I received this ARC from Publisher for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds Published by Simon and Schuster on October 24th 2017
Pages: 320
Amazon-Indiebound
Goodreads
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
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.
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.
Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.
My Thoughts:
I’ve been a fan of Jason’s writing ever since I first read one of his books. With each subsequent book I’ve read, I’ve fallen more and more in love with his writing style. I was thrilled when I heard that Long Way Down was written in verse. Jason’s a poet. His books are always tightly written. However, I couldn’t wait to check out his first YA novel in verse.
Long Way Down made me feel so many, many things. Frankly, I was left in awe. A three hundred page verse novel uses fewer words to tell a story than a typical three hundred page novel. It’s amazing to me how Reynolds is able to build a story that makes the reader care so very much in so few words. I connected with this story from the get go. Even though this is a quick read, I felt like I got to know Will and was invested in his choice. My heart ached for him. Each new verse brought me closer to the story and gave me a better understanding of Will and the world he lives in. It was a really incredible reading experience.
I cannot say enough good things about Long Way Down. It’s a quick read but the writing is such that you’ll want to savor it. Also, if you’re an audiobook lover, Jason narrates the audiobook. It’s just under two hours long. I bought it and cannot wait to reread it.
Seriously. If you’ve never read a Jason Reynolds book you’re missing out. He’s one of the most incredible writers out there. Read his books. Buy his books. Share his books.
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