13 Reason Why?

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I will confess that I rolled my eyes when I saw that we had to read 13 Reason Why. I might have been because of my age, and I thought that it was a "book" that young people (I am 28.. so high school age kids) just took it as a trend and starting to view it because it was "cool". BUT now that I have had to the chance to read and view the series my personal view for the storyline has changed. As mentioned in class, I think this is the same view that "adults" might have if they gave the book and series a chance. Since I had never watched the series nor read the book, I decided to read the book first and then see how it was portrayed unto screen. By doing this I found that my view towards the characters changed. At first I disliked the main character, Hannah, and thought that she was being selfish by trying to ruin other peoples lives (since something like this can have a domino effect). I will add a disclaimer that I am not victim blaming, I think that anyone who has felt so low to think that death is the best option should consider all their options before doing so. I also thought that some of the reason why she blamed her classmates weren't all "real" reasons. The main one being Clay, although was not so popular during our class discussion and not so much for me in the book but I loved him in the series. I do not think he should have received those tapes and for her to blame him for being pretty much "stupid". He is not a councilor to see her crying calls for help but more so of a high school boy who was going their his own awkward stage in life. Also, Jenni, Hannah was just as guilty for the stop sign as she was. Also, the rape of Jessica, yes Bryce is the biggest one to point ones finger to but Hannah was in the room and could have stopped it just as much as Justin could. Also, the series changed characters name and the order in which the tapes were played ( in some cases). I recommend both the series and book to my friend who is beginning her journey as a future high school teacher. This book can teach students that even when we do "harmless" stuff to be funny there are people out their that can take it the wrong way. The list that Alex made, many girls would have thought that being the "best ass" would be something to be proud of, but in Hannah's case not so much. I am glad this book was on our list to read this semester because I would have probably never have had an open mind to read it and it has taught me TO have an open mind in the future when reading other YA novels that are not exactly to my liking.

Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 6, 2017 at 1:21 PM

    I agree Karen, at first I was really not looking forward to reading this book! However, it did keep me hooked the entire time and it was an easy read. I did have some issues with the book on how they in sense "glorified" suicide, but that's an entirely new blog post to talk about. I do think it has it's good aspects and would be beneficial to teach in a classroom.

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