Thirteen Reasons Why

I started reading this book a week ago. I had loaned it to a student from my private collection because she had asked for it by name. Once she'd read it and said she liked it, I figured I better read it, too. I'd had it on my amazon list for a while, even before the hardcover was out. I think it's in paperback now, or soon.

Anyway, it's the story of a girl who makes 13 sides of cassette tapes connecting 13 different people to her demise. She kills herself and sends the set of tapes to the first person to blame for her death. That person is supposed to listen to the tapes and send them to the second person, and so on.

It's narrated by the ninth (tenth?) person whose name is Clay (Clay??). He flirted with the girl while she was alive, but when he had his chance to tell her how he felt about her, she was already close to giving up and didn't let him in.

I've got about fifty pages left. It's a real page turner. It's an interesting set up. I'm just not sure if it's a good book overall. The writing is certainly above average. The characters are fairly well developed.

I think overall I would give it a thumbs up simply because it is so intriguing and because the set up allows for surprises.