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A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby
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A wise, affecting novel from the beloved, award-winning author of Funny Girl, High Fidelity, and About A Boy.
Nick Hornby mines the hearts and psyches of four lost souls who connect just when they’ve reached the end of the line.
In four distinct and riveting first-person voices, 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.
- Sales Rank: #84683 in Books
- Brand: Riverhead Trade
- Published on: 2006-05-02
- Released on: 2006-05-02
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .93" w x 5.15" l, .60 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 368 pages
Features
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.
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.
From Bookmarks Magazine
Nick Hornby seems to be a likeable guy, which may make critical examination of his work a tricky business for some—not that his alleged personality prevents some well-known critics from outright hooliganism. Sure, Hornby the journalist sounds a lot like Hornby the novelist; that’s part of his charm. It is easy to imagine his early characters as stand-ins for their author. But as he expands his fictional milieu, Hornby’s distinct voice seems to be a double-edged sword. Can that voice be embodied by a 51-year-old Christian and as an out-of-luck American rocker? Can that happen in the same book?
Reviewers cited the novel’s premise as its biggest problem. Most critics overcame the queasy feelings provoked by the implausible setup by retreating to the warm humor of Hornby’s prose and the conclusions he draws from his disparate cast. But many felt that the beginning of the book, with its highly charged scene, left the rest of the meandering plot line to unfurl with just a lot of tepid navel-gazing.
In the end, most reviewers were won over by Hornby’s humanity. In fact, many were downright humbled by what he’s pulled off in A Long Way Down. But in all the reviews there is a sense that the comic novelist shouldn’t attempt serious subjects, or is overcoming a hurdle when he does so successfully. It makes you wonder what they’d say about Mark Twain.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Better than I thought it would be.
By sue
At first I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish the book. Since it was a book club choice, I stuck with it, and It did get better...Fortunately, the humorous scenes lightened up the overall tone of depression and despair.
The author did an excellent job of developing the main characters, as well as describing their flaws and strengths. Even one particular building plays a main part in the story. Two characters were much more likable than two others, although one of the characters, as difficult as he/she was, actually got the ball rolling for everyone else. Am I glad I read the book? Yes. Will I read it again? Probably not.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Let 'em splat
By Amazon Customer
Hornby wrote one and one half good books, and since then publishers will print anything he pens. This book is full of characters the author (not writer--that's a word reserved for those who work at their craft) didn't even bother to try to make remotely readable, much less sympathetic or likeable. Yes, Maureen learns to not flinch when the f-word is uttered. Yes, Jess has depth, if you call having a father who's less than famous but appears in the papers depth. JJ, the jam band wank, is a total jerk, but sticks up for Maureen. Martin the child molester is the most likeable character (if you can call him that), and he's the tosser of the group. But on the cover, they all have nice shoes, so people who like records and counterculture will snap it up and cringe with every line of prose.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Hysterically Entertaining, Albeit Macabre
By Dan M.
I bought this before missing two flights and being rerouted through 3 cities, spending over 15 hours in planes or airports. And I didn't even mind (although if I were a faster reader, I might have). I finished it in one day, and was unashamedly laughing aloud on the plane.
Hornby expertly portrays four unique, round, and relate-ably flawed characters, leading to your own introspection, but with a slight feeling of superiority. He perfectly voices Jess, Martin, and Maureen, but slightly misses on JJ, the American (granted, I may be biased). His humor is undeniable, and although there is substance to the novel, it is initially difficult to understand. But each featherweight page accumulates, until halfway through, it hits you, and you keep reading, not just for the biting tete-a-tete between our four protagonists, but for the seemingly impossible conflict resolution.
I have never read a book that had me laughing so hard, but still left me thinking afterwards (Catch 22 may be the closest, but lost it's humor halfway through). After reading this, I cannot think of another author I would rather grab a pint with than Nick Hornby.
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