“Hello, boys and girls. Hannah Baker here. Live and in stereo.” A phrase heard ‘round the world as people tuned in to the newest Netflix binge-watch. 13 Reasons Why tells the story of Hannah Baker’s life; more importantly . . . why it ended. In the show, thirteen people receive audio cassette tapes explaining to them just how they took part in ending Hannah’s life. This show has turned into a phenomenon as people from all different walks of life have flipped the show onto their screens.

Before 13 Reasons Why was a highly-acclaimed Netflix s eries, it was debuted as a bestselling book by Jay Asher. Like most tv series and movies, the show does not match up exactly to its predecessor. Having read the book 4 years ago, I couldn’t remember all of the details, so, in pursuit of an answer to just how accurately the book was portrayed, I reread 13 Reasons Why to identify just what minor changes the screenwriters made.

Cassette 1: Side A, Justin Foley

In the book, Hannah meets Justin after her friend Kat invites him and his friend Zach Dempsey to Hannah’s house. In the show, Hannah meets Justin at Kat’s going away party.

In the book, Justin tells everyone a rumor that he and she did more than just share her first kiss. In the show, Justin took pictures of the underside of Hannah’s skirt while she went down the slide and still passes on the rumor.

Cassette 1: Side B, Alex Standall & Cassette 2: Side A, Jessica Davis

Hannah becomes friends with two other new students named Alex and Jessica in both the show and the book. With both of these stories, the producers told it exactly like it is in the book except for one thing. In the book, when the someone would have a bad day, they would put their hand in the middle and say “olly olly oxen free” but in the show the trio says “FML.”

Cassette 2: Side B, Tyler Down

In both the show and the book, Hannah invites Courtney to help her catch the peeping Tom outside her window. To catch him in the book, Courtney pretends to find something in Hannah’s drawer and counts to three before they rush at him. In the show, they play truth or dare so he won’t suspect they know he’s there before discovering him.

Also in the show Tyler exposed Hannah and Courtney’s photos he took of them playing truth or dare by sending the pictures to the entire student body. In the book, Hannah was only upset because Tyler stole her sense of privacy.

Cassette 3: Side A, Courtney Crimsen

Courtney’s tape has to differ the most out of all of them. In the show, Courtney has gay dads; they are the reason she hides her own sexuality. But in the book that’s not the case whatsoever. In the show, Courtney likes Hannah and distances herself from her after Tyler sends out the photos.

In the book, Hannah’s tape about Courtney is centered around the fact that she stopped being her friend the night after they caught Tyler. She said Courtney only wanted to befriend her to keep her image looking spotless in everyone’s eyes. She’s also upset that Courtney used her for a ride to a party and then ditched her at said party. In the show, Courtney invites Hannah to attend a dance with her and her friends (also using her as a chauffeur). At the dance, however, Courtney is afraid to be seen with Hannah after the photo got out and told a rumor that Hannah would go home with someone and another girl because she was “into that sorta thing.”

Cassette 3: Side B, Marcus Cooley

The portrayal of Marcus’s tape is handled similarly in the book and the tv series.

Cassette 4: Side A, Zach Dempsey

Like in the book, Zach has a crush on Hannah, so after the scene with Marcus at Rosie’s,  Zach sits with Hannah for comfort. The only difference here between the show and the book is that after Hannah ignores him at Rosie’s in the show, they have another exchange in the school cafeteria in which Hannah turns him down. In both situations, the same outcome occurs: Zach steals her encouragement notes.

Cassette 4: Side B, Ryan Shaver

Hannah connects with Ryan over poetry, but what’s different is how she gets there. Hannah was intrigued by a poster at Monet’s in the book, but in the show Hannah goes to a career fair where she meets a librarian who invited her to come. However, in the book it’s a poetry class she attends and not a poetry group like in the show.

Also, the poem in the book is more embarrassing because it included more intimate details.

Cassette 5: Side A, Clay Jensen (the book) / Justin Foley (the show)

This could get confusing because in the book Clay is the first story Hannah tells of the night of the party instead of the last one. To be quite honest, I liked how Clay’s tape was near to the last one told on the show, but that’s not chronologically correct.

Clay’s tape is accurate except for that Clay and Hannah get more heated in the show, but that’s only for embellishment. Hannah’s reaction and Clay’s reaction to hers is the same as well.

Cassette 5: Side B, Justin Foley (the book) / Sheri Holland* (the show)

Again, we’re all flip-flopped, but it’ll work itself out. Next in the book is Justin part two. In the show, Justin is dating Jessica and on their one month anniversary they go to her room during the party that is taking place during the tape before and after this one. Since she’s not fully conscious, Justin leaves her to rest like in the book as well. Only when Bryce comes to take a go at her, Justin stops him twice but eventually just gives in and lets him through. In the show, Bryce knocks Justin out of the way to get to Jessica.

Cassette 6: Side A, Jenny Kurtz* (the book) / Clay Jensen (the show)

One change I found really unnecessary was the changing of the name of Jenny Kurtz’ character to Sheri Holland in the show. Anyway, they are the same person nonetheless. In the show, Sheri wrecks into the sign because she was handing her phone to Hannah, but in the book it comes across as Jenny really had been drinking unlike she had claimed when she offered Hannah a ride.

Cassette 6: Side B, Bryce Walker

In the show, Hannah goes to Bryce’s house because she’s out on a walk after fighting with her parents, but in the book she’s house-sitting nearby Courtney’s house and overhears the party and shows up after; although in the show Courtney isn’t friends with that crowd of people.

In the book, Bryce doesn’t actually rape Hannah like in the show but does get relatively handsy.

Cassette 7: Side A, Mr. Porter

As in the book, in the show Hannah goes to the guidance counselor to see if anyone will save her from herself one more time before she takes her own life. Just like in the book, Mr. Porter fails.

A lot of other minor details were changed as well. Clay never wrecked his bike in the book because we didn’t need to clarify the time period like we do in the show. Clay also finished the tapes in a night in the book compared to the length of time he did in the show. They extended it out so that each story could be told fully. In the show, Clay comes into contact with the other eleven quite a lot just because they are watching to see how he reacts. Clay never retaliates or harrasses them in the book either. Tony is also a very minor character in the book. Clay doesn’t find out that he has the other set of tapes until a ways into the book and he doesn’t nearly follow Clay around as much.

I liked how the show brought in a new character in Jeff Atkins. That made the incident with the stop sign even more important to Clay than just being a witness to the accident. It gave him an emotional attachment. Plus, Jeff’s part in the story gave Clay more depth. In the book, Jeff’s still a character, but he’s just a kid who was delivering pizza when he was hit and killed because of the broken stop sign.

The last little detail is that Hannah died from slitting her wrists in the show, but in the book she died from an overdose . . . or did she? Read the book to find out!

Many people are sadly disappointed when a book is made into a tv show or movie just because of all the details that are changed and/or what is cut out of it from the book, but with 13 Reasons Why I didn’t find too much to complain about. Although there were a few things that were spun a totally different way, the show pretty much hit the nail on the head when it came to including what happened in the book. If anything, the show only embellished the story to add more to it and extend it longer than it was intended. Though the show wasn’t a large-scale production, overall I am still impressed with how it turned out.