A Long Way Down (3 of 5 Suicides)

The first thing that I have to say in this review is that A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby doesn't quite reach the heights of his other books; High Fidelity and About A Boy. However, I still found it worth reading. I also must clarify before continuing and say that no, I am not suicidal, however I did read this book at a very very very low point in my existence, and yes I did relate to certain characters. That said, I will now get to the review segment of this review and stop blathering on about my own mental state.

In Faulkneresque style Hornby has multiple narrators throughout the book whose basic premise (without giving too much away) is that four people decide to leap from a great height sans parachute, not that a parachute would do them a lot of good if their leap was from the tippy-top of a twenty story building in the middle of London on New Years Eve. I am certain it wouldn't open properly, but regardless of that ... these four, named Martin, Maureen, Jess, and JJ, coincidentally meet on the top of the previously mentioned building on the previously mentioned evening.

The drama ensues, and so does the language, that is my only gripe with Mr. Hornby, my mental cussing level spikes whenever I read one of his books, and as I was having a hard time when I read this, so did my actual four-letter word usage, but I have it under control now. If you find vocabulary of that variety objectionable in the extreme I recommend staying away from this author, that said, if you can handle verboseness of the bathroom variety and you like to read about characters who are extremely flawed but somehow likable then this guy is for you.

And now for a character breakdown (awesome segue huh?). Lets start with Martin; oh, Martin, what a moron, this guy thought with his male anatomy, and now all he thinks about is how badly he screwed up, his life is down the tube and returning from his stint in prison has been a bit demoralizing. He lends quite a bit to the chemistry of the group as an instigator/moderator. Probably the one of the group that you could characterize most as a horrible person, and as a result he is probably the best developed, typical Hornby.

Next; Maureen, poor Maureen, I found myself laughing out loud every time she takes a turn as narrator, the intentional unintentional comedy really got me. Accepted as the person with the most valid reason to want to die by the rest of the team she is actually the least down on herself, Her interactions with Jess kill me, so funny.

Lets discuss Jess, the wayward girl, dense to the greatest degree, amazingly messed up, directionless and ultimately the strange glue holding the group together. Very funny, extremely vulgar.

Last, JJ. JJ is the audiophile of the group (a necessary character in any of Hornby's books). JJ is unsatisfied, he wants to be part of something greater, he and Jess trade off being the soul of the book. That may have just been me, but they were the ones I felt for.

The interactions between these people run the gamut of emotion, they hate, love, lift, denigrate, and curse at each other, except for Maureen, she censors them, which is pretty funny in itself. That leads me to an explanation of the manner in which the book is written. The four voices of the book are distinct in their grammar, vocabulary, and thought process, its kind of genius really, occasionally one narrator says something I thought another should have been saying, and Martin and JJ are similar in style, but its not off-putting or difficult to follow. I think as an author it would be fun to write a book this way, in fact, if I wrote a book, I would borrow the idea.

If you dare try and tell me that this is the way Twilight is written, I may unleash a torrent of exasperated rage on you, needless to say Hornby pulls off this particular writing technique (and every other one) way better than Meyer, whose writing is comic in an entirely different way which I will allow you to derive from my previous statement.

So I am not going to tell you how this book ends, that would spoil it. But i can tell you its not exactly a happy ending, it won't be what you expect either, its kind of typical of Hornby. Anyway, I did enjoy this read, I needed a break from the 19th century literature, vapid vampires (and their idiotic love interests), boy wizards (and their homosexual mentors), self-help books (Oh, Jake what have you got me reading), x-wings, dragons, and rogue adventurers in far off seas. It was nice to just read something with a modern dramatic voice and an adequate amount of depth.