Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is another book that I heard about on NPR. (See a pattern here?...) It was in the same column as Before I Die, listed as a book to interest teens who dislike reading.

Thirteen Reasons Why was a very suspenseful story about a teenage boy who gets a set of cassette tapes from his former crush, who just recently committed suicide. She blames a number of her classmates for basically ruining her life and leaving her no other option, and makes these cassettes to tell them all why.

The story is a mixture of the boy's narration, and embedded in that, the girl's narration on the tapes. It's a beautifully done narrative, and an intensely compelling story with a surprising lesson learned.