This weekend I finished reading “A Long Way Down” by Nick Hornby. As with the other Nick Hornby books I read, this one was a delight as well, a light read, humorous and full of pop culture references.
High Fidelity is still my favourite book by him, and also my favourite movie based on one of his books, but this one isn’t far behind.
The story goes as follows: On New Year’s Eve, four people decide to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of a London tower block. By coincidence, they end up all four on the roof of the same tower block, and instead they form a sort of implicit pact to keep each other going on.
It’s not overly serious and neither is it a trip towards an unrealistic happy ending, it’s pretty realistic and tells life the way it is.
I really liked the way the four characters narrated the story from their different points of view, also giving you an insight into their respective personalities, I have to say it’s what I enjoyed most about the book.
I did get a feeling that the ending was a bit abrupt, and that it could go on a bit longer, but then others might have felt that it was stretched a bit; in the end, I guess it just simulated the pace of life events, bringing you close to an image of how the character’s lives would go on, and letting you imagine the rest, which I think is a good way to do it.
I ran across this book a number of times before I decided to buy it, I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t imagine what the story would turn out like at first, but well, it turned out to be quite a good read after all, and if you would like a light book to go through, and you have already read “High Fidelity”, then this book could be a good option for you.