13 Reasons Why is the best-selling book written by Jay Asher about Hannah Baker, a high school student that killed herself. In order to get her revenge, she composed 13 tapes with 13 people listed on them, each causing a reason for her to kill herself. The story is told in point of view of one of her friends, Clay Jensen. Fictional character Hannah Baker’s life was such a hit that it was turned into a Netflix original series.
The Netflix series follows Clay as he listens through the tapes and figures out just why Hannah killed herself. The series was so raw and focuses on the issues that many high schoolers could relate to today with bullying, suicide, sexual assault, and not fitting in.
Most movie or television show adaptions don’t come close to comparing with the books, but this show really hits the right points. Although, there are still some issues with the show. In the book, Clay listens to all of the tapes and the book is set in place of one night. The Netflix show drags on and takes place in a set of weeks. What really is different is how the show shows perspectives and in-depth personalities of each character on the tapes. In the book, everything is only in the point of view of Clay, which takes away from everything. The show allows emotional connections to be made to each character, making them more relatable.
The only downside to this show is how long each episode is. It’s somewhat unnecessary, and can be boring and drag on at some parts. However, it’s definitely worth the watch if you’re looking for something heart-wrenching, relatable, and nostalgic to everyone’s favorite book in middle school.
13 Reasons Why can be streamed on Netflix now.