A Long Way Down

A Long Way Down

320x320px Hardcover - USA - 1st edition.

Author Nick Hornby Published 2005-06-17 Type Fiction Genre Drama Themes Drama, Suicide Age Group Adult

A Long Way Down is a novel by Nick Hornby and published on 2005-06-07. It was later made into a film.

Personal

Own?	Hardcover, USA, 1st edition.
Read?	Hardcover, USA, 1st edition.
Finished	2000s.

Being a fan of High Fidelity, I bought this book. This is my favorite of Hornby's books. The movie has the same plot and characters, so it was decent, but most of the clever thoughts Hornby has his character's think it lost and the visual effects look pretty bad, so it's not that great.

Review

Overall:

Good

• Having the novel swap between the perspectives of the four main characters was executed beautifully. They each have their own motives, desires, and ways of thinking about the world which feels genuine.
• The dialogue of Martin and Jess in particular is hilarious.

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	Jess and Maureen are both strong.
Bechdel test?	Pass	Maureen and Jess talk together multiple times throughout the book.
Strong person of color character?	Fail
Queer character?	Unknown

Quotes

• My own feeling about JJ, without knowing anything about him, was that he might have been a gay person, because he had long hair and spoke American. A lot of Americans are gay people aren't they? I know they didn't invent gayness, because they say that was the Greeks. But they helped bring it back into fashion. Being gay was a bit like the Olympics: It disappeared in ancient times, and then they brought it back in the twentieth century. Anyway, I didn't know anything about gays, so I just presumed they were all unhappy and wanted to kill themselves.

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