Long Way Down

Superb! Another powerful book from the incredible Jason Reynolds! With extraordinary use of such few words, he manages to build suspense and doubt in this heart stopping narrative!

This book was fucking amazing… The description of Will’s sorrow at losing his brother just broke me, because I know this feeling, and the way it was described is so visceral, so intense, and so. Fucking. Real. I couldn’t put this book down–by which I mean the PDF file open on my screen, drawing me in and forcing me to finish the whole book in one sitting.

Last year, almost to the day, my brother passed away. And I may not have been raised with The Rules like Will, but you’re damn right they seem to have seeped their way under my skin. No crying. No snitching. Revenge.

The description of sorrow, the kicking in the throat, the tooth that’s missing–hell, the tooth that has been ripped out forcefully, not just missing… all these images evoked those same feelings from last year. It was cathartic as I allowed myself the chance to really feel those feelings instead of pushing them away.

But that’s not where this book ends–not with sorrow. Instead, Will is confronted with the past, with The Rules, with how those rules have impacted so many lives. In the span of sixty seconds, Will learns a little bit about grief, about how it can make people do crazy things like seek revenge, about how the way we perceive the world when we are grieving may not be reality. Just because we think we know, doesn’t mean we know.

When this book comes out, you should read it. It may be a short read because it’s all told in verse, but it’s one hell of a powerhouse.

This is a hard hitting look at gangs and gun violence in our youth of today.

Will's brother has just been shot and killed on the street.
Will decides that he must retaliate against who he thinks was the shooter.
He grabs a gun from his brother's dresser and gets on the elevator.
On the way down to the lobby he encounters friends and family members affected by gun violence.
Will this change his decision?

What a powerful book! Written in verse format using spacing on the page just as powerfully as the words themselves. There is so much emotion in so few words: heartache, anguish, despair, duty, fear, sadness etc. This book would be an excellent addition to any high school English curriculum.

Will's brother Shawn is murdered and 15 year old Will must seek revenge as per the 'rules'. The book follows Will as he descends in an elevator, stopping at each floor to admit another passenger, each one asking questions and helping Will think about the revenge that he is seeking. With each stop you can feel the pain that Will is feeling and see the hopeless loop his life is in and wonder what decision he will make.
I loved so many parts of this book and was so amazed how such emotion could be expressed with such few words, or the placement of a word! Here are a few highlights:

'but if the blood inside you is on the inside of someone else
you never want to see it on the outside of them.'

'Shawn was zipped into a bag and rolled away, his blood added to the pavement galaxy of bubblegum stars.'

'laughter, when its loud and heavy and aimed at you, I think can feel just as bad as being shot.'

'pretended like yellow tape was some kind of neighbourhood flag that don't nobody wave but is always flapping in the wind.'

'Weird talking to my father like he was a stranger even though we hugged life family.'

'Her face, eight years older than eight years old but still the same.'

Shockingly powerful book in prose, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds will pull in the reader. Will's older brother Shawn has just been killed and Will is left reeling in the aftermath, but honouring the rules: don't cry, don't snitch, get revenge. Armed with his brother's gun, Wil boards the elevator, but then is visited by an impossible series of people, each with a significant story to share. Through Reynolds' masterful storytelling and poignant words, a remarkable story unfolds.

Powerful and raw, this is a story that needs to be read. I consumed Long Way Down in a short period of time, but it will stay with me for much, much longer.

This is such an amazing book.

It’s an incredibly moving story. It reminded me of other popular books right now, where the main character has to deal with the aftermath of his brother being shot and killed.

The story is written in verse, which is unique. It made the book a quick read. Some of the phrases were just so beautiful and moving. I loved the lyrical style of writing.

This is a story about the never ending cycle of revenge. When does it end?

The ending gave me chills. It was so good! I highly recommend this moving story!

I received this book from NetGalley. I requested it after reading the description and thought it would be very interesting to read. I didn’t have much hope for getting the ARC as I am not always successful with big publishers, and Long Way Down is published by Simon & Schuster Canada.

Long Way Down is the first book by Jason Reynolds that I have read, even though I heard about All American Boys before.

Short synopsis

An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestseller Jason Reynolds’s fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.

This novel is written in verse and is saturated with grief, anger, and pain. I read it in one sitting - and this is how you are supposed to read it, in my opinion - because I couldn’t put it down. It was a very raw and emotional read that was making me more and more uncomfortable and horrified.

ALERT: Do not read the full synopsis on NetGalley or GoodReads as it will spoil you the whole thing. And it is too wonderful to be spoiled. I didn’t read past that first paragraph and found the prose to be very profound.

This book is a cry for help; an angry shout-out. It talks about gun violence, gang violence, poverty, loss, grief. The narrative is both heartbreaking and brutal. It strong enough to leave the mark. It sure did leave the mark on me. It is a hard to describe because it has to be experienced.

Read it. And weep. Because this shouldn’t be our reality in this day and age.

Publication Date: 17 Oct 2017

Long Way Down is a short read with a lot of depth. It is a commentary on The Rules (Don’t cry. Don't snitch. Take revenge.) and the devestation following the rules can cause. The story follows Will in the aftermath of the shooting death of his brother as he attempts to follow those rules. On the way down from his apartment to the street he encounters various people who have been part of his life. To say more would be too much. Read it. It will make you think!

I don't generally like books written in verse, but figured I would give this one a chance because Jason Reynolds is such a good writer, and I am so glad I did! It was written beautifully, so powerful and intense, and the ending had me thinking for a long time. I will definitely be purchasing this, and all of Jason Reynolds' other books for the library and I'll probably also get a copy for myself.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atheneum for the ARC :)

In fifteen-year-old Will’s neighbourhood, there are certain rules that must be followed when a family member is murdered: no crying, no snitching, and get revenge. These rules were taught to him by his brother, Shawn, who was taught by his uncle, who was taught by his brother, Will’s father and so on back to long before Will was born. And they have all obeyed the rules. Now, Shawn has been murdered and it is Will’s turn. He finds his brother’s gun and, with it tucked into his waistband, he heads out to get revenge against the man whom he assumes, without any real evidence, was the shooter. But as he takes the elevator down, it stops on each floor and a literal ghost from his past enters, all victims of gunfire and all but one who had died as retribution after obeying the last rule.

Long Way Down by author Jason Reynolds is a powerful tale told in free verse about the violence that has become too common in many urban neighbourhoods. Reynolds’ skills as a wordsmith are such that although the story is told seemingly without emotion (Rule 1), this book evokes strong and almost visceral reactions. I cared deeply about the characters: the men and boys who were both the perpetrators and victims of the violence and the women and girls who were collateral damage. I rarely read a book more than once but I have already reread Long Way Down and know that it is one of those rare books I will return to again and again. Even knowing the ending, which is, at least to me both ambiguous and stunning, it crashed into me just as hard the second ride down the elevator.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

Long Way Down was a fast paced, thought provoking read. The entire book takes place in 60 seconds in an elevator. The author does a fantastic job at painting a picture of the place the main character lives, but also leaves room to imagine it yourself. This book, written in poem like stances, captures you right from the beginning, until the very end. If you're looking for a quick, dramatic read, this is for you!

Loved this book! Read most of it in one sitting, and would have but life happened. The last 50 or so pages are especially brilliant, but the last page... wow. This writer can do so much in just a few pages, just a few words. A vicious cycle of violence is brilliantly presented in a way that will stick with readers. Will's brother is shot. He plans his revenge and the novel goes through a 60 second span in which he considers the decision. Long Way Down was just put on the list of contenders for the National Book Award, but if you have read anything by Jason Reynolds you didn't need to know that to want to read this book. It does not disappoint.

Goodreads Synopsis:
A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator.

My Review:
I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

This book tells the story of a boy who loses his brother. Determined to get revenge, fifteen year old Will sets out to use his brothers gun on the person who killed him, only following the rules. On the way to do the deed he's stopped in the elevator by his dead family. Is he hallucinating? Doesn't matter, they have important things to say. Most of them died following the same rules that Will is, the most important one being if someone shoots your family, you shoot them. Just hopefully they don't also follow the rules.

The story mostly takes place in the elevator, going floor by floor with the characters chatting and smoking the whole time. It's dramatic but in the quiet cold and calculated way, written entirely in poetry.

I enjoyed reading this book, though it's super short, the characters are pretty realistic despite most of them being dead, and the situation is completely unique to anything I've read lately. Maybe not my new favourite, but I still liked it. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

Here's a link to buy the book on amazon, and another link to the authors twitter in case you have any questions.

https://www.amazon.ca/Long-Way-Down-Jason-Reynolds-ebook/dp/B06ZZLYTK9/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1504115353&sr=8-2&keywords=long+way+down

https://twitter.com/JasonReynolds83

Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
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