A Long Way Down

I bought this book because I had read high fidelity before, and I think this author has a great ability to conduct a story. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down.

I can really recommend this book!

I loved High Fidelity and enjoyed the movie About a Boy, but this was horrific. The main characters are extremely unlikeable, and in some cases, absolutely pathetic. The plot was incredibly unrealistic, particularly when they all decide to take a vacation with one another, despite the fact that none of them actually like or enjoy each other's conmpany. This novel just dragged. Several of us read this for a book club and none of us had anything interesting to say about it - it was just plain boring.

Without revealing the plot, what there is of it, this was one of the most stilted reads I have slogged through in a long time. It doesn't surprise me that it is being made into a movie; however, I won't see that either. The writing was lack luster, the characters were pathetic and the whole premise was both depressing and unfortunate.

I enjoyed the book even though it was occasionally dry and there was really no end resolution to the lives of the characters. I would recommend the book, but at the same time I will not be re-reading the book anytime soon. Good for book club discussions.

Wow, ordered 8 copies of this book for my February book club and not a single one of us had anything good to say about it. I personally could not complete it. Every time I tried to read a few chapters my eyes glazed over. Bad, bad, bad...read about 1/3 of it. Two of the members did complete it I hear. Our meeting is next week...should prove interesting.

Let's see...I really liked High Fidelity and About A Boy was also good. I thought How to be Good was somewhat readable. Why not give the 4th Hornby oeuvre a wary, but honest try? Take four characters (including - guess what - a trash-talking teen girl and a failed rock musician), a lot of "cute" writing about 'puke' and the expected 'f' word, a couple of contemporaneous references to the politics of George Bush and Tony Blair, endless repetition of narrative and what is left? Not much to recommend.There are lots of improbable vignettes,the sorriest of which (no, not the intended New Year's Eve leap off the building) concerns an intervention brought off in the basement of a Starbucks. This is a pantheon of hokey, jokey characters. Even Maureen, whose life is filled with genuine pathos,not just the tedious whinging of the other 3 mediocrities,has been infused with scant depth by Hornby. This book pushed me over the edge. Nick can do better.

Although I think Mr. Hornby is clever and interesting, this book is not. If you want to spend a few sorta entertaining hours, you'll do okay, however, if you're thinking this is a great read, a clever and intriguing read, sorry no. Excellent story premise, once in a while a fun line, but mostly superficial and so-not the thought provoking piece we were all hoping for. Mr. Hornby you need a few more drafts before this one is ready to release. Or let a great screenwriter take the premise and just run with it. It would be fun as a movie if better developed. P.S. Why Mr. Hornby selected the most unflattering photo ever seen as the author's pix I have no idea.

Since the excellent "High Fidelity", Hornby's books have become less and less coherent, a progression that now give us "A Long Way Down", a book that is a total mess.

The four central characters take it turns to narrate, which quickly becomes a tiresome device. The impression is that he struggled to come up with one well-crafted character, so gave us 4 mediocre unconvincing ones instead.

The book's second big problem is that the plot goes absolutely nowhere, which makes the reading experience ultimately unsatisfying.

Terrible. I normally like Hornby but this felt like it was gimmicky and written by a 5th grader who thought it would be cool to keep switching between multiple points of view. All book - and it's a long book.

Characters were poor and poorly developed, plot was dull.

this is a very well written, very funny book. and even if it was not so funny (which it definitely is) i would still love it. 4 very different voices tell the story and each is believable and different. great book!

Disappointing attempt to address a complex issue. The characters are forced and unconvincing. Not even close to his best and probably biographical novels. Nick: stick to the things you know something about.

I had much higher expectations when I started reading this book, but I found that all of the characters were really disappointing. I felt as though none of them had any redeeming qualities and were all extremely miserable.

I really loved "High Fidelity" and "All about a Boy" so naturally I'm going to pick up anything by Nick Hornsby who manages to write great novels from an everyman perspective without being crude, in fact he is actually introspective writer.

I love the way this novel begins. The concept of four strangers accidentally bumping into each other on a roof top on New Year's eve and getting into each others way of commiting suicide is brilliant and hilarious in it's awkwardness. The friendships and reluctant support group that forms between Martin, a failed television personality bogged down in scandal, Jess a hyperactive, insensitive gutter-punk, J.J. an American musician stuck in the UK in obscurity and Maureen a lonely, middle-aged single parent of a disabled child is also intriguing and I actually enjoyed that Hornsby introduced his characters by alternating their narratives.

However, Hornsby, who is famous for being introspective and touching but in a quirky way kind of over-reaches when he decides to have his characters focus more on maintain media attention and I felt lost the plot. This took up the entire middle of the book and it stunted the development and growth of the characters for the sake of unnecessary sensationalism. Hornsby also uses the F-bomb - A lot - in this novel almost like a period except he not only punctuated his sentences with it he begins a lot of them with it too. During this section of the book I wondered if Hornsby left his computer unattended while writing the novel and an acquaintance came by an filled in as a bad joke. The result is a muddying of the storyline and that the Jess character is allowed a platform to become even more obnoxious and aggravating enough to almost give up on the book altogether.

And then the book suddenly rockets back to being an insightful novel that deals rather touchingly with the tough topic of depression and suicide. Because of the uneveness of the novel this is not Hornsby's best, but it does have some very good and very moving and thoughtful moments which successfully prevent it from being terrible.

London, New Year's Eve. Television morning-show host Martin is faced with both his career and his marriage in ruins on account of an amorous tryst with a girl he honestly didn't know was underage. Twenty years ago, conservative, deeply religious Maureen lost her virginity - and became pregnant with a profoundly disabled son, whose care has been her full-time occupation ever since. JJ's music was his life, and now that the band - and his relationship with Lizzie - have broken up, he's looking at a future delivering pizzas. And Jess - well, Jess is Jess: not *technically* stalking her ex-boyfriend has landed her by chance at a place notorious as a destination for those bent on suicide, so she figures she might as well.

Three are British; one is American. The age difference between the youngest and oldest among them is over thirty years. There's only one thing these four strangers have in common: they've come to the roof of a fifteen-story building, determined to throw themselves over the edge and end their troubles once and for all. When they get there, they find . . . each other. They argue, compare life stories, eat one of JJ's pizzas, and, ultimately talk each other down . . . for the next six weeks, anyway. They'll meet again on Valentine's Day, same time, same place, and anyone who still wants to can finish the job. So begins what may be the most unlikely tale of friendship you'll ever read: these people hardly know what to say to each other - don't even like each other - and yet, they need each other.

It's a bleak premise, and I admit I was skeptical: suicide isn't a subject I have the option of taking lightly. I've struggled with clinical depression since childhood. I've attempted suicide and failed. I have both mourned and envied acquaintances who succeeded. I have no patience for feel-good messages about how life is beautiful and there's always hope for a new beginning and blah blah blah blah blah. Don't get me wrong - life *is* beautiful, but it hurts like hell just the same, and sunny affirmations don't begin to do it justice. Fortunately, Nick Hornby would agree with that statement - and "A Long Way Down" is a work of art, a novel of rare and genuine truth.

Hornby's four protagonists take turns narrating the story a few pages at a time; their voices are believably rendered and largely distinct, and their unique personalities and perspectives come through so loud and clear you'll have to keep reminding yourself afterwards that you don't actually know these people. The characters aren't particularly likeable (Jess is immature and obnoxious, JJ a bit too self-consciously soulful, Martin a sleazy jerk, and Maureen resignedly pathetic), but Hornby makes each one utterly empathetic. Their story is quietly poignant, full of little slices of truth you'll want to underline and memorize (as well as masterful turns of phrase that somehow never seem out of character). Events rarely play out exactly as you expected, and yet never feel unnatural or forced. Hornby's mordant wit adds a touch of leaven to what could have been an unbearably heavy-handed tale, yet without losing touch of the story's fundamental gravity. My own experiences have left me with both a sensitivity to the subject of suicide, and an irreverence born of uneasy familiarity. Hornby gets the balance exactly - *exactly* - right.

Ultimately, yes, there's a sense of hope, even redemption, in "A Long Way Down," but this isn't a feel-good read. The ending aches with ambivalence, a rich mixture of hope and despair that feels a lot like life, only more so. This certainly isn't a novel for everyone - I wouldn't recommend reading it while actually suicidal, nor would I suggest it to those who for any reason can't reconcile themselves to the idea of a humorous novel about contemplating suicide. If you're up for a strange but rewarding voyage into life, death, and uneasy friendship, however, this is one plunge you shouldn't hesitate to take.

I started listening to audible version of this book on my way from New Jersey on a Sunday morning, coming back from a surprise trip that kept me and my family there for less than 24 hours. Since I was very much sleep deprived and achy from all the driving, I popped the first of eight or nine CDs into the car's stereo and started listening to the book.

Having read several other books by Nick Hornby, I first made sure that my kids were all asleep since I was expecting to hear a bit of profanity. Second, I also expected that the use of profanity would lead to me laughing out really loudly. Sure enough, my expectations were right on the money! I was so absorbed by the book (and I really loved that there were different actors for the voices of the different characters) that I almost didn't feel how boring and tedious the NJ Turnpike can be.

Sadly, my kids woke up right around the time I got to Delaware and I had to switch off the CD player, but as soon as I got home and put things away, I picked up my own copy of the book and finished it within a couple of days.

I really like Nick Hornby's books and how his characters are so relatable and his prose so easy to read. Whenever I read his books I feel that I'm being transported to England, walking through the streets of middle class suburbia, hanging out with your run of the mill English bloke, dropping F bombs for every eight spoken words, downing several pints of beer surrounded by a never ending cloud of second hand cigarette smoke. Whenever I read Hornby I just know that it will be time well spent.

Since first reading High Fidelity, I've been a Nick Hornby fan and will read anything he writes, even if 100% of reviewers say it's trash. His wit is razor sharp, so even with not-so-good stories, I love reading his laughable lines. Having read this novel last summer and learning it will soon be a movie, I decided to add my two cents with a review.

Told in first person narrative via four main characters, A Long Way Down, addresses life and death in excellent fashion without the multiple POVs becoming redundant. This merging of accounts is superb and kept me turning pages long after I should have been in bed, asleep. There's nothing funny about suicide, but Hornby has a knack for bringing just the right touch of humor to this subject without seeming disrespectful. Hornby draws readers into believing each character is describing true life events via their personal memoirs, instead of this being an author writing fiction.
If you are a Hornby fan you know his ability to create interesting, insightful characters. A Long Way Down explores the how and why of suicide by introducing readers to four unique protagonists, one more screwed up than the other. A publicly humiliated talk show host, an older woman tending her physically incapacitated son, an "almost famous" American rock star, now delivering pizza, and a smart-mouth, psychotic teenager. Lost souls who form a bond on New Year's Eve when they meet up at Topper's House, a famous London suicide spot, that's packed to the gills, leaving them to connect instead of jumping to their deaths.

Don't feel bad about laughing out loud while reading this novel. Feel glad you took time to investigate a novel of this subject matter, and lucky it is brilliantly written. Every reader is hooked by different lures with any novel, and for me, it was pop culture references. Learning new things via a fun read is delightful!

This is 4 and a half stars only because I'm still so enthralled by High Fidelity. I admit holding Nick Hornby to higher standards than a novice or grade B author. After all, he has editors galore, so his biggest job is making sure his wild imagination comes to life on the pages.

This review was first published at M's Bookshelf - http://mssbookshelf.blogspot.be

A Long Way Down tells the story of four very different individuals, who happened to meet by chance at their lowest point. They are the four people less likely to get along. And in fact, they never really do. They don't agree on much and most of the time they make each other even more unhappy. But they are there, and that's what counts. All four of them are lonely, misunderstood or an outcast in some way. Their unique bond gives them a new reason. It gives them the opportunity to look at their lives and maybe even futures from a different angle.
The only thing I struggled with is Jess, one of the four. From the moment she started speaking I just wanted to slap her. Nick Hornby tells the story by alternating between all four characters. I really liked this and it gave you the opportunity to better understand each one of them. But the downside is that I really struggled with those parts told by Jess. I really, really disliked her character and I never really "got" her.
Nick Hornby's story is very real, very honest and very moving.

I really enjoyed this story. It is the first book I have read by Hornby. I picked it up on a clearance table at the bookstore and it sounded interesting so I gave it a go. Almost instantly I was hooked. Following four people on their journey of deciding whether they want to live or die may seem very dark and depressing, however, Hornby writes these characters with such great minds, voices, and thoughts that you find yourself really enjoying reading what they have to say. I thoroughly enjoyed traveling through the lives of these battered people and I already made a return trip to the bookstore for another Hornby title! Up next...About a Boy.

I have heard great things about this author, but I did not love this book. The concept is interesting- 4 strangers independently go on the top of a building thats a well known suicide spot on New Years Eve with the intent of jumping off. I like how the story is told from the individual viewpoints of each character. Unfortunately, each character was either boring and/or unlikable. I kept waiting for something to happen. Ok... angels.. this is where it's going to get exciting! But it never did.

Oddly enough, as much as I didn't like the characters, I really liked the writing. Nick Hornby uses some great metaphors- such as the idea of how long it takes to save up self worth and that it can be blown in one evening- but it wasn't enough to make me want to recommend this story to anyone else. I see that it's going to be a movie, and I can't imagine how that will be. Still, Nick Hornby's writing is worth another look.

The idea behind this book and the first third was brilliant. Despite Hornby's sharp wit and deep characterisation it began to falter, with a lot of repetition and limped a bit towards the end. That being said, I love Hornby and his unique perceptions.
Martin has screwed up all round, destroying his career, family and reputation, so he heads to Topper Tower to end it all on New Years Eve. Sat on the ledge, waiting for the right moment, Maureen a 51 year old single mother with a handicapped son asks how long he's going to be and can she "borrow" his step ladders to get onto the ledge. They are shortly joined by Jess and finally JJ delivering pizzas. After a lot of argument they decide suicide is a private thing and annoyed with one another they all come down. A strange and volatile gang is formed by these four very different people. The book is about them coming to terms with themselves and their disappointments. Sad at times, but full of dark humour.

Here's a thought experiment for you: are hundreds of uses of the f-word and other profanity more jarring in print or via audio? I'll have to say audio, and I believe Mr. Hornby went overboard on the language, to the small detriment of the novel. It's an example of the wild swings, from very amusing content to annoying and/or dull sections. The novel has a shot at being a decent movie, with significant trimming and tight focus built around an engaging idea. In a shorter run, the lack of appeal of the four characters won't be as problematic.

Hornby's challenge is to carry the story from the initial moments, given the thin commonality that stitches them (slightly) together. What exactly will they talk about and do? The social commentary and observations about human behavior have enough spark and humor, as well as darkness, to hang in there. Some readers / listeners may well contemplate their own low points and how they recovered, as well as what might prompt them to come within viewing distance of bottom.

Jess is the weakest of the characters, not because she isn't spirited, and she often drives the narrative forward with her actions and combative style. She simply got to be too much of the same thing to listen to.

The three narrators are excellent. Nice versatility by one person doing both women, a profane and excitable age 18, and a very subdued age 51.

3.5 stars

Nick Hornby has a kind of unassuming likability that sneaks up on you. The central conceit of this book didn't seem all that promising, and I hadn't expected to like it, based on its subject and the reviews I'd read. But Hornsby is a skillful enough writer to pull it off - he pulls you in and makes you care about his (in some cases genuinely horrible) characters. He also manages the four alternating narrative viewpoints very effectively.

This book reminded me a little of Mark Haddon's "A spot of bother", both in its tone and in the ultimate message that I took away from it. I can't bring myself to give it five stars however, because one of the four would-be suicides seemed a complete caricature to me. Annoying beyond belief, her main purpose seemed to be to function as a kind of crutch used by the author to poke his other characters with. I'm as willing to suspend disbelief as the next reader, but when all the incongruities and awkward dialog stem from the same character, this indicates a structural weakness that is hard to overlook.

One thing I like about both Haddon and Hornsby is that, although both are talented and skillful writers, they don't constantly beat you over the head with their own cleverness.

This is a decent book, which I liked more than I had expected to, and which also prompted me to think. Although I didn't really *like* any of the characters, by the end I had certainly come to care about how they would get on.

This is another excellent novel from Nick Hornby who has yet to write anything that I have not enjoyed. It is the story of four very different characters.

Maureen is a downtrodden single parent whose life is dedicated to caring for her severely disabled son. Martin is an obnoxious daytime TV presenter who has been the subject of a high profile sex scandal. JJ is a musician who always wanted to be a rock star but now deliver pizzas. Jess is an impulsive teenage tearaway. It is hard to imagine a group with less in common.

What does bring them together is a tower block - Toppers House - in London on New Years Eve where each arrives intending to leap to their doom. They inevitably discuss what has brought them there. I must say that I feared that they would understand each others pain and then hug each other living happily ever after in a community. But they don't. In fact whenever I thought I knew where it was going it went off in a different direction. Never predictable and never dull.

They are certainly not a likeable bunch. Why else would they be at Toppers House in the first place? But they are a fascinating group of oddballs and their mutual dependency is both touching and amusing. The subject matter is never trivialised even though there are several laugh out loud moments. The writing is always excellent. Watch out for Maureen's discovery of Nick Drake's music. That is a real `waterworks' moment.

Don't be put off by the gloomy subject matter. This is his best to date and should not be missed.

There is no question that Nick Hornby is a master of first person narrative. He finds the distinct personality and vernacular of his protagonist and keeps that voice consistent and consistently fascinating, never straying from a truly human perspective.

What makes A Long Way Down such an extraordinary feat is that there are four narrators with four completely separate recollections of the same events and four absolutely unique points of view. The only thing this strange quartet has in common is that they all arrived on an infamous rooftop one New Years Eve intending to plunge to the pavement below to put an end to what they considered to be an intolerable dilemma. Having talked each other off the ledge--literally--they now have a bond that cannot be broken.

As an author myself, I am in awe of Hornby's skill in keeping these voices so recognizable and true to these very flawed characters, while weaving a tale that keeps the reader turning pages, ever eager to discover what comes next. A Long Way Down is a tight-rope walk that kept this reader on the edge of my seat. I love, love, love this book.

Rand Bishop, author Makin' Stuff Up, The Absolute Essentials of Songwriting Success, and Grand Pop.

Let me start by saying that Hornby is outstanding at what he does. His wit is razor sharp. His ear for dialogue and his empathy for his wide-ranging characters are among the best in the business. And his capacity to gather extreme emotions and emotional events, put them in fitting boxes, squeeze the best juice out of them and then push all that through his fingers and into the keys of his word processor is quite amazing.

That said, I thought in this book he was doing a little too much of all of that primarily for the purpose of showing off. Frankly, if I had half his talent, I'd be tempted to do the same. But this made, for me at least, a very nice series of extremely well done moments and turns of phrase that did not hang together entirely as a single cohesive work.

Not that he can't be excused of this -- he was taking on an awful lot. The attempt to write a single coherent novel from four different perspectives and to keep the pages turning is not a task that I expect would be easy. And he largely pulls it off. But, at the end, this book felt to me less than the sum of its parts.

As for whether or not it is a downer, I'm having a little trouble seeing the "not a downer" side of the coin. It's a downer alright. The utter despair of screw ups when they reach the epiphany that they can't even screw up properly is, in a word, heartbreaking. Yes, there is a life affirming (of sorts) end message, and some modest redemption, but there is a bleakness to this novel that one should be prepared for if at all sensitive to that sort of thing.

One final word and the real reason I can't give this book more than 4 stars. Hornby's self consciousness about writing a book with no easy resolutions or Hollywood style happy endings comes off as too over-the-top. His characters remind us nearly a half dozen times that this is not that kind of book, and of course, what that really is is Hornby himself bragging about how it's not that kind of book. That's fine, but a little more understatement about his anti-conventional streak -- which most of us who've been with Hornby for many years already understand -- seemed to be in order.

Martin, a disgraced minor television personality, convicted of child molestation, is about to commit suicide by jumping from a tall building in London. He meets Maureen, a lonely 53 year-old single mother with a handicapped son, also there to commit suicide. They are joined by a Jess, a delinquent teenage girl, also there for the same purpose. They get talking, and along comes JJ, an American musician, reduced (as he sees it) to delivering pizza, and also there to kill himself. They share the pizza, get talking, and decide to postpone the deed. Eventually they give up altogether (on suicide).
I was reminded of Victor Frankl's suggestion in "Man's Search for Meaning" that thinking about suicide can be beneficial because it leads you to consider the reasons against doing it.
The story is told in the voice of each of the four characters, and is full of dark insights and black humor. In fact it's quite a funny and entertaining book. The four authorial voices are relentlessly honest and colloquial, addressing the reader in an intimate way. Martin sounds like the protagonist of "High Fidelity" and "About a Boy." Jess's British juvenile slang may need translating for American readers. In spite of the cynicism and sophistication of the others, it is Maureen, the naïve devout Christian who carries the book to an inspiring and heart-rending climax.

I didn't have much familiarity with Nick Hornby going into A Long Way Down except for an enjoyment of the movie version of About a Boy and knowledge of the cult surrounding works like High Fidelity. I listened to the unabridged audio CD version of the book and found it to be enjoyable, but with a number of problems.

The story follows four people who come together on New Year's Eve at a popular suicide spot in London. Obviously, all four of them mean to kill themselves, but meeting and seeing each other changes the courses of things and their lives begin to intertwine and go in unexpected directions. The characters are diverse, from a punkish teenage girl to the prim mother of a handicapped child.

One of the things I like about Hornby's writing is the joyful way in which he has his characters interact. This was perhaps the most rewarding part of this book. I liked the relationships all four formed with each other, how they talked to one another, and how their feelings were expressed. As well, I liked how the plot was laid out, jumping from perspective to perspective as it progressed along, without too much recapping and over-explanation.

Hornby often uses improbable events and wildly contrary characters and sometimes it works quite well. However, in A Long Way Down, it grew to be too much. I could accept the different nature of the characters, and even the fact that Martin was a disgraced talk show host. (And JJ was a rock-and-roll American.) But when Jess turned out to be the daughter of a Cabinet Minister... and then the plot took a ludicrous turn into the media... and then more inexplicable twists and turns. Well, it all got to be too much, it felt more like these events were helping to push the plot along rather than organically being a part of the plot itself.

As for Hornby's meditations on suicide and soldiering on with life, well, I will give him credit for not going down the stereotypical route, for showing that it's not easy and everything doesn't turn up rosy even if you don't want to kill yourself anymore. But none of this felt very deep to me. As much as I understood the characters' situations, I didn't feel them, I didn't feel their desperation and their reasons, I didn't see the emotion behind the decision.

Despite all that, and despite the lower rating, I would still recommend this book if you liked Hornby's other novels. It was entertaining and did give me a good laugh or two.

This book, despite its continuous insight (a Hornby trademark, but How to Be Good does it far better) seems to be much more of an exercise than it is a book. It consists almost entirely of talking heads, with little in the way of place or time. The writing is engaging enough that the reader doesn't really question whether or not s/he is interested in the characters, and I'm not sure whether that's a flaw or a strength. Hornby's entirely too pleased with all the terrific metaphors he can come up with, so that gets a little tiresome--there's a meaningful metaphor about once every three pages, and while they're all wonderful, enough is enough after a while. Also, for a book that's arguably entirely characterization, one of the characters isn't fully realized and another keeps changing.

Overall, I'd say this was a book that needed another few months of editing before it saw the light of day, or scrapped in favor of other work that wasn't so obviously a *project.* Hornby's writing is excellent, with a couple of notable exceptions--one dialogue scene was atrocious, noticeably so--so I have few quarrels there. Still and all, good reading, and not at all a waste of time.

I've been meaning to say something about this book for a while. I bought it the day it came out and read it shortly after, the problem that I ran into after I read it was, I didn't want to read anything else for a while for fear that I'd compare it with this novel, and in turn, ruin the new novel that I would be reading.

I told a friend of mine, this ole geezer whose a supposed Hornby fan, to go buy it when it came out, he did, and much to my dismay after reading only a couple of chapters dismissed it as a"suicide" book. I was shocked, I couldn't believe how shallow this old git of an english major was.

This book is fantastic. Its about life, and to find the real meaning, as with any great piece of literature you have to look BELOW the surface. Hornby's not just going to throw IT in your face.

The characters are all extremely diverse, thoroughly developed,very likeable in their own way, and the exceptional writing allows for a seemless flow from one charater to another. You will find yourself not wanting to put this down.

Since I've read this, I've read "About a Boy", "How to be Good" and "High Fidelity" all for the 2nd time. Hopefully Nick has another on the way soon!!

Cheers!!!!!

While the premise of this novel was certainly intriguing enough - four disparate individuals meet on a popular London rooftop on the night each has individually decided to kill him/herself - enjoying it hinges on connecting with the characters in some fashion, whether it's emotionally or otherwise. Their troubles vary, but it's hard to be sympathetic for characters you genuinely don't like. Half the time, I felt like these characters had brought all this hardship on themselves (well, not Maureen), and listening to their constant whining over their situations grew thin halfway through the book. I liked the way the book was structured, with short sections dedicated to each character in that character's 1st POV, which gave it a theatrical quality, like each sat on a stool on a stage and when it was their turn, the spotlight would come on him/her while they told their tale. But enjoying a story's structure and premise isn't enough to make it a keeper. I needed to connect and care about the characters in some way to do that. And I didn't.

Four people - A former morning TV talk show host who has lost his career, family and reputation as a result of an ill-advised affair with a 15-year-old girl; a deeply religious woman who simply cannot see any hope beyond a life sentence of constantly caring for her disabled, vegetative son; a musician whose dreams of rock stardom have instead faded into a career as an adult pizza delivery person and a manic, hostile teenage girl - all show up on the same night atop the same building, a popular London location for those about to commit suicide. Effectively ruining one another's plans for the evening (jumping off the roof, I guess, is something people prefer to do alone), the book follows these four as they form a sort of de facto, if extremely dysfunctional, support group based on the one thing they all share in common: the feeling of being completely at the end of your rope and wanting to end it all.

Who else but Nick Hornby could write a novel with such a dark premise, featuring four suicidal characters, yet still have the novel be accurately described as hilariously funny? A real credit to this novel is how the comedy sometimes reaches the level of slapstick, then in the next paragraph will portray the same characters with such sensitivity and empathy it almost breaks your heart. A fair criticism of the novel could be that with the exception of Maureen, the character with the severely handicapped son, none of the characters problems really seem to be so dire to where one would be driven to the brink of suicide. I wonder if Hornby felt it would be impossible to keep the tone of the book somewhat light if the circumstances of his characters were much harsher?

I enjoyed the unique narration of this novel, telling the story in four separate first-person narratives so the reader is able to get each characters perspective on the events of the novel and also see how each character is seen through the lens of the other characters eyes. As a reader, I also truly appreciate Hornby's absolute refusal to ever let his story descend into schmaltz. No character experiences any sort of cheesy, life-affirming epiphany where they suddenly realize, gosh dangit, life really is worth living after all. This isn't to say this isn't ultimately an optimistic or even uplifting book; the fact the book earns this description without ever becoming maudlin is a real credit to the storytelling ability of the author.