In four distinct and riveting first-person voices, Hornby tells a story of four individuals confronting the limits of choice, circumstance, and their own morality. This is a tale of connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second chances.
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In four distinct and riveting first-person voices, Hornby tells a story of four individuals confronting the limits of choice, circumstance, and their own morality. This is a tale of connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second chances.
Read Less
Add this copy of A Long Way Down to cart. $34.61, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2005 by Wheeler Publishing.
Add this copy of A Long Way Down to cart. $53.86, new condition, Sold by Just one more Chapter, ships from Miramar, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2005 by Wheeler Publishing.
Great book
Bought as gift
Awesome
Original version
Good enough quality
courtneylovefan
Jun 15, 2007
!must read!
If you have read the master piece About a boy you will love this book.The story is very moving and really enjoyable to read. Nick Hornby uses clever and funny devices to tell a story about four suicidal people who end up on the toppers house.There is a tv-presenter called martin who has slep with a underage girl and fells his life is over.A character called Jess a eighteen year old,and a american wanna be rock star called JJ. and lastly a single mum Maureen who has a disabled son.Nick hornby mentions lots of diffrent perspectives of the whole idea of suicide in a funny way. Mentioning Kurt cobain, sylvia plath and other suicide refrences and other sometimes sterotipical points of views on the subject.The four characters build a good friendship and try to help eachers problems out together . "Hornby pins down the age in which we live with precisions and comic brilliance" Guardian "Masterful...some of the finset wrighting, and some of the most outstanding characters" Johnny Depp
lifeinsomniac
Apr 11, 2007
Somber Topic, but Hilarious Book
The protagonists of Hornby's book make up a sad, depressed lot. There's Martin, a washed up morning show host whose life has hit bottom after he was caught sleeping with a 15 year old girl. There's Maureen, a woman whose life since the age of 21 has centered around taking care of her severely disabled son, insuring she'd never have a life of her own. There's Jess, the carefree 18 year old who is a lot more vulnerable than her foul-mouth suggests. And finally, there's JJ, the lone American whose rock band has busted up and who got kicked out by his British girlfriend, his sole reason for being in England. On New Year's Eve, all four sad souls go up to the top of Topper's House, a well-known suicide spot to do the deed....and end up forming a group of sorts.
What's nice about this book is that it never travels the path of saccharine and group hugs. If anything, the Fab Four kind of loathe each other, but find they can't part from each other completely for whatever myriad of reasons. Hornby peppers the book with small insights of the profound persuasion into how each character approaches their near suicide experience, taking a very small toe-dip into serious waters. But overall, the book is pure Hornby-irreverance. He keeps things on the level (and funny in that dry British way) by making his characters realistically unpleasant at times and therefore human. There's no pretty light at the end of the tunnel, nor a grand finish with all sorts of revelations and pots of gold. But that's life. The kind tons of people get through without taking a swan dive. They just bitch about it....a lot.
