13 Reasons

I just finished Thirteen Reasons Why by brilliant Jay Asher. First of all, I'm not going to give anything away that isn't either A) on the back of the book or B) on one of the first few pages of the book.

Essentially, the book is about a girl who killed herself, but left behind  several tapes telling not only why she did it, but who helped her make the decision. This isn't going to be a book review, so don't stop reading now. Mostly this is a discussion based around one of the main themes of the book.

This book really made me think about how much we affect other people's lives without even really knowing it. More than that, the extent to which we affect them. Something that we may think is entirely harmless can be taken very seriously. Another thought worth thinking about is how people deal with everything differently.
I guess in the long run, that's the real reason behind most depressions.
If you understand what I'm getting at, keep  reading. If you don't, skip to the end where I finally get to the point.

Suicide is a very hard thing to come to terms with. So many people are affected by one person's choice to end their own life. I think the hardest thing for people to wrap their heads around is, how could they? How could they do something so awful? People have their reasons. Sometimes the reasons don't make sense to anyone but the person going through with it, but they have them. In this character's case, she was very misunderstood and she really needed someone to trust, but she never found one. She lost hope too quickly.
When I was reading this book, for the first few reasons, I didn't really understand why someone could kill themselves over things like that. Towards the end, it made a lot more sense.
I felt so sad while I was reading it, thinking of how many teens who may be in the same situation as her.

There's always hope. Even though you might not be able to envision a future where you're happy, there is one. The disgusting thing that stood out to me in this book was the way her peers treated her. It was so much like something that you would actually see happening. It made me feel so bad for listening to rumors and laughing. It made me feel awful about how we treat one another.
We are all so quick to judge, no matter what we say. We look at people and don't really see them. We see the viscous rumors that people start for the fun of it. But tell me, how much fun do you get out of watching a classmate or anyone for that matter, wither away like that?

Next time you hear a rumor, no matter how tempting it might be to laugh and gossip about the victim, really think about how they felt when they heard the same rumor.
I honestly think this book has changed me and that everyone should read it.

~Sara