A wise, affecting novel from the beloved, award-winning author of Funny Girl, High Fidelity, and About A Boy.New York Times-bestselling author Nick Hornby mines the hearts and psyches of four lost souls who connect just when they’ve reached the end of the line. A Long Way Down is now a major motion picture from Magnolia Pictures starring Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Aaron Paul, and Imogen Poots. Brosnan, Toni Collette, Aaron Paul, and Imogen Poots.
Meet Martin, JJ, Jess, and Maureen. Four people who come together on New Year’s Eve: a former TV talk show host, a musician, a teenage girl, and a mother. Three are British, one is American. They encounter one another on the roof of Topper’s House, a London destination famous as the last stop for those ready to end their lives.
In four distinct and riveting first-person voices, Nick Hornby tells a story of four individuals confronting the limits of choice, circumstance, and their own mortality. This is a tale of connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second chances.
Intense, hilarious, provocative, and moving, A Long Way Down is a novel about suicide that is, surprisingly, full of life.
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The idea behind this book and the first third was brilliant. Despite Hornby’s sharp wit and deep characterisation it began to falter, with a lot of repetition and limped a bit towards the end. That being said, I love Hornby and his unique perceptions.
Martin has screwed up all round, destroying his career, family and reputation, so he heads to Topper Tower to end it all on New Years Eve. Sat on the ledge, waiting for the right moment, Maureen a 51 year old single mother with a handicapped son asks how long he’s going to be and can she “borrow” his step ladders to get onto the ledge. They are shortly joined by Jess and finally JJ delivering pizzas. After a lot of argument they decide suicide is a private thing and annoyed with one another they all come down. A strange and volatile gang is formed by these four very different people. The book is about them coming to terms with themselves and their disappointments. Sad at times, but full of dark humour.
What I loved in this book is the ability of the talented writer to paint the characters, their thoughts, and behavior.
It is not a book that changes a life, but it can undoubtedly convey the time to the reader, and make you think a bit about life.
This was my third Hornby novel over the last two weeks, and it feels like my favorite. The four first person narratives are well done, and the characters are engaging. High Fidelity was the funniest book I’ve ever read, while How To Be Good was amusing and a little sad, A Long Way Down is the perfect balance between the two. I laughed a lot, occasionally sad, and completely satisfied by the end.
Predicated on the fact that I’m a big Nick Hornby fan, What makes “A Long Way Down” special is that each chapter is writtin in the first person point of view of different characters.
“Kinda weird, sounds confusing,” you might say–but that’s what’s so cool! The characters have such unique voices that you don’t need to be told who is who (though the chapter headings tell you, just in case). The characters are wildly different but thrown together due to a common circumstance they share. The admixture of different generations interacting is fun, but I’m a sucker for books where characters are really down on their luck. Any more and I’d be dropping spoilers . . .
Not the best of his books that I have read; maybe my expectations were too high going into it.
Can’t decide wether to give 3 or 4 stars.. it was in between..
I kinda enjoyed reading this book. It was an easy reading for the first half of it. Then the story doesnt move along. But I like the way it ended. I just wouldnt read it again, or to be honest, I would read the first half and the last few pages, but the 2nd half of the book isn’t worth reading again. It is needed to read it once to go along but I would be bored to read it again. sorry.
I loved the characters though.. Especially Martin. I liked Maureen and Jess too. JJ was a bit hard to understand. There wasnt much about him but he had some good times, especially the short talk with Maureen about cosmic tony.
“Is that thing actually going round? I can’t tell” –> I like that quote a lot because it can be said about that group of people who met randomly and kinda help each other going on with their lives without knowing. And they keep on going but you don’t notice, same as Time’s never standing still but we don’t always notice.