Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017 A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017 A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017 An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestseller Jason Reynolds’s fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds–the … bestseller Jason Reynolds’s fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds–the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.
A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE
Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.
And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator.
Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.more
Told in verse, Long Way Down explores how revenge and violence have affected fifteen-year-old Will. On a mission to avenge his brother’s recent shooting death, Will takes the elevator down with a gun tucked in his waistband. Each floor of the ride brings a visit from someone familiar to Will who’s been killed. The series of poems are thought-provoking, emotional, and powerful.
Short story about violence and it consequences, in this book a boy must decide between revenge his brother’s death or sparing the killer’s life.
I have to admit, when I opened this book up, knowing nothing about it except that it was on our reading list this year, I was disappointed. “Oh, no, it’s a book in verse.” I don’t like books in verse. This was the best one I’ve ever read. Well, I mean, I actually READ this one. I’ve never been able to finish the other books in verse, and I’ve tried a handful. So this must be a good book. I made it. And because it’s in verse it took me no time at all. There aren’t a lot of words. There doesn’t need to be. So many, many, many parts– no, pages, I should say, should be written in my quotables book. I wish I could think like that, like Jason does, how he describes things so succinctly, and in an original way. Originality is hard to find. He doesn’t super-try to be “verse.” It just works. I’m pretty impressed, actually. And the ending totally works. It says a lot in not very many words, because he selected the words so perfectly. Great descriptions.
A novel in verse, Long Way Down tells the story of Will, a black teenager, whose brother, Shawn, was killed less than 24 hours ago. Will gets on the elevator with his brother’s gun tucked into the back of his pants, planning to kill the man he thinks killed Shawn. He feels he has to do this because there are rules, and the third (and most important) rule is get revenge.
Over the course of the next minute (the time it takes to get from his apartment on the 7th floor to the lobby) Will is joined on the elevator by six ghosts, all victims of gun violence, and all with some kind of connection to his brother. In that minute, Will is shown the larger impact an act of vengeance can have.
If you’re not familiar with Jason Reynolds, Long Way Down is a good place to start. What I like about this book is that, while it’s ultimately about the futility of gun violence and revenge, there’s no preaching. A kid can read this book without feeling that he is being lectured or beaten over the head with someone’s idealistic notions of what is right or wrong. It’s one thing to tell a small child not to hurt someone else because it’s wrong, but as kids get older, it’s important to help them see big pictures. Authors like Jason Reynolds are helping teens think about the impact of their actions on the world, rather than just how consequences will affect them.
This book will appeal to readers of all ages, reluctant readers, and teenagers who see violence in their day to day lives.
I love Jason Reynolds, or rather I don’t know Jason Reynolds and love the stuff I’ve read that he’s written. Though I should honestly admit I haven’t read much of what he’s written. I’ve read For Every One and made a few futile attempts to read All American Boys. I always stop the latter in the same place. I stop reading before the shooting starts. Always. Not quite before the sobbing starts. Mine.
I did, of course, finish Long Way Down. This story takes place in some nebulous place after and before the shooting, before and after the shooting. I have nothing else I want to say about the sobbing.
But I imagine this: somewhere a teenage boy, forever seventeen, still calling out “Titi Lily,” is on an elevator or a subway with Jacob Marley rattling chains. And Jason Reynolds holds my heart in his hands, filled with blood and tears and hope. And I love him for it.
Poetic and tragic, the story of how youth are impacted by generational violence told in an elevator ride down was creative, simple and very impactful. I listened to the book on audible while my teenaged granddaughter read the book and we discussed the book after. I really had not idea I would love the book but so far we have connected over three of Jason’s books.
This is the first book I’ve read by Jason Reynolds, and I was definitely not disappointed! I appreciated the fact that the novel was written in verse. I really think that added impact and meaning to what Reynolds was trying to convey. I also liked the way Reynolds made “The Rules,” a theme throughout the book. The way Will questioned himself was moving and felt so real.
Written in verse this is a fabulous and heartbreaking story. But there’s hope at the end, as it should be, with stories for young readers. Highly recommended!
This was the best book I read in 2020, hands down. Should be required reading, like a collective Book Club Pick for our country. Reynolds voice is unwavering, incredible, and painful.
I love Jason Reynolds and have wanted to read this book for a while. It is a novel-in-verse, meaning it is a story told in a series of poems. When Will’s brother is murdered, Will knows the rules: #1: don’t cry; #2: don’t tatttle; #3: get revenge. With a gun tucked in his pants, Will takes the elevator to leave his building. What happens in the elevator is powerful. A must read.
This has been sitting on my TBR list for so long, and I’m so glad I finally read it! Beautifully written, heartrending, original—I think this might be my new favorite Jason Reynolds book
Poetic, sad beauty, magical realism
This book will take you into the minds-eye of a boy, stuck in the projects, stuck in the endless cycle of murder. Written in poetic form, it gives you the insight one needs to think critically on this subject, and also will leave you up until 2 am in the morning trying to finish it. Completely recommend!
At first I didn’t understand what was going on but slowly I understood, and it was a very sad story, but you can interpret everything your own way which can be good and bad. It’s a quick and easy read, and is very well written I would suggest it.
An exceptional and mind-blowing read that’s like confining water from flowing through your fingers. The ending will haunt you.
I read this book in one sitting, and immediately passed it along to my 11 year old son. It sparked some great discussion between the two of us about the choices made by the supporting characters, and the big choice faced by the main character. I loved the free-verse style of this book.
I was fully blown away by this book. Before I get into the meat and potatoes of my review, a few things I want to address. First, don’t let the page count scare you. This is written in verse and there are not a ton of words per page (more on that later). Next, I waffled with my rating before finally settling on PG because I think all kids (and adults!) should read this story. But who is it appropriate for? Well, that right there is a question that I feel comes from privilege. And it’s just not my middle-class white privilege that can alter the rating, but also the maturity of the child. I would have let my older son read this story at pretty much any age, but not my younger son. They process things differently. Again, I had the privilege to not feel like my younger son had to read this story at a young age. If you’re contemplating giving this story to a child, my suggestion would be to read it first. You should read it regardless, it’s amazing and insightful.
This story was not on my radar until it was picked for my book club. While I like and read all genres, I tend to stick to my romance bubble 95% of the time. Luckily, we have a couple educators in our group who are always in the know about the great YA books out there. This was picked by our 4th grade teacher in the group. And let me tell you, I cannot wait to read the rest of this author’s work. I’m told they are not done as poetry, as this story is. But those that have read any of his other books say they are just as wonderful.
The way the author used the page is phenomenal. I’m not using that word lightly, either. Some pages would have two or three verses, others would have two words. When that was the case, those two words would pack such a punch it was unreal. I started noting all the wonderful passages and high impact parts of this story but had to stop…there were just too many. I wanted to immerse myself in the story, which was not hard to do at all.
There are moments in this story where Will says something like it’s an every day thing when it shouldn’t be an every day thing, especially for a kid. It’s humbling and chilling. I’m not blind and don’t attempt to be blind. I know what goes on in this country and to POC. In this story, I could hear Will’s voice and that brought reality into my brain instead of a few miles down the road viewed as a news bite or click bait. A lot about the last month or so has opened my eyes even wider than they were before. This book is one of those things.
I really recommend the audiobook version of this. I could listen to Jason read me all his books in a loop forever.
It is a great book about death,revenge,family and decision. If you are tired of cheesy romance and prince charming,this is the one you are looking for.
As a reader, I felt like a witness.
Once I realized what was happening, I was a little breathless. And it kept happening, over and over again, tying together the threads of this boy’s world that he never quite looked at all at once as a finished piece.
And the ending? Holy crap.
Tough, beautiful, important.