Thirteen Reasons Why- Jay Asher: Review

Before I start typing the review in here, I want to tell you all that I'm really sorry. I've missed a lot of Friday Feels, and I'm sorry, I think I'm cancelling the feature. I posted nothing in more than a week, and all that without some notice.

There are some breaks in school, and in those breaks, I read books, but unfortunately, I find no time to post my reviews. It's either I'm busy, or our computer's busy. I just got a little lucky this weekend. Again, I am truly very sorry.

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why
Author: Jay Asher
Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin)
Format/s I have: Paperback from Fully Booked
Summary:
You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret is to press play.
Clay Jensen doesn't want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her. 
Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on the tapes- and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.
All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah's recorded words throughout his small town...
...and what he discovers changes his life forever.

Review/Reaction:

First of all, big thanks to three of my batchmates and my sister who contributed a lot in making me want to grab a copy.

Thirteen Reasons Why is an eye opener, and for some reason, it made me cry.

This book is just brilliant. Ellen Hopkins is right, this is a book that you can't get out of your mind.

Jay Asher delivers a great thought as the book goes on: We should be aware of how we treat others. How our actions affect them. Because of this book, I shall be more sensitive with what I do.

This book also deals with trust. Hannah just trusted that one person, and BAM, her life was ruined. And she just needed a break from it. But, the people around her just won't give her that.

But, some people might think that the book is unrealistic.

Yes, I agree that most of her reasons happen to many people, but there's this thing they call the snowball effect. I got the term itself from the book. Her reasons may seem light, but the combination isn't. Say, Hannah has been wounded by that reason, and before it heals, another stab comes, and then another, and another, you get the thought. As I see it, one of the biggest things that teens want, is acceptance. Some leave value for acceptance, but Hannah got neither. 

Her family either wasn't mentioned, or were too gone to be significant. I've read a review on Goodreads saying, where is her family to help her? Look, not all people open up fully to their family. I think it's in tape 12, Hannah requesting the people on the list to hide the reasons why to her parents. (Correct me if I misunderstood)

Each one of us is different, some people are strong enough not to make a big deal out of those, but Hannah is that type of person who's easily hurt, and we should be aware that there are people like her. People handle situations differently.

I see the book as a sad and beautiful one. But hey, I'm not saying that suicide is right. In fact, I think it is, in a way, selfish. As I see it, they want an escape to their problems, and just end life. Don't they see that their suicide adds problems to the people who care? Plus, yes, they ended their life. But, they won't even feel like their troubles are over. It's actually better to find a way to solve the problems than to just take it in until you explode.

This book, therefore, opens up a lot of talking. 

I started looking more at the positive side when I started trying to give reactions with what I read, and what I can say is:
I see this book as a help for my stronger self, and a reminder for me to have some more filtering with what I do. I don't see it as Jay Asher telling us it's okay to commit suicide!!!. Because this book was meant to reduce the number of suicidal people.

My Rating: 5 potatoes c:

Friday Feels #2: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

For the second Friday Feels, I am featuring The Fault in Our Stars.
(Umm... Yeah, two TFiOS posts in a row)

Friday Feels- A weekly blog feature that spotlights a book that has a lot of feels in it. A book must be really recommended for me to give the spotlight to that book. So, if you haven't read the "spotlight book" yet, grab a copy immediately! You deserve all the feels I got from that book.

Title: The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton Books (Penguin)

"Look, let me just say it: He was hot. A nonhot boy stares at you relentlessly and it is, at best, awkward and, at worst, a form of assault. But a hot boy . . . well."

-Hazel Grace, 3.09% of The Fault in Our Stars

That part was a combination of, like, everything. That part made me laugh, and have some of those romantic feels, and the "I relate!" feel. It's actually true. John Green really makes me wonder: how did he know how girls felt inside? (Or at least, what I felt inside) He must be really, really good.

With feels,

Erin

Friday Feels #1: The Selection

IT'S FRIDAY!

Note: I don't want my blog to be all about The Selection (in fact it isn't) but Kiera Cass really got me. *wink wink*

"If you don't want me to be in love with you, you're going to have to stop looking so lovely. First thing tomorrow I'm having your maids sew some potato sacks together for you." 

I hit his arm. "Shut up, Maxon. 

"I'm not kidding. You're too beautiful for your own good. Once you leave, we'll have to send some of the guards with you. You'll never survive on your own, poor thing." He said all this with mock pity. 

"I can't help it." I sighed. "One can never help being born into perfection." I fanned my face as if being so pretty was exhausting. 

"No, I don't suppose you can help it." 

I giggled. I didn't notice for a moment that Maxon didn't seem to think it was funny.
I stared out at the garden and saw out the corner of my eye that Maxon was looking at me. His face was incredibly close to mine.

Oh.My.God.........................!!!

When I turned to ask just what he was looking at, I was surprised to see that he was close enough to kiss me.

*more feels*

I was even more surprised when he did.

I pulled away quickly, taking a step. Maxon stepped back as well. 

"Sorry," he mumbled, blushing. 

"What are you doing?" I asked in a shocked whisper.

"Sorry." He was slightly turned away, obviously embarassed.

"Why did you do that?" I put my hand to my mouth.

Me: Obviously with feels. Americaaa... Why did you do that?

"It's just... with what you said earlier, and seeking me out yesterday... just the way you acted... I thought maybe your feelings had changed. And I like you, I thought you could tell." He turned to face me. "And.. Oh, was it terrible? You don't seem happy at all."

I tried to wipe whatever expression I had off my face. Maxon looked mortified.

"I'm so sorry. I've never kissed anyone before. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just... I'm sorry, America." He breathed heavy sigh and ran his hand through his hair a few times, leaning against the railing.

I didn't expect it, but a warmth filled me.

He'd wanted his first kiss to be with me. 

It wasn't in bold form in the book, but I just had to. ***feels***

Friday Feels + Notice

Friday Feels

Starting on the first week of June, every Friday, I will post quotes or some parts of a book that pushed my feels to the limit. (It might do the same to you, that's why I put up this blog feature)

Those parts made me smile, jump, or maybe even kick our walls. It might be sad though. The important thing is, it gives you feels.

Spread the feels! — I'm allowing you to save and share the pictures I edited for the quotes, so others can feel it too! 

Notice

Hey guys! I just changed the design for My Bookish Self. I'm also changing my format for book reviews and some other stuff.

I'm still at that thing they call "book hangover" in which you can't get over a book. It's ugh-able. So, while I'm at that thing, I'm going to fix my stuff here. :)

Much love,

Erin