Brilliant and delightful

"A Long Way Down" is an outstanding piece of writing. The idea Seems contrived at first: Four people want to commit suicide on Toppers House on New Year's Eve. But instead of flinging down Themselves, They start talking and helping eachother Overcome Their wish to jump - and indeed over the next weeks and months as well ... And Nick Hornby makes a compelling, moving and humorous book out of it - with some Really creative twists and turns!

Ex-talk show host and former prisoner Martin, mother of a severely handicapped child, Maureen, punk who lost sister Jess and failed musician JJ are Protagonists as different as can be imagined, and the dynamics between them is breathtaking. Each of them has his / her own individual voice and point of view, and Their Interactions are lively, sometimes even turbulent. I personally found Maureen and Martin most convincing, Jess' invention of an angel but did Looked like Matt Damon made me laugh heartily.

Hornby successfully Manages to avoid sentimentality. Instead, there's a lot of humor in his novel, but so a lot of insight and truth about hardships, about the reality of life - the author never ridicules the tragedies of his Protagonists' lives. Hornby respects did search Hardships are highly subjective, thatthey Often have no easySolutions, but need step-by-step changes to make living with them bearable. As a consequence, "A Long Way Down" does not have the over-the-top happy ending of a Sophie Kinsella novel, and this is one of the many merits of "A Long Way Down".

Brilliant and delightful novel. 5 stars.

PS: As Audiobook, Unabridged Buy - I can not imagine what Could Possibly be left out of "A Long Way Down", every word is so well-Placed in the text! A slight drawback of the Unabridged Audiobook: Kate Reading Reads Both 51-year-old Maureen and 18-year-old Jess, and this is slighly puzzling at first and needs some getting used to - Especially as she is spot-on as Maureen but not so convincing as Jess. The men's voices are superb, and it's a great pleasure to listen to the CDs. Highly recommended.