Clay receives a box of cassettes with no return address. And he happens to have something to play tapes on, thus curiosity overtakes him. And it's Hannah Baker--the girl he didn't get a chance to know, who he had this undying crush on, who recently committed suicide. 
 All right, I read the book four days. It's an easy, quick read. And it was more my own curiosity that kept me going--because what could be so bad to make a teenage girl record these accusatory tapes before killing herself? It's very much a "they'll miss me when I'm gone" kind of revenge, which works thanks to the tapes, which makes this problematic. 
 I understand Hannah's spiral into depression. There's no one major factor that contributed to it: It's all the little things piled on top of one another, and that's the real deal. That's how it works. And she records these tapes to pin the blame on everyone else, blaming them for not noticing her. Like she was supposed to be the center of all their lives. And they buy it. "We should've done more for Hannah." And this, friends, is glorifying suicide. 
 And Clay?(view spoiler)[ "I don't belong on these tapes," he says, and ultimately he's right. He's a Good Boy. He did nothing wrong. Everyone else brought trauma into Hannah's life, but Clay's "mistake" was that they didn't get to know each other. This is our narrator? The one nice guy? Clay's section of the tapes was supposed to be the climax of this tale, and it sputtered and died. (hide spoiler)] 
 I get what's supposed to happen. Clay feels bad; Clay wishes he could've done more for her. And this point is driven so many times that I can't listen to it anymore. "What could I have done for you, Hannah?" We get it. You have regrets. And Hannah's no saint, either. Honestly, she's a brat. I hope there's at least one person who receives these tapes who doesn't feel like his life is "changed forever." There's got to be one logical person of the bunch who rolls his eyes and thinks, "Get over yourself, Hannah." Not only does she act like the center of everyone's worlds, they buy it, too. Hannah Baker is Important. But that's not how any of this works.