1/02/2007

Stories of Suicide



If you haven't, you should really buy Nick Hornby's new book. A Long Way Down is the humorous interweaving of four people's story after failing to commit suicide. They all run into each other by accident on top a building, known for suicides called Topper's House. It's New Year's Eve and apparently a busy time for suicides. It's really not as depressing as it sounds. It's truly inventive by doing first-person narratives from all four characters. Hornby really grasps the voices of his gang of depressives.

I personally found Jess, the 19-year-old who has nothing better to do than kill herself. She is basically out of her mind and sees suicide as a "why not" phenomenon. The others are only slightly more maladjusted. The book follows the events, in each of his/hers own words, of why they want to top themselves. They all do have pretty good reasons, but the book really focuses on how they figure out what to do afterwards. They've got to think it out now that they didn't follow through with their plans. Hilarity ensues when these random people try to understand the one thing they have in common: they hate their lives.

It's an easy read. It only took probably 4 hours in total.

Buy it from Amazon.

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