The past couple of days I’ve been a slightly emotional wreck because I’ve just finished reading these two books. I’ve been wanting to read Thirteen Reasons Why and Speak for the longest time because I wanted to see what the fuss is all about. I’ve been hearing good things and they say that everyone should read them. And now I know why.
Speak is about a social outcast who is bullied at school, who is being ignored by her old friends all because they thought that she called the cops during a party. What her friends don’t know is that she was raped during that night and she phoned the police to ask for help. And now she has to suffer the consequences for what she did or did not do.
It’s an amazing, inspiring read. I really liked reading the day to day aspects of her school year. From the sad and frustrating, to the fun and inspiring. Not overly dramatic. It’s beautifully written, heartfelt and emotional.
Thirteen Reasons Why is a story that follows Clay Jensen who receives a mysterious package which contains audiotapes. He’s anxious to listen to them and he finds out that the tapes are from Hanna Baker, a girl he used to go to school with. A girl who has recently killed herself. Clay asks himself how is it that he received tapes from her? Well you see, Hanna made a plan where she would record seven tapes (thirteen stories in all) , thirteen reasons why she killed herself. Each side of the tape explains one reason and one person, naming them as contributors to her decision.
This book is brilliant. The format is very clever, however I caught myself distracted quite a few times by the quick shifts between Clay’s and Hanna’s narration. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time and I’m so glad that I finally read it.