A Long Way Down

At my roommate's urging, I read A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby a couple weeks ago. My roommate, Sara, and her mom were going to hear him speak and since they were raving about Nick Hornby I figured I'd read one of his books and go along to hear him speak.

The book was pretty amazing. The unusual premise focused on several strangers that meet on top of a building on New Years Eve because they were all planning on committing suicide. The four main characters all face various problems in their lives--a severely disabled child, public disgrace, lack of a career, no girl friend, no boy friend. Despite their problems, though, they all come down from the building that night and become a sort of support system for each other. The characters couldn't be more different from each other but nonetheless find something in each other that creates a friendship strong enough to keep them alive.

Despite my somewhat corny synopsis, the book is actually really funny and touching. Hornby really finds a way of getting into the heads of these characters and creating unique voices for each one of them. Despite the sobering topic of suicide the book is quite light hearted and fun. I really enjoyed reading and felt as though I connected with the characters.

I was lucky enough to finish the novel just before Nick Hornby was coming to speak at the DC bookstore, Politics and Prose. The bookstore was totally packed, apparently he has quite the fanatic following. Mainly, he read from his newest book but Hornby also answered many questions and was very gracious as readers asked all about his writing process and the details of his book.

A Long Way Down
by Nick Hornby