A Long Way Down

Hornby, Nick. A Long Way Down. New York: Riverhead. 2006. Print

First Sentences:

Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?

Of course I can explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block. I'm not a bloody idiot. I can explain it because it wasn't inexplicable. It was a logical decision, the product of rational thought.

Description:

Sometimes it seems to me a book is developed from one simple, interesting concept. For example, imagine a man wants to kill himself for perfectly good reasons. He decides to make a statement by jumping off a tall building in London that is recognized as a suicide locale. But when he summons up the nerve to act out his plans, he discovers he is not alone on that rooftop. There are two other people already there, all with the same plan to jump. Add in a delivery man who shows up on the roof bearing pizzas and you definitely have a unique combination of personalities and motivations with all sorts of potential. 

I think Nick Hornby thought about this fascinating scenario and decided to explore who these people are and what stories led each one up there, then let it play out to see what occurs next in this wacky situation. The result is his off-beat novel A Long Way Down. 

Here are the players who find themselves on New Year's Eve desiring to end it all:

• Martin - a popular early-morning talk-show television host who has just been released from prison after having sex with a 15-year-old girl, an act that effectively ends his career, marriage, and self-respect;

• Maureen - a meek, elderly woman who 19 years ago had her first sex experience with one man, an act that resulted in a pregnancy and delivery of a severely handicapped son. She has devoted every minute of her life to him (without the man) even though he has never responded to her or has even moved;

• Jess - a foul-mouthed, abrasive teenage girl who has been dumped by a boy without any explanation and generally seems to have no respect for people and the world;

• JJ - an American pizza delivery man, ex-rock musician, who also has been dumped, thinks his music career is over, and may have CCR, a rare (i.e., nonexistent) terminal brain disease.

After the initial shock, they agree to a 30-minute break to discuss their personal situations over pizza. It is clear that however quirky these individuals seem, they are reasonable, rational people with serious problems in their lives. They understand each other, offer advice, and soon decide they can delay their suicide plans temporarily, just long enough to help Jess find her boyfriend and get an explanation for his dumping of her. 

Of course the following day the press finds out about this suicide group, made particularly more juicy as it includes a television celebrity and another young girl. Now the gang must decide how to handle their new "fame" as the oddest people in London. They get together for several meetings to discuss their current situation, any developments in their life-ending thoughts, and offer solutions to everyone but themselves. Of course, these sessions usually end with everyone mad at and/or offended by everyone else. Clearly they have nothing in common except their one deep conviction that their lives are hopeless. 

The book is written by all four characters as they share the narration. Each picks up the story from his or her own unique perspective, filling in gaps from their personal histories as well as commenting on all the others in the gang. Seems strange, but you begin to really like these odd characters, rooting for them to continue talking and to overcome their desire to end everything. 

Can a story of four potential suicides be anything but sad? I hope I have not presented this as a depressing book. But it is far from that. It is intense, humorous, and soul-searching, full of illogical reasoning, pontification, yelling, confusion, and self-deprecation for the choices made, the opportunities lost, and the murky futures that cannot be faced.

I was strongly gripped by these ordinary, rather unlikeable people looking into their lives and the stories of the others, trying to make sense of their world or figure out how to exit it with dignity and all the loose ends tied up. These are people you root even though they disappoint you, their fellow group members, and themselves time and again. One wonders how (or more likely if) they can salvage their lives and those of their unique gang whom they unwillingly yet desperately have bonded with. Very highly recommended. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Hornby, Nick. High Fidelity

Not a book about suicide, but rather a great Hornby novel about music, love, broken romances, a failing record shop, and composing Top 10 lists for every situation, from films to music. Wonderfully funny, sometimes sad, and always addicting to read.

Heinlein, Robert A. The Door Into Summer

Written in 1957, this book follows a brilliant engineer inventor cheated by his partner and fiance out of his designs and company. He decides not to end his life but be put into extended sleep to be reawakened when his enemies are old, wrinkled, and tired so he can gloat as he approaches them as a young man and maybe win some sort of revenge. But things don't always go according to plan when time travel is involved.