heresmika's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
(maybe you should look at content warnings before reading the book / my review !)
every character in this book was so unlikeable, but i was still rooting for them. we follow four people who meet at the top of a tower, ready to jump off and end their lives. a mother with a highly disabled son, a teenage girl who is a little bit crazy and made some questionable actions, a guy whose band broke apart and hasn’t found anything to do with his life since, and a news broadcaster who went to jail after sleeping with a 15 years old. they have nothing in common other than wanting to end it all, and they all made a lot of mistakes.
i didn’t think that a story about suicide can be this ridiculous. i like how they just decided to fuck with the media and pretend an angel stopped them from jumping just to get money. this plot line is one of the silliest thing that i read, but i enjoyed every moment. they got to a point where they couldn’t see the consequences of their actions (since they didn’t believe they had a future), so they were okay with doing so much dumb shit.
the story is told from the pov of the four characters, and every few pages we switched to a different pov. there isn’t a lot of dialogue, but you can still understand all the characters because of quick changes in perspectives.
my problem is that i genuinely disliked these characters; how can i support a married man who slept with an underaged girl and didn’t feel regret? martin’s character was just so horrible it ruined most of the story for me. jess was so judgmental and didn’t try to understand the others - but she was young and really improved towards the end. maureen said some uneducated stuff about the lgbtq+ community. and jj tried to romanticize suicide when he talked about why he wanted to do it.
they were better when they were together since they could hold each other accountable, but some of the scenes were uncomfortable. they didn’t have any empathy, and even when they tried to help each other, they were so rude.
i really enjoyed reading maureen’s story. it made me feel so sad, but she had some powerful lines :(
“So I didn't know what to say when Martin asked me if I really wanted to die. The obvious answer was, Yes, yes, of course I do, you fool, that's why I've climbed all these stairs… But there's another answer, too, isn't there? And the other answer is, No, of course I don't, you fool. Please stop me. Please help me. Please make me into the kind of person who wants to live, the kind of person who has a bit missing, maybe. The kind of person who would be able to say, I am entitled to something more than this.”
this sentence is so heartbreaking: “I was crying because all I wanted in the world, the only thing that would make me want to live, was for Matty to die. And knowing why I was crying just made me cry more.”
jess’ intervention was so sweet. she spend so much time trying to get support for the others (and hoping it might also help her), and i really wish she would have better luck in her future.
overall, interesting, and sometimes funny, story. even if i didn’t like everything, i found something to take away from it.
every character in this book was so unlikeable, but i was still rooting for them. we follow four people who meet at the top of a tower, ready to jump off and end their lives. a mother with a highly disabled son, a teenage girl who is a little bit crazy and made some questionable actions, a guy whose band broke apart and hasn’t found anything to do with his life since, and a news broadcaster who went to jail after sleeping with a 15 years old. they have nothing in common other than wanting to end it all, and they all made a lot of mistakes.
i didn’t think that a story about suicide can be this ridiculous. i like how they just decided to fuck with the media and pretend an angel stopped them from jumping just to get money. this plot line is one of the silliest thing that i read, but i enjoyed every moment. they got to a point where they couldn’t see the consequences of their actions (since they didn’t believe they had a future), so they were okay with doing so much dumb shit.
the story is told from the pov of the four characters, and every few pages we switched to a different pov. there isn’t a lot of dialogue, but you can still understand all the characters because of quick changes in perspectives.
my problem is that i genuinely disliked these characters; how can i support a married man who slept with an underaged girl and didn’t feel regret? martin’s character was just so horrible it ruined most of the story for me. jess was so judgmental and didn’t try to understand the others - but she was young and really improved towards the end. maureen said some uneducated stuff about the lgbtq+ community. and jj tried to romanticize suicide when he talked about why he wanted to do it.
they were better when they were together since they could hold each other accountable, but some of the scenes were uncomfortable. they didn’t have any empathy, and even when they tried to help each other, they were so rude.
i really enjoyed reading maureen’s story. it made me feel so sad, but she had some powerful lines :(
“So I didn't know what to say when Martin asked me if I really wanted to die. The obvious answer was, Yes, yes, of course I do, you fool, that's why I've climbed all these stairs… But there's another answer, too, isn't there? And the other answer is, No, of course I don't, you fool. Please stop me. Please help me. Please make me into the kind of person who wants to live, the kind of person who has a bit missing, maybe. The kind of person who would be able to say, I am entitled to something more than this.”
this sentence is so heartbreaking: “I was crying because all I wanted in the world, the only thing that would make me want to live, was for Matty to die. And knowing why I was crying just made me cry more.”
jess’ intervention was so sweet. she spend so much time trying to get support for the others (and hoping it might also help her), and i really wish she would have better luck in her future.
overall, interesting, and sometimes funny, story. even if i didn’t like everything, i found something to take away from it.
meagan_louise's review
3.0
Finished most of the book on a car ride coming home to San Diego from the Bay Area. I liked that this book was light enough for the road yet not numbingly so (I also finished "Twilight" on the trip to the Bay Area)...I mildly chuckled in some parts and was genuinely interested in the characters and how they were going to end up. The whole tale seems a bit fantastical while all the characters go on and on how their situation is not some magical fairy tale, but I took that as ironic. The only other Hornby book I read prior to this was "How to be Good" and "A Long Way Down" is definitely better then that...although I don't know what that says exactly about Hornby's abilities as a writer.
missamandamae's review
5.0
I have loved every Nick Hornby book I've read thus far. They all have had something to do with music/musicians, and I find he writes that superbly well. A lot of authors really botch writing about music - making it sound really insipid, or out of date in six months. Not Hornby. He knows how to write it so it lasts and is meaningful.
This is a book about suicide, and I love it for that. That's not a topic one can visit lightly. It's also pretty honest in its portrayal of those who contemplate suicide. Things aren't perfect. But it's the little things, the little optimisms that can make a grand difference in a person's life. These are four people from four very different backgrounds and situations, and under extenuating circumstances are able to develop a kind of friendship, a kind of family. Naturally I was drawn more to JJ's story, him being the musician and all. I have a big soft spot for musicians, especially sad musicians who have some amount of talent and just want to make art. I want to hug them and tell them it's going to be okay, and then make sure they have a full meal. So I loved JJ. (Also helps he's being portrayed by Aaron Paul in the upcoming theatrical release. I hear the movie's not so great, but hey, I'll probably see it. Aaron Paul. Nick Hornby. Kind of up my alley.)
I was touched and delighted by pretty much everything in this book. I loved the bizarre events the four found themselves in, and how none of their stories went the way one would traditionally think they would. They kinda sorta wanted their stories to be nice and traditional, but also kinda sorta didn't. You know, like most of us. I found it to be a quick read, pleasant and not too heavy, with the right amount of humanity to it.
This is a book about suicide, and I love it for that. That's not a topic one can visit lightly. It's also pretty honest in its portrayal of those who contemplate suicide. Things aren't perfect. But it's the little things, the little optimisms that can make a grand difference in a person's life. These are four people from four very different backgrounds and situations, and under extenuating circumstances are able to develop a kind of friendship, a kind of family. Naturally I was drawn more to JJ's story, him being the musician and all. I have a big soft spot for musicians, especially sad musicians who have some amount of talent and just want to make art. I want to hug them and tell them it's going to be okay, and then make sure they have a full meal. So I loved JJ. (Also helps he's being portrayed by Aaron Paul in the upcoming theatrical release. I hear the movie's not so great, but hey, I'll probably see it. Aaron Paul. Nick Hornby. Kind of up my alley.)
I was touched and delighted by pretty much everything in this book. I loved the bizarre events the four found themselves in, and how none of their stories went the way one would traditionally think they would. They kinda sorta wanted their stories to be nice and traditional, but also kinda sorta didn't. You know, like most of us. I found it to be a quick read, pleasant and not too heavy, with the right amount of humanity to it.
chordsontheline's review
4.0
This made me think about how suicidal people think, what makes them go on and cut that last thread of their life.
They say in this book that family is like your gravity but what if you have no more gravity in your life? How would you stay away from that edge of the building? Would you jump or would you walk away to find some new gravity to hold you down.
That's something to think about.
They say in this book that family is like your gravity but what if you have no more gravity in your life? How would you stay away from that edge of the building? Would you jump or would you walk away to find some new gravity to hold you down.
That's something to think about.
bookishkathrine's review
2.0
Not my favorite Nick Hornby book. This read kind of like a screenplay rather than a novel. The writing and story structure made it a fairly unsatisfying read, though an easy one.