In his eagerly awaited fourth novel, 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.
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 Downis a novel about suicide that is, surprisingly, full of life.
What's your jumping-off point?
Maureen
Why is it the biggest sin of all? All your life you're told that you'll be going to this marvelous place when you pass on. And the one thing you can do to get you there a bit quicker is something that stops you getting there at all. Oh, I can see that it's a kind of queue-jumping. But if someone jumps the queue at the post office, people tut. Or sometimes they say "Excuse me, I was here first." They don't say "You will be consumed by hellfire for all eternity." That would be a bit strong.
Martin
I'd spent the previous couple of months looking up suicides on the Internet, just out of curiosity. And nearly every single time, the coroner says the same thing: "He took his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed." And then you read the story about the poor bastard: His wife was sleeping with his best friend, he'd lost his job, his daughter had been killed in a road accident some months before . . . Hello, Mr. Coroner? I'm sorry, but there's no disturbed mental balance here, my friend. I'd say he got it just right.
Jess
I was at a party downstairs. It was a shit party, full of all these ancient crusties sitting on the floor drinking cider and smoking huge spliffs and listening to weirdo space-out reggae. At midnight, one of them clapped sarcastically, and a couple of others laughed, and that was it-Happy New Year to you, too. You could have turned up to that party as the happiest person in London, and you'd still have wanted to jump off the roof by five past twelve. And I wasn't the happiest person in London anyway. Obviously.
JJ
New Year's Eve was a night for sentimental losers. It was my own stupid fault. Of course, there'd be a low-rent crowd up there. I should have picked a classier date-like March 28, when Virginia Woolf took her walk into the river, or November 25 (Nick Drake). If anybody had been on the roof on either of those nights, the chances are they would have been like-minded souls, rather than hopeless f*ck-ups who had somehow persuaded themselves that the end of a calendar year is in any way significant.
My Thoughts
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I have been struggling with depression off and on for years. I don't use that term lightly. I have always struggled with major recurrent depression. Of course, I am not alone in this people are diagnosed with clinical depression all the time. I have been battling this while going to school, reading, and overall just living life. At times I am sure I am just being melodramatic but oh well right? I decided to read this book because I thought it might be a little relatable. Sometimes reading something you can relate to can get you out of the blues you are going through.
I liked that this book was not dramatic, it refused to look at suicide in that way. It had a really heartfelt tone, and that was a really awesome thing for me. This is such a sensitive topic for people. Suicide has touched the lives of so many, even has impacted those in my family. It has a very playful tone, but one that I don't believe is offensive. I believe it has just the right mix of seriousness.
The characters are British. They are witty and have attitude. I enjoyed some of their bizarre antics and personalities. I will admit that some of the characters were kind of annoying at times and eventually started to really bother me. For the most part, though it didn't drag the story down too much.
This book takes are hard and extremely uncomfortable topics of depression and suicide in a new and extremely different manner than I have seen in previous books. I really liked that the book presented four completely different characters facing four unique and personal circumstances. This allowed you to see that everyone is on their own journey. It also showed you how decisions can manifest themselves in different ways.
The interesting spin is that this book emphasizes the importance of community and togetherness when battling these problems. It showed the real power of humanity. The importance of having people you can lean on, or turn to in times of need.
These four characters didn't have any support and were facing all these issues alone, but by some weird act of fate, they came together. It showed that sometimes just being present for someone can make all the difference in a person's life. You don't have to talk, just knowing that you can run to them can be a huge relief for these challenges.
The biggest issue for this book is that is at times is severely unfocused and sort of jumps around. It just felt like it was going everywhere and nothing was getting resolved. That really ruined the book for me.
This wasn't the worst book ever but it wasn't my all-time favorite. This book was a solid 3-star book. I am glad I picked it up at the library and didn't purchase.
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