Jay Asher and "Thirteen Reasons Why"

The Center for Disease Control reports that suicide is the third leading cause of death for young adults ages 15 to 24, and number four for children between the ages 10 to 14. Musical genres like emo and social networking sites can help depressed and alienated teens connect to others, but some say these media reinforce the idea that killing one’s self is an imaginable answer... and ultimate revenge.

Consider that thousands of people watched as a nineteen-year-old broadcast his suicide on the internet last fall. That’s a headline grabber. Most cases of teen suicide are acts of isolated desperation, like that of Hannah Baker, the fictional character at the center of Jay Asher’s novel Thirteen Reasons Why. It’s part transcription of cassette tapes sent by the dead girl to the 13 people she blames for her suicide, and part response from a former classmate as he listens. The novel has achieved cult status, selling 158,000 copies since 2007, helped in part by voices from a YouTube campaign that’s engaging young adults on the emotional causes and cost of suicide.

Author Jay Asher joins us to discuss teen suicide and what drives the popularity of his debut novel.