Note: This posting will include mentions of assault, rape, suicide, and death. It will also make much more sense if you have read Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why and seen the Netflix series based on the novel.
Disclaimer: I have personally never experienced depression or had suicidal thoughts. As someone of this privilege, I realize that this skews some of the opinions I carry about the topics brought forth in both forms of media, as your own experience will likely skew your own consumption of media, including others’ reflections on it. Please bear this in mind as you continue on.
I work as a substitute teacher at my local high school, and I first learned about the Netflix series adaptation of Thirteen Reasons Why when a student mentioned it to me. They told me, “You sound like Hannah.” To which I asked who Hannah was, and they mentioned the title of the show. I first read the book back in 2011, so my first assumption was that they read the book. I started asking them about how they liked the writing style with the way Hannah’s tapes were presented before addressing any themes of more gravity. All of the students were confused to learn it was a book, but this told me one thing: I needed to watch the show because I was about to get a ton of questions from other students about a topic that needs to be handled very sensitively.
Generally speaking, the adaptation follows the plot of Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why very well. The pacing is slowed significantly, and there’s a lot more development with secondary characters as the series doesn’t follow the first-person perspective of Clay. The change in perspective brings a lot more ideas into play: loyalty to friends, honesty with significant others, keeping information secret, and networking while feeling isolation. We see a lot of this with the people that receive the tapes and how they choose to process the information.
The major difference I felt very aware of while watching the show was the amount of action injected into the plot. By giving Clay anxiety, he takes a lot of time to finish listening to Hannah’s tapes. Because of this, he develops a greater need for action. He wants to act on what he hears and do something in light of what Hannah reveals. The novel does not have this sense of urgency in it. In my reading, it felt like Clay chose to take a different kind of action in just listening to Hannah’s tapes.
This difference definitely changed the overall feeling of the plot to me. With the tapes left as Hannah’s final message after her suicide, the novel seemed to emphasize the importance of listening. It wasn’t about changing your actions or doing anything in retrospect. It was about understanding that everything you do can and does affect others, regardless of whether you intended it or not. It wasn’t a plea to make anything different after someone’s death, but rather to understand the full impact of what you did for any reason you may have had. Inserting this action changes the entire outcome of the plot, bringing in several more issues for the possibility of being ‘solved,’ which seems to be solely a setup for a possible season two.
Another huge difference is the injected drama in the show. This is done in several ways: they make Clay friends with Jeff before he dies in a car crash, they give Clay loud outbursts about how he tries to make a difference, and Clay has a more solid objective after listening to Hannah’s tapes. I really enjoyed Clay’s friendship with Jeff and the relationship they build in the periphery of the overall story, but it adds an aspect to the plot that does not exist in the novel. It makes Clay have a clear reason to be very vocal and snap at Hannah. Instead of simply having Hannah be someone searching for another person to initiate conversation with her, it makes her further isolated from her peers when Clay accuses her of living up to some of the rumors about her. I certain that this is done as a spectacle, as it feeds into audiences’ desire for drama, but it also moves further from the over-arching theme of the book.
The last thing I want to mention is the suicide itself. During Hannah’s process of rationalizing her suicide, she explicitly mentions that she was already to the point of contemplation and specifically sought out something that would push her past the point so she would feel assured in her choice. Hannah is already depressed, and she seeks out someone known for sexual assault and rape, and Hannah remains disappointed when a third party doesn’t interfere with her decision. Hannah mentions everything that happens to her, and though a lesser degree of the assault, it remains clearly defined as rape. However, it isn’t anywhere near as explicit as it is in the series. Before she goes through with the act, she decides whether to keep her life by speaking with a high school counselor. She relates the situation and everything she’s thinking about as clearly as she can for someone who is clearly distressed, and receives insubstantial advice in return. The options given to her are to file a report of what happened (ignoring the months of bullying and public ridicule she underwent) or to forget about it and move on. Due to the state that she’s in, hearing a professional suggest ignoring the situation solidifies her decision and she leaves to commit suicide.
In the novel, Hannah commits suicide by swallowing a bottle of pills. She even mentions that she chose this method because it seemed less painful to her. We don’t see any of the aftermath of her death, except in small mentions from Clay about her funeral taking place outside of town. Whatever may have been going on at the high school isn’t mentioned because the timing of the novel starts when Clay receives that tapes after school and he listens to them during the span of one night. (The novel ends when he gets to school the next morning.) However, the Netflix series chooses a much more explicit end for Hannah’s life, having her slit both of the main arteries of her wrists while in a bathtub. It shows her bleeding out and found by her parents some time later. Having the suicide so explicit seems a very poor choice to me. Showing it in any capacity makes the process much too real for any viewer, and it is very inconsiderate toward viewers who might be dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts.
Overall, I feel that both the book and series maintain the same themes throughout. They are both concerned with listening to others when they’re trying to reach out and understanding that actions greatly impact someone’s life, no matter how small they are. The over-sensationalized drama and action of the series still seem completely unnecessary, even though I know why they were included.
Overall, whether choosing to read the novel or watch the series, as with anything, it is important to do so with a critical mind. No matter what, everyone is different: everyone has their unique circumstances that brought them to where they are, they each have their own set of demons that they’re fighting, and a simple look at another can’t reveal those details to anyone. Sometimes, a small smile or lending an ear can save someone’s life, and you never know how close they are to their tipping point. Knowing is impossible until fully hearing someone out, but someone has to be available to listen.
Because on Tape 7, Side B, when Clay keeps listening, he hears Hannah’s final words to those whom the tapes addressed: “Thank you.”