This is one of those books that suffers from two extremes when it comes to reviewers. 
 It seems that people either LOVE the book to pieces and view it as a kind of "why you shouldn't commit suicide" Bible or they HATE it, feeling it GLORFIES suicide, and want to have a mass burning of all copies. 
 Frankly, in my opinion both views couldn't be more wrong. I don't feel it glorifies suicide, or even shows it in a particularly positive light, but it's not a handbook/pamphlet for doling out to your friends you might feel are depressed, either. 
 It's a solid story, with a sad but surprisingly GOOD message. Not about suicide, I don't think, so much as how people should treat people WHILE THEY ARE STILL ALIVE. It seems like the suicide serves as a plot launching pad for the bigger issue; lets say the story wasn't about Hannah's tapes, let's say she was just hit by a bus on the way to school, and comes back as a ghost or something to tell Clay thirteen stories about why she was so depressed before dying; does the story actually CHANGE that much? No, I don't think so. It's a little WEAKER maybe, because it doesn't have the heartbreaking element that this girl felt so badly over something that people at large view as "not a big deal" that she decided to take her own life, but the story and overall message would remain the same. 
 It's still a book about realizing how you treat others can affect every aspect of their lives. 
 What I appreciate about it is how all of Hannah's problems are "little things" that add up. I liked that Asher didn't make her the rape victim just to make her choice more "logical". Because assuming Hannah might already have been a little bit blue, all the things adding up - losing her privacy, her friends, her poem, her reputation - that really WOULD weigh on her, particularly if she was previously prone to depression. 
 And what really strikes me about the book is how it's PROVEN its own point through readers' reactions. For example, I've lost count of how many callous reviewers have stated "Hannah killed herself for no reason/this is so unrealistic/she just wanted an excuse to off herself". And all I can say to that is, WOW you just really missed the whole FREAKING POINT of the book, didn't you? Did you somehow miss the scene where a negatively portrayed character said almost the same exact comment word for word as your reviews? Makes me wonder how many of these readers have actually BEEN victims of "little stresses" adding up in their lives, snowballing out of control... 
 That said, it's not a wonderful literary masterpiece. Clay is an OKAY narrator, but he is also just the typical "nice guy" with almost no development outside of Hannah's recorded narrative (with the sole exception of the ending, in which he's learned to pay more attention to another person who is showing similar signs of depression to Hannah's, but that's still a "Hannah's tapes" based development so I digress). And I think he's the reason people have dubbed Hannah's character a "manic pixie". Not because of anything wrong with HER, but because she and she alone changes Clay's whole perception on life and that IS a little cliche. 
 Still, it's a good book. I'd recommend reading it at least once.