Picking up this book gave me an unsettling feeling after learning the subject matter.  I had heard prior to this class that the novel was something like a beautiful heartbreak.  Once learning that it was about a girl post-suicide, I was reluctant to open it, to say the least.

This book, even only halfway done, is heavy. It's heavy in it's topic, it's heavy in its portrayal, it's heavy in it's language and it's delivery.  I found myself having to put it down every so often, quite the opposite of a novel like Eleanor and Park, where I found it hard to stop reading.  This story had the opposite affect on me.  That being said, I did my best to persuade myself in thinking that this story was just over the top. I mean, suicide is a heavy subject and an important problem that is often hushed, but i thought that the whole idea of the girl leaving the tapes behind was a bit too much.  I still do. But, that being the tool with which the author uses to progress the story is, in itself, fairly brilliant.

In this way, the author is practically slamming the message in the readers face with every paragraph.  And, although I may only be halfway through it, it is clear (unless the author throws a curve-ball that inevitably blows my mind, which I am open to) that the message is about the daily issue in young teen lives of bullying, hatred, fitting in and failing, sexual harassment, and overall true friendship and what happens when that falls short.  This girl was bullied, harassed, her friends were sexually harassed as well, she was betrayed,etc. Now, these things can drive anyone downhill. But having the main character already passed and in what seems like (in a certain light) her getting revenge or justice post-death through these tape seems like a very bad message to young, troubled minds.

My senior year in high school we had 3 students commit suicide within a single week from two schools, including mine.  I am not a stranger to the subject and reading this story seems troubling.  It almost seems as if it is portraying justice through her tapes and death and I don't think that is the kind of message I would want to give students.  I am not saying in anyway that that is what is going to happen to everyone whom reads the story, but having a student(s) that may have these kind of troubles as well may see some kind of justice in this, and I am not sure that is very safe. Keeping that in mind, I do believe that if it is discussed properly by the students and instructor than it can be avoided, but we must be weary of it.

Thus far, I would give this story a C+ to B- grade.