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A Long Way Down
 
 

A Long Way Down [Paperback]

Nick Hornby
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
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From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. If Camus had written a grown-up version of The Breakfast Club, the result might have had more than a little in common with Hornby's grimly comic, oddly moving fourth novel. The story opens in London on New Year's Eve, when four desperate people—Martin, a publicly disgraced TV personality; Maureen, a middle-aged woman with no life beyond caring for her severely disabled adult son; Jess [...]; and JJ, an American rocker whose music career has just ended with a whimper—meet on the roof of a building known as Toppers' House, where they have all come to commit suicide. Bonded by their shared misery, the unlikely quartet spends the night together, telling their stories, getting on each others' nerves even as they save each others' lives. They part the following morning, aware of having formed a peculiar sort of gang. As Jess reflects: "When you're sad—like, really sad, Toppers' House sad—you only want to be with other people who are sad."It's a bold setup, perilously high-concept, but Hornby pulls it off with understated ease. What follows is predictable in the broadest sense—as the motley crew of misfits coalesces into a kind of surrogate family, each individual takes a halting first step toward creating a tolerable future—but rarely in its particulars. Allowing the four main characters to narrate in round-robin fashion, Hornby alternates deftly executed comic episodes—an absurd brush with tabloid fame, an ill-conceived group vacation in the Canary Islands, a book group focused on writers who have committed suicide, a disastrous attempt to save Martin's marriage—with interludes of quiet reflection, some of which are startlingly insightful. Here, for example, is JJ, talking about the burden of understanding that he no longer wants to kill himself: "In a way, it makes things worse, not better.... Telling yourself life is shit is like an anesthetic, and when you stop taking the Advil, then you really can tell how much it hurts, and where, and it's not like that kind of pain does anyone a whole lot of good."While the reader comes to know all four characters well by the end of the novel, it's Maureen who stands out. A prim, old-fashioned Catholic woman who objects to foul language, Maureen is, on the surface, the least Hornbyesque of characters. Unacquainted with pop culture, she has done nothing throughout her entire adult life except care for a child who doesn't even know she's there and attend mass. As she says, "You know that things aren't going well for you when you can't even tell people the simplest fact about your life, just because they'll presume you're asking them to feel sorry for you." Hornby takes a Dickensian risk in creating a character as saintly and pathetic as Maureen, but it pays off. In her own quiet way, she's an unforgettable figure, the moral and emotional center of the novel. This is a brave and absorbing book. It's a thrill to watch a writer as talented as Hornby take on the grimmest of subjects without flinching, and somehow make it funny and surprising at the same time. And if the characters occasionally seem a little more eloquent or self-aware than they have a right to be, or if the novel turns just the tiniest bit sentimental at the end, all you can really fault Hornby for is an act of excessive generosity, an authorial embrace bestowed upon some characters who are sorely in need of a hug.175,000 first printing.(June)Tom Perrotta's most recent novel, Little Children, has just been published in paperback by St. Martin's Griffin.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Four different people find themselves on the same roof on New Year's Eve, but they have one thing in common–they're all there to jump to their deaths. A scandal-plagued talk-show host, a single mom of a disabled young man, a troubled teen, and an aging American musician soon unite in a common cause, to find out why Jess (the teen) can't get her ex-boyfriend to return her calls. Down the stairs they go, and thoughts of suicide gradually subside. It all sounds so high concept, but each strand of the plot draws readers into Hornby's web. The novel is so simply written that its depths don't come to full view until well into the reading. Each character takes a turn telling the story in a distinctive voice. Tough questions are asked–why do you want to kill yourself, and why didn't you do it? Are adults any smarter than adolescents? What defines friends and family? Characters are alternately sympathetic and utterly despicable, talk-show-host Martin, particularly. The narrators are occasionally unreliable, with the truth coming from the observers instead. Obviously, a book about suicide is a dark read, but this one is darkly humorous–as Hornby usually is. Teens will identify with or loathe Jess and musician J. J., but they will also find themselves in the shoes of Maureen and Martin. This somewhat philosophical work will appeal to Hornby's fans but has plenty to attract new audiences as well.–Jamie Watson, Harford County Public Library, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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37 Reviews
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4.7 out of 5 stars (37 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars I feel the very same way, Oct 31 2007
This review is from: A Long Way Down (Paperback)
So many books come recommended to me from friends, the Internet, bestseller lists, etc, that it gets mind boggling sometimes just trying to tell who is right. Sure, I bought, read, and loved some of the ones recommended to me. Books like McCrae's Katzenjammer, Patterson's Lifeguard, and Kidd's Secret Life of Bees. I loved them-all different. But the premise of A LONG WAY DOWN. You CAN'T go wrong with that! What a knock-out idea for a book. And what the author does with this material is even better than the idea! The story begins with four people from very different backgrounds who use New Year's Eve, not as a time to make for resolutions for the coming year, but instead to resolve to end their lives by jumping off a building. Coming together at such a low point in their lives unites the foursome, which includes a down on his luck talk show host, an older woman caring for a disabled son, a teen girl who can't handle her first breakup, and an American guy in his 20s whose band broke up and girlfriend dumped him. As an English writer, Nick Hornby uses the American to show some of the cultural differences in language, which I found hilarious. Anyway, although they don't always get along, the group gives each other support, simply by sharing the same depressing feeling that there is nothing more to live for. Must also recommend the highly unusual KATZENJAMMER (Soon to be a major motion piciture) and the really bizarre and thoroughly enjoyable TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, both which are equally as good as ALWD. I look forward to more books by Mr. Hornby as he's one heck of a great writer with wonderful ideas!
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5.0 out of 5 stars The Best in a Long Time, Jun 26 2005
This review is from: Long Way Down (Hardcover)
I read "A Long Way Down" from cover to cover immediately upon its arrival. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. If you enjoyed Nick Hornby's "About a Boy" and especially "How to be Good" or such other titles as "My Fractured Life", "Good Grief", "Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" and "Fight Club", then you should be as delighted with "A Long Way Down" as I was. It is a book I can read again and encourage others to. Good stuff!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Another perspective on suicide, in a Dr Phil culture., July 25 2008
By 
Tara Oakes (Winnipeg, MB, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Long Way Down (Paperback)
Fantastic read- Hornby tells the tale of four would-be suicide victims, as different as they can be, from each of their own perspectives. No sappy words or formula-fiction here: just a biting, witty take on something many people have thought about at one point or another. It's a serious issue, but Hornby write's about it so it becomes laugh-out-loud funny. One of the best contemporary novels I've read this year!
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