Posted on May 20, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Yeah, I get what you’re saying. I know the book has been really popular among teen readers and librarians alike and I definitely wouldn’t use my (admittedly bitchy) critique to argue against the book’s purchase for a library. Like you, I think the Clay-voiced narration really fails. If nothing else, it made me feel guilty for not being as torn up about the contents of the tape as he was. Then again, I’m kind of a cold-hearted ass, so what can I say?
Posted on August 4, 2008 at 1:41 pm
THANK GOD SOMEONE SAID IT.
First, I am so glad I found this site, let’s be best friends and be mean together.
Next, the acclaim over this book BLOWS MY MIND. I mean, I understand how it has high teen appeal and it’s circulating really well at my library. That’s cool. But it’s still trash, IMO. Which, again, fine, but why does everyone seem to think it’s really deep and profound and touching? Everything you said here is so right on.
I posted this to the YALSA list a few months ago: I disliked Hannah from the minute I heard her voice which, for me, was not a good sign of things to come. It also made me uninterested in her story. And, personally, I thought it was definitely trying to hard with the “Oh look, it’s her voice, cutting in again! Can’t you just feel the suspense?” The answer, for me, was “NO, I don’t feel the suspense, I feel like I am being deliberately jerked around in an effort to ratchet up the tension.” That, I think was my main problem with the whole book, things felt like they happened deliberately and not organically. To try to be more specific, I think things happened because the author made them happen, not because the characters or narrative required them to happen. Does that make sense? And I was disappointed with the way her teacher was portrayed in the last scene. I felt like, again, the author (like Hannah) was deliberately setting things up to “end” the way they wanted. She wears a wire to the scene? Please!
It read as VERY gimmicky to me. What would have happened if someone had said something? If the teacher had acted differently in the final scene? Do there have to be thirteen reasons? It seems like there has to be for Hannah, because she’s plotted this out to an elaborate degree. Nothing is going to change her mind? Or one thing is going to change her mind? Which is it? How can it be both? One of the reasons I disliked Hannah, besides the fact her voice always sounded false to me, was because it seemed like all her “reasons why” were deliberate and rehearsed. About halfway through the book I half-expected Hannah to jump out and say, “Haha, my suicide was an elaborate plot to teach you all about being nice!” It just seemed very inauthentic to me.
Man, I am going to have a great time digging through all your reviews and commenting with glee.
Me + You = Kindred Spirits
Posted on May 20, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I liked this book a bit better than you did. I thought it was inventive and I enjoyed Hannah’s story. I agree that Clay doesn’t work quite as well; he is only peripheral to the action in the story and I felt a lot of his narration was just obvious responses the reader was already having to the tapes. That being said, I cannot keep this on my shelf and I think every librarian needs to buy this book. I’m in a library with very few readers and it seems like all of them have check this out.