At this point, everyone's heard of the hit Netflix original series, 13 Reasons Why. Most likely you've heard about its romanticization of suicide, its failure to address the main character's underlying depression and its overall message of hopelessness. I watched it solely for the purpose of coming to my own conclusion.

You can see my thoughts on the show here. Needless to say, I was not impressed, especially as I have friends whose depression was amplified by watching it.

However, in the interest of being fully educated on the matter, the other day I purchased the novel, by Jay Asher. I went into it with low expectations. The show, while well-made, had given off such a horrible message about suicide that I couldn't imagine the book being much different. Yet I was pleasantly surprised.

Suicide is a hard topic to properly address, no matter what the medium or the intent. The Netflix series failed miserably and left me with feelings of hopelessness and despair; it portrays Hannah's suicide as completely the fault of others, and it builds her up as a "tragic hero," horribly wronged by the world. However, the book approached Hannah and her suicide with a much more positive and accurate message about suicide and depression.

First off all, the actual plot differed between the book and the series. In the novel, Clay listens to all the tapes in one night, as opposed to the series, in which he takes several days. Clay has little to no interaction with the other characters featured in the thirteen tapes in the book, unlike in the series, where Clay's constant confrontations with the other characters are one of the key conflicts. The series leads you to believe that Hannah did absolutely nothing wrong, and her suicide is completely the fault of the other characters. The book, on the other hand, is not afraid to point out her mistakes. It acknowledges Hannah's suicide as a horrible tragedy, but as Clay listens to the tapes, the pages are filled with his pained questions about why Hannah never reached out. He is angry at the other characters for how they treated her but constantly feels frustrated that she never openly reached out for help. She hinted at her depression and suicidal thoughts but never bluntly stated that she was feeling this way, even in the counselor's office with Mr. Porter. While angry that no one noticed (including himself), Clay is equally upset that they never had the chance to notice, since Hannah never told anyone.

The book spoke to everyone reading it—to the people propagating the unintentional cruelty with which Hannah was treated, to the people scared to reach out to someone who may be hurting, but especially to the people who are depressed themselves and too scared to open up. Asher isn't afraid to point out that Hannah's tragedy could have been prevented if she had simply been completely open with Clay, Mr. Porter, her parents or anyone else in her life who would have wanted to help her. In the end, her suicide is a tragedy, an unimaginable tragedy—but preventable, if only she could have had the courage to speak out about her pain.

Asher manages to hold Hannah accountable without victim-blaming. Never once does he give the impression that Hannah is weak for feeling this way, or simply attention-seeking; on the other hand, he implies that her mistake was not that she felt suicidal—which is uncontrollable—but that she neglected to find help to cope with her depression. She wanted someone to "care enough" to help her, but she never gave anyone that chance. And he simultaneously holds all of us accountable for noticing when someone is acting out of character. Hannah should have reached out for help—just like all the other characters should have reached out to help her, in turn.

In the end, while the series romanticized Hannah's suicide and attacked the people around her for failing to stop it, the book managed to give a more three-dimensional picture of the situation, allowing readers to see the ways that Hannah could have worked to prevent her own death. While I am vehemently opposed to other teenagers watching the series due to the destructive effect it can have on their psyche (especially if they have struggled with similar situations in the past), I recommend the actual book to everyone I know. It's not an easy subject, but Jay Asher handles it gracefully, without laying unfair blame on anyone involved.