13 Reasons Why; First Impressions Journal

         13 Reasons Why; First Impressions Journal

       When I first read the book, “13 Reasons Why”, by Jay Asher, I was very surprised by the deep meaning behind the characters, setting, and subject matter. The co-narrators are Clay Jensen and Hannah Baker. Clay struck me as a very intellectual, hard working, good-natured high school junior. Asher portrayed Clay as though he was very sensitive, and preferred to keep out of trouble. I saw Clay as the type of boy who stayed loyal to you no matter what the situation and never made judgments towards others unless actually knowing them. Clay was willing to hear anyone out when they needed someone to talk to. For example, Clay listened to Hannah about the simplest things, but both claimed that they finally got to know and understand each other at the night of the party.

     Jay Asher’s other co-narrator was Hannah Baker, Clay’s classmate who had commit suicide a few weeks back. In my opinion , Asher portrayed Hannah as a very independent, strong-headed, open-minded girl, who had great way with words. And she knew this because it led to the creation of the 13 tapes she recorded before her planned suicide. Hannah was slightly overwhelmed and nervous because she had just moved to town before the start of freshman year. She was worried like every other “new kid in town” would be, about meeting new people and making friends. When reading on in the book, I got to know so much more about Hannah. I was surprised to find out how easily she was accepting the fact that she wanted to commit suicide and understood how it may affect the life of her family and friends.

     For this story, author Jay Asher created a fictional place; Historic Crestmont Business District.  I identified it as a quiet, strictly middle-class, and uneventful, small town. The town seemed modest with its small population but this explained how fast the word and gossip spreads around town like wildfire. I understood why Jay Asher has recognized this as the perfect setting for, “13 Reasons Why”. This is because when Hannah talked about hanging outside of school, the same rumors and gossipers followed her there. Hannah talked about how innocent her town seemed, but that you cannot believe what only the human eye can see.

   Finally, the subject matter in this book impacted me in a way no other novel or book has before. When reading the book I realized that the reader must be mature enough to handle the subjective content and mature enough to empathize those who are hurting emotionally in the story. I was able to understand exactly what was causing several things and how people were to be affected later on in the book.

    In conclusion, the book 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher, had me reflecting on how the different characters, settings, and subject matter impacted me enough to describe the first impressions I had.