The book “A long way down” from Nick Hornby has a very exciting story about four different characters. These four persons have the same mind, they will suicide themselves. As luck would have it, they would jump from the same house. The characters are JJ, he cames from USA to Britain and has no friends, Maureen, he has a child, Martin, a moderator with a bad background and Jess, a young girl without stoppages to say her own opinion. They have nearly the same problems in their life and they talk about this problems on the top of the roof. then they decide to continue their life for 90 days and then they meet again on the roof, on Valentines-day. Also they live their life and after the 90 days they come on to the roof and they decide that their life is ok.

The book is written in interrior monologues from the four peoples. This is a good idea, because you can see the feelings, problems and wishes. For example that JJ will be a rockstar. You can characterize everybody better. The title of the book is chosen very well, because the characters think about their life after the meeting with the others and so it is a long way to be sure that suicide is the only way.

All in all the book was good, because people can identify themselves with one of the characters and maybe they can learn a little bit about upgrading their life.

What I like most about the book are Jess, JJ, Maureen and Martin.  Hornby’s ability to develop characters is a proof for his great knowledge of human nature because the four of them are extremely different and yet I could kind of identify with everyone.  What I mean to say is that – although you might have nothing in common with them – you can understand their emotions and actions. The first-person-pespective underlines that because it helps you to get to know the persons very closely. So I ended up liking all of them in a certain way inspite of their differences and actually unlikeable foibles …

The only thing that I was a little bit disappointed of was the end although I have to clearify that I am still in two minds about it. The fact that Hornby leaves it rather open made me feel slightly pessimistic as the problems the characters had at the beginning were not solved till the end.  There is a symbol that life is always going on although you might not see it moving. But is that much of a comfort to people who want to kill themselves? Nevertheless this kind of end is very realistic which actually is great. Yet I am just used to the films I normally watch and the books I read which start with a conflict that is sort out in the end. Hence I probably have wrong expectations. “A long way down” did absolutely not confirm to my usual reading and watching habits. And I know that I also would have been disappointed if JJ, Maureen, Jess and Martin had become friends and helped each other out just like this. That would have been far too predictable. So I don’t know what I would have liked as an end …

I do not recommend that book to people who think about killing themselves and expect a tip how to handle the problems in their lives … Or maybe it is just me who doesn’t see the comfort … Anyway, I liked that book very much and enjoyed reading it.

It seems to be a strange topic Hornby is writing about. But for this novel is told out of the eyes of the four main characters you can understand their thoughts and emotions very well. I liked the idea to change the narrative perspective between the four persons after some pages. It is interesting to read how Maureen, JJ, Martin and Jess experience their time together, what they think about each other and themselves. I felt qiute close to the characters and it was nice to see how they develop and even what mistakes they do. Unfortunately in contrast to the well-thought-of plot – the holidays they have spent together, the reading circle they wanted to found, especially Jess’ attempts to help the others – the end is not very surprising. But that is better than a typical Happy End when they all become best friends and all worries are suddenly forgotten. So this book ends rather openly and that makes you think a lot about this whole suicide-thing. But Hornby really has the gift to write about such a serious topic in a natural and human way, without making fun of it or making you feel bad. But what I liked most was typical human behaviour of the four characters. Each of them – maybe not Maureen – has also a rather unlikeable side, they all make mistakes, act and react very humanly. None of them is a hero which makes this story so impressive.

I just can recommend to read this book for people who like books just for reading-pleasure and do not need much surprises or big incredible ends. It is funny but not just for laughs - you will have to think about it after reading it!

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby; Paperback; Penguin; 2006; 272 pages; GE € 7.49

The book A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby is about four very different people, who try to commit suicide on New Year’s Eve. They meet each other on the top of a tower-block. After a long time full of hesitation they decide to affiliate to a group. The gang includes Jess, a young and fairly cheeky girl, Martin, a typical television-presenter with a bad fore-time, Maureen, an older woman with a disabled child and JJ, a music fanatic and an ex-member of  an unknown rock band. The purpose of this special group is to discover the worth to live. In the next few months they experience a lot of things and try to stick together.

The curiosity of this story is outstanding. But I like reading the novel. Hornby uses this special way of telling the story. All characters talk in an interior monologue and tell the story out of their own experiences. Sometimes it is not easy to follow, but it`s very interesting to read the novel from different points of view. I also like the characters in the book. The four people are completely different. All of them have a certain reason for committing suicide. The way how the characters react to each other is sometimes a little bit suprising. Dirty words, allusions to famous songs and serious sentences are shared all over the novel. But i like the authenticity of the characters. They act very natural and not like only playing a role.

To sum up, Nick Hornby’s latest book A Long Way Down is great. This very book leaves me very contemplative. But thats a good sign. I recommend the novel to all people who are able to understand the very special behaviour of the different characters. For all of you who like funny stories this book isn’t the right choice. Sometimes it seems to be funny but mostly it’s only gallows humour. Enjoy it…

Paul Müller

The book is about four persons, who are meet each other at Topper’s House. They are called Martin, an anchorman with a very difficult past, Maureen, who has a disabled son, Jess, who have problems with her parents and friend, and JJ, who came from the USA to the UK and lost everything. And they all have the same idea, to commit suicide at New Year’s Eve. But the group decides together to wait with kill themselves and meet again at Topper’s after 90 days.

It is written in an interior monologue and that is a very good idea, because so you can characterize and understand the characters much better. The circumstances are some kind of funny and the language of Maureen and JJ is not very difficult. But the story can not be real and is predictable. You can imagine what happens next and the end of the story is also clear. At the label of the book is a sentence which says that the book would be funny, but to me it is only being funny. The characters are strange and you can not identify with them and sometimes they are using demotic expressions which you can not understand as a learner of English and also can not find in any dictionary.

All in all I can advise this book for people, who some kind of strange and can identify with those crazy characters or are very good in English and can understand this difficult language. If you are not one of this two groups please avoid this book. Thank you …

Daniel Scheiding

The main thought of the book seems to be funny…but at the moment the four walking downstairs I think the book begins to be not that interesting. First it’s really unrealistic, that four people met on a tower block with the same aim : to commit suicide. But more unrealistic seems to me that the four decided not to kill themselves because they talked to each other and want to search Jess’s ex-boyfriend. But thats not the only thing, I think, that is unrealistic in this book… the characters seems to me not authentic and also you can not identify with them, besides Maureen she is the only one with a acceptable reason for committing suicide and you really believe everything she is talking about. Jess, the rude girl, I think is exaggerated cool and you don’t believe that she is only 18. Than there is Martin, the strange TV-presenter, the way he is talking about his life and his career I think is some kind of depressing. At last there is JJ he’s also some kind of strange, because I don’t think that he really wants to be a rockstar, as the way he’s talking about and because of the fact he gave up so fast. I don’t know but when I was reading the book I felt some kind of boring. And all in all I have to say I never was a big reader, only if a book fascinates me I can read it until the end and concentrate the whole time. Maybe it was only not my type of book I like to read. But if you want to form you an own opinion I think you have to read it on your own…

The main issue of A long way down seems to be funny, but behind this issue is a very important and not so funny theme. Great Britain has got a very high suicide-rate and there are people of every social-class. There are a lot more people, who want to kill themselves but then they don’t do it. And this rate of people who want to commit suicide does not dicrease year to year…it increases. Hornby’s book has a happy end, but in real life it isn’t so happy.

As novel it is a very good book. The scenes are good-structured and the dialogues are funny and interesting. I didn’t read other books of Hornby, but this book i like a lot, even though the topic do not match the theme “suicide”.

The book deals with suicide but it is not written in a usual way. As the reader you get to know four characters who met each other on the roof of “Topper’s Building” where they wanted to jump off. Nick Hornby, the author has chosen to write his story in four monologues which overlap in some scenes. That gives the reader the chance to judge over the situation with knowing two or three different opinions. Although does that style of writing bore the reader sometimes, because he wants to know how the story continues but he has to read the same situation once again. That makes the story sometimes a little bit slow moving and unexciting. But in contrast to that the characters are very plausible, realistic and attractive because the reader could imagine the different problems very well. In my opinion this is the most important thing on a book – that the characters convey something to the reader. Furthermore the language is understandable which makes it easier to follow the story. There is just one more thing which I do not like about the book and this is the end because I hoped that there would happen something exciting or unbelievable but the life of the charcters stayed the same with nearly the same problems. But all in all I could say that “A long way down” is a very successfull book which I like and I do not regret it that I have read the book.