History Literature / ThirteenReasonsWhy

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: While not the last, [[spoiler:Clay's entry on the list was not meant to be Hannah's explanation of how he helped push her to killing herself. On the contrary, she was using it as an opportunity to apologize for acting rudely to him at a party. The time she'd spent with him made her feel genuinely happy.]]
** Although Clay does not agree with this assessment, [[spoiler:thinking his connection at the party with her should have allowed him to talk her out of killing herself, meaning that he is just as culpable as Mr. Porter, who also was unable to figure out Hannah was suicidal.]]
** In the last tape, [[spoiler:instead of explaining what Mr. Porter did wrong, she is attempting to give herself a last chance, to get help so she won't do this. Mr. Porter, instead, leaves her with a message that causes her to make the decision to kill herself. It was different because she had decided to give herself one last chance until Mr. Porter failed to help her.]]

''Thirteen Reasons Why'' is a young adult novel from 2007 written by American writer, Jay Asher. The story revolves around a high school student named Clay, who receives a series of tapes recorded by his recently deceased classmate and crush, Hannah Baker, which are about [[TitleDrop the 13 reasons why]] she completed suicide.

* AdultFear: ''Thirteen Reasons Why'' is quite unsettling. The whole premise of this book is its detailing of the aftermath of a high school student's death from an overdose of pills after a series of warning signs that many of her teachers and peers (and possibly her parents off-screen) ignored or dismissed. It can seem stupid or sad to any teenager, but it's downright scary to any parent or teacher with teenaged children in their charge. The Netflix series takes it a step further, showing Hannah's and other students' parents reactions to the tragedy.

* DrivenToSuicide: Hannah killed herself by swallowing pills.

* IncrediblyLamePun: Hannah Baker has thirteen stories to tell. A Baker's Dozen. The author admits that this is the main reason he chose thirteen. It also works in the sense that there are twelve people featured on the tapes, with Justin counted twice. [[LampshadeHanging Clay realises this pun in the beginning of the book, and is immediately disgusted with himself for thinking of it.]]

* TheMovie: Universal was once confirmed to be making one, with Music/SelenaGomez playing Hannah. Subverted -- the book was eventually made into a Netflix miniseries, with a cast of almost complete unknowns. Selena Gomez ''is'' a producer, though.

* LackOfEmpathy: A major theme of the book is that doing what you please without caring about what happens will always end horribly, and this is exactly the case for most of the reasons on Hannah's list; they almost never were outwardly trying to ruin her life and make her feel miserable, but doing something for themselves and not caring for how their actions affected the people around them. For instance, [[spoiler:the first reason being how her first kiss told everyone that they did a lot more than kissing. He got lots of high-fives from his guy friends? Yay! Only he ruined the memory for Hannah and convinced the entire school she was a slut.]] This is also TruthInTelevision, as a good portion of bullying isn't children being legitimately malicious, but just trying to entertain themselves without realizing just how hurtful their fun is.

* TeensAreMonsters: Played with. Clay is clearly not, but some of the teens featured on ''Hannah Baker's Greatest Hits'' are guilty of this. [[spoiler:Bryce especially. Bastard.]]

The author has stated that the story was inspired by the thankfully failed suicide attempt of his friend. The town it's set in is based off of two towns he's lived in.

* MustNotDieAVirgin: A very disturbing example. [[spoiler:Not long before killing herself, Hannah, now severely depressed, gets in a hot tub with a known rapist. She is fully aware how this will play out.]]

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: [[spoiler:Fuck you, Bryce. FUCK YOU!]]

* AnAesop: Everything affects everything. When you mess with someone's life, you don't mess with just one part. [[spoiler: Clay also seems to realise how hard we should try with people we feel are in trouble, as he goes after Skye at the end.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:Remember Tony? The guy working on his car who Clay borrowed the Walkman from? Yeah, HE'S got Hannah's second set of tapes, and has been making sure everyone listens to them.]] There's also the fact that several people on the tapes turn up again later.
* CovertPervert: Tyler, the photographer for the yearbook, [[spoiler:is a peeping tom.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Some of Clay and Hannah's comments definitely fall into this, and they're usually [[MoodWhiplash quite witty.]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler: Zach steals Hannahs notes at a time when she need them most just because she ignored him.]] There are also readers who believe that (at least in some cases) Hannah sending out the tapes was this.

* ForegoneConclusion: Story number 13. [[spoiler: Hannah's "last chance", Mr. Porter fails to give her any sort of help, ending with her resolving to kill herself. Made worse by Clay breaking down in Eisenhower Park, begging for him to succeed.]]

* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Hannah denounces herself in the tapes for [[spoiler: not intervening when Bryce raped an unconscious girl at a party.]]

** Marcus is involved in an attack on Tyler's house, citing Tyler's involvement in Hannah's death as a reason. When Clay points out that Marcus had a major role in events, Marcus pleads innocence and claims he's just a scapegoat - Hannah just wanted to justify killing herself.

* LackOfEmpathy: A major theme of the book is that doing what you please without caring about what happens will always ends horribly, and this is exactly the case for most of the reasons on Hannah's list; they almost never were outwardly trying to ruin her life and make her feel miserable, but doing something for themselves and not caring for how their actions affected the people around them. For instance, [[spoiler: the first reason being how her first kiss told everyone that they did a lot more than kissing. He got lots of high-fives from his guy friends? Yay! Only he ruined the memory for Hannah and convinced the entire school she was a slut.]] This is also TruthInTelevision, as a good portion of bullying isn't children being legitimately malicious, but just trying to entertain themselves without realizing just how hurtful their fun is.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Hannah's tapes. The people she sent them to will always know that they played a role in a young girl's suicide, and a lot of them did in fact have it coming.
* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: While not the last, [[spoiler: Clay's entry on the list was not meant to be Hannah's explanation of how he helped push her to killing herself. On the contrary, she was using it as an opportunity to apologize for acting rudely to him at a party. The time she'd spent with him made her feel genuinely happy.]]
** Although Clay does not agree with this assessment, [[spoiler: thinking his connection at the party with her should have allowed him to talk her out of killing herself, meaning that he is just as culpable as Mr. Porter, who also was unable to figure out Hannah was suicidal]]
** In the last tape, [[spoiler: instead of explaining what Mr. Porter did wrong, she is attempting to give herself a last chance, to get help so she won't do this. Mr. Porter, instead, leaves her with a message that causes her to make the decision to kill herself. It was different because she had decided to give herself one last chance until Mr. Porter failed to help her]].

* MagicFloppyDisk: The tapes. Clay even has to go look for a walkman so he can walk around when he listens. WordOfGod is that it's intentional, so that the book won't become too dated. By using something that is said to be outdated, it won't seem like an UnintentionalPeriodPiece.

** Clay, to the point that [[spoiler: he's only on Hannah's tapes because she wants to apologise to him for acting weird at the party they both went to, instead of having done something that pushed her farther to suicide.]] Although he does offhandedly mention that he has a few dark secrets of his own. [[spoiler: He also feels guilty that he wasn't able to figure out she was suicidal at the party and for leaving when she asked him to--which also inadvertently allowed a largely unrelated rape to occur.]]

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: [[spoiler: Fuck you Bryce. FUCK YOU!]]
* SacredFirstKiss: This has a lot to do with Hannah's first reason. [[spoiler: The boy she kissed spread a rumor saying that they did a lot more than kiss, ruining the memory for her and making her a slut in the student body's eyes.]]
* StressVomit: Clay has to open Tony's car door and throw up at the roadside at one point whilst listening to Hannah's account of [[spoiler: witnessing a rape.]]

* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: Invoked by Hannah [[spoiler:in the last tape when she goes to Mr. Porter's office and he misses the signs of her suicidality.]] [[ForegoneConclusion It doesn't work]].
** The book ends with [[spoiler: Clay deciding to engage with Skye, who he suspects might be heading in the same direction as Hannah.]]

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Lampshaded by Clay. Subverted by #13 on Hannah's list, [[spoiler: Mr. Porter, the school counselor.]] His advice and complete misreading of Hannah's cries for help is what [[DrivenToSuicide ultimately convinces her to commit suicide.]]
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Hannah's parents (who incidentally run a shoe store) care about the community, but they FailedASpotCheck with their daughter's emotional well-being.

* LackOfEmpathy: A major theme of the book is that doing what you please without caring about what happens will always ends horribly, and this is exactly the case for most of the reasons on Hannah's list; they almost never were outwardly trying to ruin her life and make her feel miserable, but doing something for themselves and not caring for how their actions affected the people around them. For instance, [[spoiler: the first reason being how her first kiss told everyone that they did a lot more than kissing. He got lots of high-fives from his guy friends? Yay! Only he ruined the memory for Hannah and convinced the entire school she was a slut.]] This is also TruthInTelevision, as a good portion of bullying isn't children being legitimately malicious, but just trying to entertain themselves without realizing just who hurtful their fun is.

The series has been adapted into a TV series on Creator/{{Netflix}}, with Music/SelenaGomez as an executive producer. Tropes for that series should go on its [[Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy respective page]].

The series has been adapted into a 13-episode miniseries on Creator/{{Netflix}}, with Music/SelenaGomez as an executive producer. Tropes for that series should go on its [[Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy respective page]].

* UnreliableNarrator: Hannah. No matter how sympathetic or unsympathetic you find her, the fact remains that she is a highly distressed young girl teetering on the edge of suicide when she makes the tapes. Her mental state means that she is extremely unlikely to be one hundred percent accurate. It's left up to the reader exactly ''how'' unreliable she is, however -- was she simply more legitimately stressed and bitter, or did she make connections and assumptions that were completely wrong?

** Clay, to the point that [[spoiler: he's only on Hannah's tapes because she wants to apologise to him for acting weird at the party they both went to, instead of having done something that pushed her farther to suicide.]] Although he does offhandedly mention that he has a few dark secrets of his own.

''Thirteen Reasons Why'' is a young adult novel from 2007 written by American writer, Jay Asher. The story revolves around a high school student named Clay, who receives a series of tapes recorded by his recently deceased classmate and crush, Hannah Baker, which are about [[TitleDrop the 13 reasons why]] she committed suicide.

''Thirteen Reasons Why'' is a young adult novel that revolves around a high school student named Clay, who receives a series of tapes recorded by his recently deceased classmate and crush, Hannah Baker, which are about [[TitleDrop the 13 reasons why]] she committed suicide.

The author has stated that the story was inspired by the, thankfully, failed suicide attempt of his friend. The town it's set in is based off of two towns he's lived in.

* IncrediblyLamePun: Hannah Baker has thirteen stories to tell. A Baker's Dozen. The author admits that this is the main reason he chose thirteen. [[LampshadeHanging Clay realises this pun in the beginning of the book, and is immediately disgusted with himself for thinking of it.]]