13 Reasons Why

NOTE: I still have to review The Bell Jar, which I had finished earlier last week. Silly Jenn!

There are 13 tapes.

There are 13 reasons for Hannah Baker's suicide.

My expression when I found that out: Whoa.

I basically sped through this book the way Clay listened to those tapes, only taking a break every once in a while. What can I say? The author has an amazing way of writing. I’m pretty sure that he captured the essence of a girl that was feeling so much stress and pain perfectly.

I might as well start with the good things, because you know. There always have to be bad things unless it’s Harry Potter. But that’s the only exception, I swear.

The writing style was amazing. As I said before, it captured the essence of a suicidal girl. The author could write like how a teenage girl would speak. And a literate teenage girl, thank god. He captured all of the spite and hate and wistfulness that Hannah must have felt, all the regret and tears that she had been through. I think this was one of the reasons I was completely hooked onto this book.

The plotline was a lot different than your usual suicide books. Usually, it’s a close friend or a sibling or a significant other of the suicidal character mourning and slowly recovering. Come on, you know we’ve all read those books. But in 13 Reasons Why, you hear Hannah instead of the speculation that comes from all of the other characters. You know, the hate and pain and all that crap that you have to read about over and over if you’re a book fanatic like I am.

Now, onto the bad things. :\

The scenarios were a bit… unrealistic. Not like all the touchy-feely stuff, no, not that. That definitely will happen to someone in their life. I have to admit, all of the bad things that were piled onto Hannah were awfully realistic. Friends come and go and perverts will be there. Of course. But you’re not gonna have people perving on you with crappy friends and everything, all in less than two or three years. It just seems a bit unrealistic, if you ask me.

The formatting bothered me. It constantly switched from regular font to italics, italics italics italics. It was easy to know whether Clay or Hannah was talking, but still, it bothered me a lot. It’s nothing terrible, but I don’t know, I guess I’m just an easily bothered person. :P But I don’t know, I guess it was the most convenient way to do it.

Also, suicide is kind of a common topic. In Chasing Brooklyn, Gabe committed suicide. It has to happen in every other book I read. It's so... cliche nowadays.

Authors of the world: Imagination is endless. SO STOP WRITING ABOUT SUICIDE. I'm bored of it.

Okay, so that’s about it. I would highly recommend this book. It’s a fast read, and I’m sure you’ll get through it as quickly as I did, too, so you won’t have to go through the torture of reading a terrible book really slowly. Yay, books!

My rating: 4 stars
  
Five books read, fifty-five to go. 

Jenn wins?

Not really. 

Chasing Brooklyn

New month, new book!

Chasing Brooklyn was at first a good book. In fact, it was beyond good. Really good. Yummy-

Just kidding. But for the first part, it was really good.

Brooklyn was being haunted by a dead boy named Gabe, who had originally killed her boyfriend Lucca in a car crash. Not long after, he died- an overdose, they say. And soon, he was haunting her in her dreams. I must say, these dreams were… vivid. It was kind of creepy, but you know what? I don’t care. Whatever. I love creepy stuff. Love it. And Brooklyn was seriously broken. Not necessarily empty, but broken. I could really feel her pain through the words expressed on the page. I would clap or whatnot, but I don’t do that kind of stuff. It’s just natural for me.

Nico was getting messages from his dead brother, Lucca, to help Brooklyn. Too bad he didn’t know how to. Now, I have to say, Nico was a bit overly-perfect. But I still liked him more than, say, Peeta Mellark. I don’t know why, but he’s just that much more attractive than a hunky blond guy. *cough* Not my point here. Nico was trying to find his way back into life again, while struggling to not feel terrible about not being the favorite child or anything. Lucca is basically haunting him in all ways possible, and I personally think that that makes him a great character. Though it is cliché. Whatever. :P

The writing style of Lisa Schroder was amazing. It was simple, yet it penetrated the pages. (No, seriously. I saw a hole burned through the pages. I think it may be pencil, actually. You know what? Forget I said anything.) I usually don’t enjoy books in verse, but this book had me HOOKED. Hooked, I tell you. I think it may have been the characters and the writing style just combined into one, creating an amazing four-hundred so pages.

**SPOILERS COMING UP**

Now, I have to say, there was one thing bad about Chasing Brooklyn- it was cliché at the end. Brooklyn and Nico just had to get together. They just HAD TO. I’m not complaining- they ARE a cute couple, but… why? Why must they end up together? I like comfort in friendship, not comfort in making out. :\ I have to admit, I groaned more than a few times, attracting the attention of my parents every once in a while.

WHY, WORLD? WHY?

**spoilers over**

I would still recommend this book, even though the last half of the book definitely killed the entire mood of the book and two stars.

So go on. Mosey on down to your library or your local bookstore and read.

My rating: 3 stars