who seems to have thought of killing himself. Although this book is weighty in general, I consider its story very meaningful and worth reading.