A Long Way Down

This is my first Nick Hornby book, and I was pleasantly surprised. Overall, the book is amusing, sensitive, unique, and perceptive, especially when dealing with its main subject matter: suicide.A Long Way Down is the story of four people who find themselves on the roof of a London building, which is also a popular suicide spot, on New Year's Eve: Martin, Maureen, Jess, and J.J. All have vastly different reasons for being there, ranging from marital problems to teenage angst to career disappointments. The four also have nothing in common apart from their desire to commit suicide. Martin is a 40-something washed-up morning show host, haughty and self-important. Maureen is a quiet mouse of a person, a middle-aged woman with no life whatsoever. Jess is an insolent teenager. J.J. is a 30-year-old American musician working as a pizza delivery boy. Each chapter follows the viewpoint of a different character, and we follow the four characters as they talk themselves down from the roof and possibly out of suicide altogether.Hornby does an excellent job with the narrative. I did not find the shifting viewpoints jarring at all, but instead funny and insightful. He has mastered four vastly different voices, even to the extent that Maureen, in her narrative, does not curse, even when she quotes other characters cursing a blue streak. As I read the book, I really thought that the end would make or break it, since ultimately, you are reading to find out whether the group, or part of it, kills themselves or not. I can't say that it was a perfect ending, but I was content with it and it didn't feel contrived or fake, but instead quite realistic.Despite being about suicide, this is an amusing book - I laughed out loud in many places, and really enjoyed the characters playing off each other. I also loved that Hornby didn't just make this a suicide parody or a plot device. He has interesting insights into the idea of suicide and what someone contemplating it might feel and think. This is a quick read, and I definitely recommend it. I, for one, will probably be picking up Hornby's other books soon.

The first thing I will say is that if you mind cussing in a book, do not pick this up. It has a lot of cussing in it. I don't really mind cussing in a book but at times I started to feel as if the author was trying to see how many times he could fit the word F--- in the book. Im not saying it did not fit the characters but it was overused, in my opinion.This book is about four people who go to the top of a building to jump off on new years eve, meet each other and decide to come down after all. I put this book off for awhile because I thought it was going to be one of those way to sappy insperational stories and that isn't what I really wanted to read. Don't get me wrong they have there place but it was not something that I was interested in right now. I can't say what made me take another look at this book and then buy it,but I'm so glad that I did because it was anything but what I thought it would be. A lot of people say this is a really funny book and while some parts made me smile, I did not really laugh out loud at any of it.The characters were really like able and I really enjoyed the different writing style for each of them. Each part of the book is from each persons viewpoint, and goes back and forth.The book made me think, as I've been we're they are before and recently had a loss in my family so I know that depression. A long way down gave me other ways to look at things without being a really serious or depressing book, I really enjoyed it.

For those of you who did not care for the book, perhaps you didn't get it. This was a fantastic book, with sharp witty dialogue and it dealt with a tragic subject. If you've never been there, that is, contemplating suicide, then you probably won't enjoy this book. But it brings me and the characters to many realizations that thinking about killing yourself and actually doing it are two different animals. Sure, after the first read I thought it was just okay. Then I read it again and I liked it more. After the third read, a couple of days ago, I truly began to love this book because I can relate to most of the main characters in some way. I also found some comic genius in there, at least when it comes to writing a novel. Sure, About a Boy is good and so is High Fidelity, as is Juliet, Naked. But A Long Way Down takes risks, and it does things that most authors are afraid to do, which is talk about suicide and it does it in such a smart way that it becomes a book that is actually against suicide in the long run.This book reminds me of something that Chuck Palahniuk would have written, only it is better written than that. Nick Hornby has such a great writing style and such an insight into the four main characters that this book just jumps off the pages at you. It is written like an oral biography, kind of like the book Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey, which I also loved and thought was pretty inventive. What can I say? I love books with dark humor and dark subject matter. While you naysayers may love books about rose petals and gardening, I search for books that are a little more realistic to the times we're living in and benefit deeply from it. Bravo, Nick Hornby, bravo.

I have to say firstly that this a book by my favourite author. I first read this book several years ago. I’ve just reread it.It’s got to be the strangest book I’ve ever read.The characters appear odd, but who of us can say that we haven’t met very similar people in our lives.I’m not sure where the author got the idea from. it doesn’t appeared to have been planned but just happened, I think he put his hands on his keyboard and waited for someone to say go. I’m sure Ive read all of his books . This is the strangest but somehow I can identity with it.Perhaps I’m a little bit crazy as well.

It’s not Hornby’s best by a mile. I cherish my copies of “About a Boy” and “High Fidelity”, and my to-read list includes several other Hornby titles. I was a bit surprised to find out that this book was published a decade ago, as I had never heard of it until just recently. While Hornby’s “voice” was reassuringly recognizable within the text, for me it just didn’t have that certain spark that sets it apart as something special. In fact, I found it all a bit average on my judgment scale. I didn’t hate it; didn’t love it. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but there’s most definitely a lot worse material out there.Perhaps, for me, it was the subject matter of suicide. I’m all for a bit of dark comedy, but having suffered with depression myself, it could just have been that much harder to laugh at these sorts of macabre character studies. I think that Hornby did a very good job of illustrating the difference between those who are crying out for a bit of help, and those that are in drastic need of professional assistance. I am not saying that the book was offensive or insensitive in any way. It could merely be that this sort of story appears more laughably maudlin and less dire to certain readers.I was able to enjoy some of funny passages of the book. I especially liked JJ as a character; which is a no-brainer because he’s the American hanging out with the Brits (just like your humble reviewer). I enjoyed the way that the story was told from four different perspectives. Jess’ passages were a riot.In retrospect I think that this book will most likely make for a very good film, as the interpretation and direction of the script will most likely be hand-fed to the audience with just the right balance. I’m looking forward to watching it on cable someday, as it has just been released in the cinema, and disagreeing with all of the casting choices (any booklover’s perogative, of course).

The main problem I have with this book is the the ridiculous premise. While it seems like a good idea to start with it quickly begins to look very unlikely. The story basically revolves around four people who all intend to commit suicide at the same spot on New Year's Eve. They manage to stop each other from going through with it and then form a sort of support group for each other. None of it rings true. They are just too different from each other for the bond to be in anyway believable. All of the characters are whiney and self centred with the possible exception of Maureen who does at least take care of her disabled son. It's hard to care for these people and I feel that many reading the book will have even deeper problems than these characters. My dog has more to worry about than most of them. The ending has to be the worst I've ever read. It's as if he just went "that's it, I've had enough". Wish I had done that twenty pages in.

As a psychology student, I get very frustrated with inaccurate depictions of mental health problems in the media and arts. This doesn't strike me as a book for which much research was done into mental health; suicidality isn't brought on by whims (I'll admit the characters generally go on to admit that they weren't truly suicidal). I found this a bit self-indulgent really, because of the lack of depth in exploring the issues around sucidality.

This book is written as individual narratives - first one character speaks, then the next, then the next and so it goes, but it jumps from character to character without clear breaks. I too could have happily joined them all up on the roof of the building by the time I gave up on it. I probably would have given them a push as well. I'm holing out hope that the film might be better.