It’s been two weeks since Hannah Baker took her own life. Then a box of double sided cassette tapes surface, with instructions that they should be passed around person to person according to a list accompanying the box. Clay is the ninth person on that list.
Recorded in Hannah’s voice, the tapes each talk about her relationship with one person, and the interactions they had, and the distress caused to her by that relationship. Clay walks through the town along with Hannah’s voice, reliving her agony at the location where the tape was recorded, or the incident being narrated occurred.
At the end of the tapes, Clay passes it on to the next person on the list, but his own life and perspective is changed forever.
The book was an international best seller, receiving several rave reviews and adapted into a highly publicised Netflix show. But for all that, I did not like this book. The main character was whiny and judgemental, and often came across as someone who needed the world to pay attention to her. I come from a culture where high school was extremely hard work, and required that we only study, study, study. I cannot sympathize with people who equate happenings in high school as something so significant that it colours their life.
One other aspect which was grating: The book definitely glamourizes suicide. It feeds into all the myths that teens hold about suicide, rather than help debunk and do something positive.
Tedious book, move on.