Thirteen Reasons Why

Every summer, our book club takes a break from meetings since it's too hard to schedule them with sporting events and games, vacations, and everything else that makes summer busy. But we do choose a page-y novel to read as our summer book, to be discussed upon meeting again in September. This summer, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher was the pick and it took me barely a week to finish. It was a relatively simple read, categorized as Young Adult, but offered a very clear message with events that will mature even those who still can't say the word vagina without snickering.

Clay Jensen, a high-schooler, comes home one day to a package waiting on his doorstep. It doesn't have a return address, but who isn't excited to receive a package? He is quickly disappointed to learn the shoe-sized box is full of cassette tapes made by the late Hannah Baker, a fellow student who committed suicide just short of Clay receiving the tapes. There are 13 recordings, sides A and B, and each tell a story relating a classmate to a reason why she killed herself; the 13 reasons/people why.

As a premise, the story is a little hard to swallow. Personally, I find it difficult to accept blame for something somebody did when I wasn't aware I was doing anything; to not only selfishly commit suicide, but then unload the blame on my doorstep for me to live with the rest of my life when we could have worked it out in person and gotten over it. Clay vacillated between hurt, anger, and sadness that he'd never get to know her better, but was ultimately grateful he understood her better, and discovered more about his classmates.

The deal is this: the 13 people on the tapes must keep the chain going, listen to all 13 stories, and pass them along to the person whose story is told after theirs. If they break the chain, a second set of tapes "will get out." The threat seems a bit of over-kill, but there actually are some issues that could get certain people in some legal hot water.

Without a doubt, the book is a page-turner (unless you're like me and take it along on Girls' Weekend), with every chapter a new story on a side of a cassette tape. Sometimes you think the worst, and sometimes you hope for the best, and there are some parts I found downright confusing or a bit of a stretch. In my personal opinion, each scenario - taken separately - doesn't, in my mind, equal ending one's life. That is such a final, ultimate decision that strips away so many things from so many people. But the overall moral of the story is that you never really know what someone is going through, and that a small act of kindness isn't too many steps ahead of being selfish or inconsiderate. Regardless of the meat of the story, or real lack-thereof, the book can teach us all something about ourselves and how we choose to interact with people, especially those we don't really know.

The Lake of Dead Languages

It only took me two years, containing a pregnancy and that child almost reaching the age of 2, for me to finally finish this book. And it's taken me almost as long to write this review. Well, if we're being honest, it took that amount of time, and about 130 pages, for me to get hooked. Once that happened, finishing it proved to be no problem. Although, what stood in my way when I previously tried to read Carol Goodman's The Lake of Dead Languages also proved to be an issue this time around. The one difference: I wasn't pregnant this time, which I firmly believe messes with your concentration and mental energy, and even eyesight.

As a previous card-carrying member of the OCD club (having children will rid you of that to a certain extent), I could never leave a book unfinished. And no matter how bad the story might have been, there was always a small part of me that wanted to know how it ended, no matter how lame. Like that joke your coworker tells you that you don't think is as funny as she does; it's still interesting to a certain degree.

This lukewarm sentiment is exactly how I felt about The Lake of Dead Languages. Based in a Latin class at a boarding school for girls in the Adirondacks, Jane Hudson - an "old girl," - finds her past has come back to haunt her, but for what reason she isn't able to figure out. Unless the campfire stories they tell about the lake are true.....

Jane knows for certain one way or the other, and knows the lake was merely a pawn - and weapon - in the dramas that unfold in the book's present day, as well as 20 years prior, when Jane was a Latin student herself. While the consequences were intriguing - suicides, drownings, murders - the causes weren't so much and, I felt, a bit of a reach. If anything, the book proved girls will be horrendous to each other for no obvious reason, 20 years ago, 100 years ago, 1000 years ago, and present day. The Lake of Dead Languages was nothing more than bullying to the extreme, which really only left me disappointed.

But it's easy to get sucked into the idea that something supernatural is taking place; after reading Twilight  and  Harry Potter, anything is just about acceptable. I guess I just have low tolerance for stories that remind me all to well of how awful human kind can be.

I've definitely read better stories, and I've definitely read worse, so Goodman's novel wasn't a complete waste of time; it definitely served it's purpose while driving through Wyoming. *snnnnoooorrreee*

There isn't much to say about the characters, at least that I feel is worth mentioning. Mostly, they're like everyone else, just with very unfortunate accidents and/or results. The Lake of Dead Languages is a classic tale of wanting to fit in, have friends, and feel a part of something. The story could have used some tweaking, and didn't need nearly the 400 pages to tell it, but, like I said, not a complete waste of time. Set during the fall and winter, I think I mostly enjoyed it because it provided some mental relief from the intense summer heat. So, thanks!