Story Lover

by Jay Asher

What a dark book. Kind of reminds me of Josh Green’s style, like Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. It’s a little frightening to think that Hannah’s mind was made up long before the final dominoes had fallen. She had decided that she’d kill herself and then make everyone regret everything. She had given up on herself and on everyone around her. Yet what got me was that she’d make these last final attempts for help, asking the adviser for help, giving away her bike, letting Clay in…almost wanting to be disappointed. As if it’d justify her decision to kill herself, make her regret it less, make it okay. I guess the only thing that could have saved her was someone making a grand gesture and asking her point blank not to kill herself.

This book made me think back on my high school days. And I can’t really remember that many rumors, that much gossip. I guess there was a lot, but I never really heard any of it until it was so old that it didn’t even really seem to matter. And I hope that whatever I did hear didn’t really change how I felt too much. That I was still able to befriend those who had some kind of cloud surrounding them. I can only really remember one time when I felt a little uncomfortable, I wish I hadn’t just stopped talking to her. But I felt too weird.