About a year ago, while browsing the local Barnes & Noble, I came across a book Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher and thought it simply alluring. I didn’t even need to open it to know I wanted to be absorbed by this book. But the problem was that once I bought it, I took it home and put it on my shelf and forgot about it– well, until now.

Netflix just released their original 13 Reasons Why 13-episode series based on this book. It has become a phenomenon. So I decided to finally read the book. I have many opinions.

If you have been living under a rock for the past month, let me give you a summary. Hannah Baker is your average teenage girl. Upon moving to a new town, events happen beyond her control and she develops a negative (and very false) reputation. The interesting part? Hannah Baker is already dead. The prologue explains that she committed suicide and the whole book is her story, told by herself, on tapes, and she tells nothing but the exact truth; she exposes the people who wronged her. There are thirteen main reasons she does that to herself- thirteen people who did something to her that could have prevented her demise. Clay Jensen is one of the 13 reasons, on of the 13 people who receives Hannah’s seven tapes. The book is also about Clay hearing the tapes and what he is thinking and doing the night he listens to them.

It sounds interesting, right? It is. Like I said, I have developed some opinions. I enjoyed this book, really. I enjoyed Hannah Baker’s dark humor. I enjoyed reading what led up to her wanting to die. This book speaks volumes about being thoughtful of what you say and do to others. Or about others. Hannah Baker talks about a snowball effect of events that happened in her life and it makes readers understand that they could never know what the true and full consequences of their actions could be. It has a major statement about bullying linking to suicide. It really is a good book. And it’s suspenseful, so what could be more attention grabbing? It makes sense that this is becoming such a popular story.

The problem, and I find that I am not the only one who believes this, is that a suicide shouldn’t be blamed on other people. I understand that Hannah Baker felt hopeless and that everything was out of her control. I understand she was bullied for her false reputation, which was a result of bullying. And I am in no way saying that bullying is okay, but in the end, it was Hannah Baker who did that to herself. It was Hannah Baker who blamed 13 different people for her death, one of which, Clay Jensen, never hurt her. No, Clay Jensen just wanted to know the real her and in fear of him helping her to feel better, Hannah pushed him away. The book denies the fact that suicides can occur without bullying. It invalidates that mental illness as a reason. It supports the false notion that suicide is an act of selfishness.

I understand that this is Hannah’s story and, in her case, she was fueled by bullies, but it would have been a good thing for a book that has become so well-known to address the problem properly as a problem. In reality, the book doesn’t address the issue of suicide much at all and rather tells what Hannah did. That is a separate issue, too. Hannah explains what she was thinking leading up to her death, and how she chose her demise. Clay explains what happened after. Studies show that media displaying details of negative events increases the risk of those events happening. The book never shows anyone successfully getting help, which would be a good thing to show even if it wouldn’t have been Hannah. It is difficult for people to get help, and Hannah tries getting help with Mr. Porter but he doesn’t pick up on her subtleties. Young people need to know how to handle situations rather than see how not to handle them. Maybe that’s the point though; maybe there isn’t a set-in-stone way to handle things Hannah Baker experiences in the last months of her life.

The book is so raw. It gives you chills. It makes you laugh at times. It makes you feel sad. It makes you think. I haven’t yet watched the show, but if it’s like the book then I’m sure it’ll be well deserving of its hype. Just please understand the topics being dealt with in the book. Do your research. Enjoy the book for what it really is.