Kirkus Peanuts -- Jay

KIRKUS

Sept. 1, 2007
— a starred review!!! —

THIRTEEN REASONS WHY

“Everything affects everything,” declares Hannah Baker, who killed herself two weeks ago. After her death, Clay Jensen—who had a crush on Hannah—finds seven cassette tapes in a brown paper package on his doorstep. Listening to the tapes, Hannah chronicles her downward spiral and the 13 people who led her to make this horrific choice. Evincing the subtle—and not so subtle—cruelties of teen life, from rumors, to reputations, to rape, Hannah explains to her listeners that, “in the end, everything matters.” Most of the novel quite literally takes place in Clay’s head, as he listens to Hannah’s voice pounding in his ears through his headphones, creating a very intimate feel for the reader as Hannah explains herself. Her pain is gut-wrenchingly palpable, and the reader is thrust face-first into a world where everything is related, an intricate yet brutal tapestry of events, people and places. Asher has created an entrancing character study and a riveting look into the psyche of someone who would make this unfortunate choice. A brilliant and mesmerizing debut from a gifted new author.

Guess why I keep getting giddier and giddier the closer it gets to October 16th? I’ll give you two hints. One: I’ve been anticipating this moment for years. Two: It has to do with a certain book sitting on bookstore and library shelves all across the country. Give up? It’s the release date of Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography!

For the record: My book—Thirteen Reasons Why—comes out two days later on October 18th…write it down.

I am a huge Charles Schulz and Peanuts fan. It has a lot to do with the worldview portrayed in the comic strip that I always “got”…even when my friends thought comics were supposed to be straight-out hilarious or sarcastic. And the more I learned about the artist who spoke about this worldview, the more I began to understand my own creativity.

When I told Robin what this post was going to be about, she wanted to know specifics as to why I felt this connection to the artist and the strip. But I couldn’t tell her...because I couldn’t put it into words. Last year, my wife and I went to the Charles M. Schulz museum in Santa Rosa, CA. There’s a nice theater in the museum and we sat through a documentary about Mr. Schulz as well as an interview he did with Charlie Rose. When the lights came on, my wife looked at me and said, “I get it now.” Maybe it’s time for a Disco Mermaid road-trip to Santa Rosa?

Fun fact: I hardly ever wear hats. But when Thirteen Reasons Why was going through the week-long auction process, I wore a striped Charlie Brown hat (from the Schulz museum) every single day.

So while you’re all flipping through 200+ pages about a girl who commits suicide, I’ll be losing myself in 600+ pages about Charles “Sparky” Schulz. (Did you know he passed away mere hours before the newspaper containing the final Peanuts strip appeared on his doorstep? Talk about living for your art!)

- Jay

By the way, Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography received a starred review in Publishers Weekly.

This was the main character in a strip I created when I was 13.