Thirteen Reasons Why
- 319
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Thirteen Reasons Why” is strongest at showing how small cruelties, rumours and silences add up inside a school. A girl’s suicide, explained in a chain of cassette recordings, drives a story that reads fast and wastes little. Readers are divided, though: some find the classmates closer to types than people and stay unmoved, and a few are not convinced by Hannah’s reasons. A dark book for older teenagers, best read with someone to talk to.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Thirteen Reasons Why is a young adult novel written by Jay Asher in 2007, which follows the story of Hannah Baker, a high school sophomore, and the thirteen reasons why she killed herself. Following her death, Hannah leaves behind a series of seven double-sided cassette tapes detailing the thirteen specific people and events that she blames for her demise. Two weeks after her death, these cassette tapes are mailed out with directions to pass the tapes on to the next person on the tape. Hannah's life story is conveyed through these tapes, which are narrated by Hannah herself, and through the point of view of Clay Jensen, her classmate and the ninth person to receive the tapes. The inspiration behind the main character, Hannah Baker, comes from author Jay Asher's close relative who attempted suicide.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.0 across 1,088 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 88% of the weight and the score stays at 7.1 — the Young adult average of 7.8 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.5 | 87 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 7.0 | 1K | 92% |
Frequently asked
What age is Thirteen Reasons Why for?
Thirteen Reasons Why sits on the Young adult shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 13 and up. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 319 pages — shorter than 84% of the ranked books in Young adult.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Young adult — with scores between 7.1 and 7.2, closest to this book.
