Long Way Down (Review by Daniel Lee)

 

As we’ve recently started a new unit on poetry, I’ve been motivated to read a book related to poetry. Long Way Down is a book that is written fully in verse. The book has been in the back of my mind for a very long time. In 6th grade, I first attempted to read the book, but stopped halfway. The book was interesting, but I never felt like I was able to really break down and understand what was happening and what everything meant. I kept the book in the back of my mind, but recently, I came back to the book, and it mesmerized me immediately. Like I mentioned, the book is written fully in verse. When author of the book, Jason Reynolds, was asked about why he wrote his novel fully in verse, he answered, “Well, first and foremost, I love poetry. It was my first discipline.” Many books that are written in verse sometimes end up sounding unnatural and weird, but Jason uses verse very well to create a unique style that catches the reader's attention. The plot of the book also makes the book even more interesting.

The book takes place in a community where violence plagues the neighborhood. William Holloman, the protagonist, lives on the eighth floor of an eight story apartment. Within this community, there are 3 rules: don’t cry, don’t snitch, get revenge. The book starts off with Will seeing his brother, Shawn, being murdered. Heartbroken and angry, Will holds back his tears and decides to get revenge on the murderer of his brother. Going back to his apartment, he finds his brother's cold steel gun.

Will tucks the gun in his pants, and he goes to the elevator to get down to the first floor. At first, everything seems normal, but once the elevator stops at the 7th floor, a man enters. Will doesn’t recognize who this mysterious man is, but the man pulls out a photo of himself, and on the bottom of the photo there’s writing that says, “RIP Buck you’ll be missed 4eva.” Will looks at the man and the photo and is shocked. Will was confused, he thought Buck was dead for a long time, and Buck acknowledges that he is dead. Will was looking at Buck, in the flesh.

Every floor, a new (dead) person joins Will in the elevator. Most peoples’ stories revolve around the third rule: Get Revenge. Once Will reached the first floor, he thought that he’d been in the elevator for hours, but looking at the clock, only one minute had passed. Will thought he was dreaming or high on drugs, but everything that happened felt quite real to Will.

Long Way Down contains a very deep story behind it. In 2003, Jason and his friends learned that one of their friends had been murdered. Jason states that he and his friends felt “an anger, a pain, like a cancer metastasizing by the second, spreading around [them] and through [them]. [They] knew his death had changed [them] chemically, and that [they] could do, perhaps, what [they] never knew [they] could do before. Kill.” For 14 years, Jason had the idea to write Long Way Down, and in October 2017, he fulfilled his goal and published the book.

When I look back, I notice that my sixth grade self wouldn't have been able to really grasp the contents of the book. Yes, I would understand the basic plot, but I wouldn’t really be able to understand the heaviness of the story. Themes of violence, revenge, grief, and sorrow are very prevalent and heavy topics in this story. But reading the book now, I understand so much more. This book dives deeply into the mind of Will and partly Jason too.

I personally enjoyed this book so much. Jason Reynolds doesn’t format his free verse poetry in a bland boring way, but he locates and shapes his stanzas in interesting ways, and often leaves lots of blank space on pages. It’s hard to express through words, so you’ll have to read the book to really experience what it’s like to read this book. Another reason why this book is so captivating is the complexity of the protagonist’s mind. Long Way Down lets readers dive directly into the mind of Will during the story. Will often mentions being nervous while holding the gun and getting revenge, but at times he would burst into fits of anger about his brother's murder. Occasionally, Will’s mind would drift off to random topics. I think that this drifting off represents his nervousness getting to his head, causing him to divert his thoughts to something else, so that his mind would become calmed. 

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anybody. However, this may be triggering to readers due to the contents related to gun violence and death. This book is very impactful, and it leaves a lasting impression on you. I would rate this book a 5/5.