TV Review: 13 Reasons Why

IMDB Summary
Follows teenager Clay Jensen, in his quest to uncover the story behind his classmate and crush, Hannah, and her decision to end her life.

Flo's Review
I read this book back in 2011. So I remember that I loved it, and I remember the general premise, but time has faded some of the book details from my mind.

(I am kind of proud my review of this book, so check it out.)

For the past few weeks, I've seen numerous posts about people watching and loving this series, and I couldn't wait for my opportunity to dig in. That came this past Saturday, when I binged all 13 episodes. And you know what? It didn't really feel that long! I literally watched this show straight from about 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. and it didn't really feel like 12 + hours had gone by. The way this narrative is set up makes it easy and seamless to move from one episode to the next. It was the same with the book -- I remember that I just wanted to keep listening to Hannah's journey, and with the show I enjoyed remembering the different characters.

The show did a great job of building up the suspense. I remembered Clay's reason for being on the tapes, but the friend who I was watching the show with had never read the book. She kept anxiously commenting about Clay getting to his tape. An advantage of the show was the ability to look beyond Hannah and Clay. I believe that you absolutely needed in the book to just be with the two leads, as the story was Clay experiencing Hannah's journey. But the TV show allowed us to see more about the culture of the school and delve into the lives of the characters. By seeing these scenes, we got to see more of them that just what Hannah saw. 

I also really enjoyed the combination of the old and new sitting side by side. I mean, a walkman and Beats headphones? Perfect. Because this story would not have the same effect if the tapes were made into a mp3: no flipping sides, no package to pass around. But at the same time, the series needed to acknowledge that we are in 2017, and the addition of the social media and advanced technology was great for that. In fact, it added to the point of the story about the interconnectedness of everything, and how small actions or inactions can have big consequences.

So, if you have the opportunity, I do suggest you watch this -- if you have or haven't read the book. It is a prevalent topic that no one likes to talk about, but is very real in our society. I do like the fact that this piece of art is bringing the discussion more to the forefront of conversation.

And if you have watched it: Season 2? Yay or nay? What are your thoughts? (No spoilers for those who haven't seen it!)