- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Penguin (6 April 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140287027
- ISBN-13: 978-0140287028
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (98 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 21,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"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."
-- "Publishers Weekly" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
-- "Publishers Weekly" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
'Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?'
For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: he has, in his own words, 'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve, he's going to end it all ... But not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons.
Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices of cold pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living?
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I just read a few of the reviews for this book and I was taken aback by the amount of negative feedback it generated. I was totally enthused by A Long Way Down and read it in one sitting. Thinking back on it now it's true that there wasn't much of a plot, that the messy situations the characters are in don't get fully resolved at the end, and that the basic premise is contrived: four strangers who are intending to top themselves meet by chance on top of a building on New Year's Eve, and as a result end up forming a weird support group and don't kill themselves. Well, all that's true but it didn't bother me in the slightest as I didn't feel that that was the point of the book - or rather, it was as these apparent weaknesses are in fact what make this book amazing, and I'm sure it's completely intentional on the part of the author. The contrived aspects give a sort of urban fairytale feel to the book, but it's pretty obvious that it's tongue in cheek and meant to be that way - I think the whole episode about the imaginary angel confirms this. Perhaps the reason why a lot of readers didn't like it is because in spite of the contrived elements it's a lot like real life, therefore unpredictable and not like a "proper book", with plot, dénouement etc. To sum up: an incredibly wise, compassionate and at times hilarious exploration of human despair and frailties, and also a joyful celebration of life in all its weirdness and unresolvedness. You will absolutely love it if you've found yourself in limbo at least once in your life, thinking you can't carry on while still keeping a glimmer of hope on the back burner. But if you're looking for a clever plot and storyline don't buy this book!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Few authors could accomplish what Nick Hornby does with "A Long Way Down". He takes a odd foursome who come together by chance when they each pick the same local to attempt suicide, then talk each other out of it, and creates a dysfunctional extended surrogate family out of them. What makes Hornby so incredible as a writer is that he accomplishes this sad set up with his trademark humor and subtle wit. I extremely well done novel. The only other books I could think to recommend as being in the same league are "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time", "High Fidelity", "My Fractured Life", and "The Wonder Spot."
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Abiding by his now familiar mantra of "write about what you know", Nick Hornby uses his favourite North London territory as the backdrop for a humorous but hard-hitting examination of the plight of four would-be suicides, variously damaged and battered by life, who come together one New Year's Eve at "Toppers' House", a notorious suicide venue.
The book considers their more or less uneasy relationship over the following months as they attempt to come to terms with the respective problems life has dealt them.
A tale of the lukewarm milk of human kindness and of how genuinely well-intentioned attempts to communicate often end up succeeding only in failing to communicate at all, the book shows much of the chutzpah, drive and flair we have come to expect from Nick Hornby. Once again, he uses his customary footballing and musical tropes to paint in the background; this time, however, it all seems a little too contrived and off-pat.
I bow to nobody in my admiration for "Fever Pitch", the only caveat being that it gave rise to a stream of very poor imitation memoirs by writers not in the same league as Hornby.
As far as his fiction is concerned, however, I have begun to feel that he has now written the same perfectly inoffensive, enjoyably competent novel over and over again.
Is it perhaps time for him to spread his literary wings and try to do something completely different?
The book considers their more or less uneasy relationship over the following months as they attempt to come to terms with the respective problems life has dealt them.
A tale of the lukewarm milk of human kindness and of how genuinely well-intentioned attempts to communicate often end up succeeding only in failing to communicate at all, the book shows much of the chutzpah, drive and flair we have come to expect from Nick Hornby. Once again, he uses his customary footballing and musical tropes to paint in the background; this time, however, it all seems a little too contrived and off-pat.
I bow to nobody in my admiration for "Fever Pitch", the only caveat being that it gave rise to a stream of very poor imitation memoirs by writers not in the same league as Hornby.
As far as his fiction is concerned, however, I have begun to feel that he has now written the same perfectly inoffensive, enjoyably competent novel over and over again.
Is it perhaps time for him to spread his literary wings and try to do something completely different?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A long way away from being a brilliant book!!
I haven't read any of Nick Hornby's books before and have only watched 'About a Boy' but there was something so compelling about this book that I had to buy it - plus there was $10... Read more
Published 3 days ago by Halliday
Firmly below average.
This book is literally rubbish. Well, not literally. If it was literally rubbish then it would be made of old newspapers and banana peals. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Captain Ahab
Easy read about real problems and the power of friendship
I read this book several years ago, but I was very fond of it because it spoke very openly about depressed individuals and how they get out of heir states. Read more
Published 4 months ago by steelo
Ambitious, but a failure
This is one of those books which you read and wonder how the critics on the cover could possibly have found anything nice to say. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Kate Bradley
Funny and Touching
A funny and deeply touching novel about four very different people who find themselves on the roof of a block of flats (a local suicide location) on New Years Eve. Read more
Published 11 months ago by BookManEddie
Towering
I'm mystified by some of the ridiculous comments I have read in some customer reviews of this utterly brilliant book. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Ozric Tents
psychologically acute
Four very different people find each other at the top of a tall building, each intending to jump. Psychologically acute with excellent characterisation, this was readable and... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Cole Davis
TO BE OR NOT TO BE?
New Year's Eve. Four strangers converge on a high roof, the aim suicide. This is their story, they taking turns to narrate. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. D. L. Rees
so so
I found this an easy read and I must admit I was compelled for the first half of the book; the characters seemed interesting, and Hornby seemed to have created good psychological... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Bethany Hannah Dixon
A light read - but a dark subject....
Four people all with different problems plan to commit suicide on New Year's Eve. They meet up accidentally on the roof of a tower block ("Toppers' Tower"). Read more
Published 20 months ago by Wynne Kelly
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