Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on.

In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. A brilliant and mesmerizing debut from a gifted new author. Asher has created an entrancing character study and a riveting look into the psyche of someone who would make this unfortunate choice.

Her pain is gut-wrenchingly palpable, and the reader is thrust face-first into a world where everything is related, an intricate yet brutal tapestry of events, people and places. Evincing the subtle-and not so subtle-cruelties of teen life, from rumors, to reputations, to rape, Hannah explains to her listeners that, “in the end, everything matters.” Most of the novel quite literally takes place in Clay’s head, as he listens to Hannah’s voice pounding in his ears through his headphones, creating a very intimate feel for the reader as Hannah explains herself. Listening to the tapes, Hannah chronicles her downward spiral and the 13 people who led her to make this horrific choice. After her death, Clay Jensen-who had a crush on Hannah-finds seven cassette tapes in a brown paper package on his doorstep. “Everything affects everything,” declares Hannah Baker, who killed herself two weeks ago.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher