I can understand why there are mixed reviews out there on this book. It is well written and compelling, though. It begins with a high school student (Clay) finding a package on his doorstep containing cassette tapes labeled 1 through 13. The chapters are named with Cassette 1 Side A and Cassette 3 Side B, etc. as each of 13 stories is told by a dead girl (Hannah). The reader experiences her stories leading to her death as Clay experiences them and his thoughts are present along the way. Hannah obviously has mental problems (in my opinion) and constantly seems to see herself as a victim. I felt it was a cruel and petty thing to blame some of these people as I was reading and I feel she would have taken the same path regardless. She spoke of wanting to make a fresh start which led me to believe she had had problems before (not surprising). It is full of teenage angst and the thoughtless things kids do sometimes, but I did not have the sympathy for her that Clay did. He cared about her, though. She had parents who loved her, as well. She just seemed to take everything personally and jump to the worst conclusions about what people were thinking. She had anger issues for sure. In the end she does take responsibility (to a degree) for her own choices, but by then she has certainly laid guilt on these 13 people for not saving her. I did like the book and I do believe there are people like Hannah who spend their lives in a "poor me" mentality. I also felt this was realistic as teenagers are often immature, selfish, and do not always think of the consequences of their actions. I would hope young people like Hannah would seek help and give themselves time to grow up and experience life beyond high school. It is hard to put down and it is a powerful read.
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