A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

...haven't been in much of a reading mood so far this year, for some unknown reason I just cannot be bothered, and I have spent hours on the train sat staring into space and wishing I was in the mood to read more. Anyway, when the charity book list came round at work I made the effort to buy two books at just 25p each, and one of these was "A Long Way Down" by Nick Hornby. Anyway, I began the book with no preconceived ideas, and pleasantly surprised ...
...have seen the film "About a Boy" numerous times which is based on his book of the same name - it's virtually impossible to watch TV in the UK and not have seen this film as it seems to be on at least 3 times a week. Nick Hornby has written various fiction and non-fiction books, and anthologies. "A Long Way Down" is his fourth novel and was published in 2005. '''My Book''' My copy of the book is paperback and 256 pages long with a bright orangey-red ...

marymoose99 17.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

A Long Way Down is the latest in a string of big hit books written by the oh-so witty Nick Hornby. Previous titles you may have heard of include About A Boy, High Fidelity and Fever Pitch. If you have read any of his books before then you will already know how funny this guy is. If you haven't then I suggest you find out. This story tackles one of the most morbid of subjects in one of the most hilarious, yet poignant, ways. At times you will be ...
...characters flung together in such a way. The relationships that exist between the four are most strange. THE MAIN CHARACTERS Martin Martin is a former breakfast TV presenter who has recently been released from prison after serving a stretch for sleeping with a fifteen year old. As if that wasn't bad enough on its own, he was married at the time. Subsequently his marriage broke down and his wife wanted nothing to do with him. On top of this he ...

mattydalton 11.05.2006 · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

...disappointed. However, if you want a sweet, sensitive story of four suicidal people thrown together, with a lot of comedy, then you will love it. As for me, I wasn't expecting anything particularly deep, but the story just fell a bit short of my expectations. New Years Eve, four very different people wind up at a local suicide spot, a place called Toppers' House. Martin is a TV presenter who has messed up his life by cheating on his wife and sleeping ...
...but has been aged by a tough life where she was dumped by her fiance (the only man she ever slept with) and was left to bring up a son so disabled that he can't do anything other than eat and sleep. Jess seems at first to be just a silly 18 year old who decides to throw herself off a tower block because she's recently been dumped, though her real problems are revealed later. JJ is an American whose band broke up a few omenths ago and who was recently ...

DoubleFantasy11 18.04.2006 · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

A Long Way Down Nick Hornby in his inimitable and funny way has managed to make a very funny novel based on suicide. He always shoots straight at the moral dilemma and hits the funny bone. It doesn't matter how dire the situation Hornby always finds some good in life. He is often sneered at by the literati as being full of middle class angst. Take no notice he is full of wisdom and they are full of S***. What is the central theme? It revolves around ...
...of these people develops into a farce as they try to decide whose going first. Who are these crazy people? Martin Sharp a TV personality who has been convicted of sleeping with a 15-yr old girl and in the process lost his wife and family. He maintained that suicides were treated by the coroner as being mentally unstable using the phrase that "the balance of his/her mind was disturbed". He says that the coroners report should read" He took his own ...

silver40 08.07.2006 · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

Nothing like a good old taboo to get the juices flowing. Mr Hornby (first name Nick) is one of the more observant writers I know of. Yeah ok, so I'm not the most well read person in the world so there are probably others who make him seem like he goes around with blinkers on, but he always manages to hit the nail on the head with the people he creates. Another talent of his is not really having a point to his stories and all at the same time having ...
...Martin, who is well educated, a tad famous and a bit of an arsehole (his words, not mine). His narration is possibly the easiest to stomach as it tends to be written more as a writer would narrate a story. Real words, proper punctuation, intellectual comments. Maureen is next to arrive on the scene. She is a lot quieter, far too easily impressed by anything and tends to be a little bit of a prude. She's also rather god-fearing to boot. I found her ...

ryanando 10.03.2008 · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

...on to the roof of a tower block intending to throw yourself off - but it's New Year's Eve, so it's like Piccadilly Circus up there. What do you do? What is the etiquette in a situation like that? Who jumps first? Should they toss for it, or form an orderly queue by the edge? Ladies first maybe? Nick Hornby's latest attempt to get to grips with the meaning of life is narrated by four very different people, complete strangers in fact, who meet on the ...
...sound like the storyboard of a Radiohead video, but don't let that put you off - this is not a depressing book. In fact the gallows humour soon had me snorting with laughter. I was in love with it by page twenty: at which point a young American called JJ turns up to deliver pizza - this is on the roof of a tower block, remember! He is the last of the four to arrive, and describes the others like this: "A middle-aged woman who looked like someone's ...

PJE_ 01.05.2005 · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

...Nick Hornby's new novel is a tenuous one: four strangers meet on New Year's Eve at the top of a tower block known locally as 'Toppers' House'. Each one has ended up there with the intention of hurling themselves over the edge. First up, best planned, and closest to the edge is Martin - a disgraced tv personality - whose last minutes of solitude are disturbed by Maureen who has been looking forward to this event for months. Next comes Jess, who hurtles ...
...is the etiquette here? Turn a blind eye? Try and talk someone else out of doing what you yourself are set on? This unlikely quartet take some time out from their planned leaps to the concrete below to eat the pizza that JJ is carrying, and give Hornby his first opportunity to start to live up to the blurb on the book jacket about 'answering the big questions about life and death…'. Sadly this is just the beginning of a long, uninspiring and unbelievable ...

melee 20.06.2005 · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

After reading a number of Nick Hornby novels in the past I bought this book for my boyfriend when we went on holiday. He read it quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it and recommended it to me. I read and finished the book in the same holiday. The central character is familiar for a Hornby novel, a middle aged man making a mess of his life. Martin is watching his life slowly slip away both personally and professionally after sleeping with an underage ...
...up to the top of a car park on new years eve with the intention of throwing themselves off. What follows is the story of the relationships which form between these four characters and an explanation of why each has ended up wanting to commit suicide. The book like Hornby's previous novels is witty although I felt this was perhaps a little darker than we have seen before. Hornby has written a black comedy which does deal with some complex issues ...

CVipond 27.02.2007 · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

...four fairly disparate individuals after a chance encounter at 'Topper's House', a popular local suicide destination. I found the characterisation excellent; Jess's stroppy teen made me squirm uncomfortably, and I laughed out loud at Martin and JJ's world weary cynicism. The premise of the novel is very compelling, and the desire to know that the characters make each of the milestones they have set for themselves, plus the unique inter-character relationships ...
...here, and the book is a little untidy, in that certain aspects highlghted by Hornby (such as the disappearance of Jen) are never fully explored. Unlike some of Hornby's other works, there is no neat ending here with all loose ends tied up, rather a general sense that things are improving and the characters will continue to develop. In my opinion though, this suits the overall tone of the book. ...

tallulahbang 29.08.2005 · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

...Be Good, Fever Pitch, About a Boy, Otherwise Pandemonium, High Fidelity. I was let down by "How to Be Good", and although this book was an improvement, it was relatively poor compared to his other previous works. This book tells the story of a group of people who have decided to commit suicide, by jumping off a building and they all incidentally pick the same date and same time and meet, and end up talking, and not jumping off to death. The book ...
...think "yeah, exactly!". He has a great ability to "connect" with the readers in a very humorous and sometimes thought-provoking way. The story starts out promisingly, but after they decide not to jump, it kind of... weakens and becomes much less interesting, and I was more urged to read on, simply to finish the book, and to read the ending. At some point I just lost interest, and just told myself to turn the pages saying "at some point it will get ...

hongchanchan 23.12.2005 (28.12.2005) · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

...Jess meet on top of a suicide hot-spot on new years eve. Each have their own reason to be there. Each will find their reason to use the stairs when in situations like that again. Tackling big issues, but with a wit that doesn\'t let you feel too down about the whole thing, Hornby's pacing and conversational style mix to create a highly polished affair, that leaves you feeling uplifted and satisfied. The 4 main characters are all very different, ...
...deep and complex as suicide, a book would lose it\'s enjoyment and comedy were it to delve too deep into this subject matter. And let\'s not forget, this is a comic book, by a comic writer. *********************************************************************** After a few mid-range ratings, and 2 comments, thought i'd add my reply comment to the main review:- "Apologies for the seeming lack of info! I think I'd end up spoiling the enjoyment of ...

scr204 31.07.2007 (01.08.2007) · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

...thought this might be quite a depressing story for a holiday read. However i was enticed to carry on reading, as you quickly learn more and more about each character. The way the book is written gives a good sense of who the characters really are and it manages to give a comic twist to a depressing subject. It's about a group of people who want to commit suicide but between they decide not too and see what happens in the following year. I enjoyed ...

djs89uk 04.09.2006 · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

One of a string of books by hornby, where underlying comic undertones are brilliantly encorperated into his stories.This tale, about suicide and hopelessness, unfolds in a curious and impulsive stlye.It is higly unpredictable from start to end. On an unlucky new years eve 4 suicidals become a kind of surrogate family; each individual making a move at creating a bearable future after they convince each other not to live, while constantly getting on ...
...into dramas and places witch a normal everday person can't go. Bringing up plenty of other thought provoking issues as it proceeds. It tackles the subject matter in an orginal way and shows how a compleltly different quartet of people can find a semi frienship and grow as a family, tackling everyones fears and failings. For some people this book can be a bit of light at the end of a dark tunnel, although leading to a bit of an anti climax, it shows ...

bbjbb 04.02.2008 (05.02.2008) · Read full review
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Review of A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby