Nick Hornby: A Long Way Down

I had never read anything by Nick Hornby before, but I had seen various movies based on his books, like the funny High Fidelity and About a Boy, so I pretty much new what to expect when I started this novel - which had been sitting on my nightstand for a long time, always substituted by another book in my to-read list. I guess this isn't my favorite genre to read, and I guess I knew it before I started the book. All the same, it's a pretty good find if you're looking for a fast read that is usually enjoyable and occasionally downright funny. The idea is original enough, with four different people who meet on top of a fifteen-story building in London on New Year's eve, ready to commit suicide for different reasons, and end up walking back down together and spending the next months in each others company, only to realize that they each have something worth living for. This summary actually makes the book sound a lot more sentimental and positive than it really is, but if you know Nick Hornby at all you know that he uses cutting humor and unlikeable characters and has no interest in delivering a warm-hearted deeply meaningful message. I have to say, the beginning bothered me a bit, probably for the light way in which such an important topic is treated (not that I wanted to get depressed reading it, but is wanting to take your own life really such a funny and light hearted decision?). The tone of the narrative has the positive trait of never falling into melodrama or cheap inspirational tones, but it does remain fairly superficial throughout the book. The question of what is worth living for is never actually raised, seeing that the answers the carachters find for themselves - a little self-respect, a couple friends to go out with once in a while - are insufficient to say the least. I came to terms with the tone as I slowly realised that none of the characters were really suicidal to begin with. So the story is just a fun take on how life's problems, big or small, will eventually sort themselves out - or not, but then you'll generally find a way to survive them anyway. I don't think the author really wanted to delve deeper but if he did, then I have to say he failed, since at the most he might have suggested that the meaning of life is in the small things, or something equally banal. The plot does get interesting - as the characters' situations only get more and more complicated - and the absence of glorious moments of redemption in such a comic setting does merit an applause. The idea of narrating everything from the four characters' point of view - alternating from one to the other - is interesting, and shows the author's desire to experiment with different voices. The continuous jump from the perspective of a middle-aged lonely woman to the one of a young foul-mouthed girl, a has-been TV host, and then a failed rock-star wannabe makes the story more compelling, but the voice that the reader hears throughout the novel remains pretty much the same witty and self-deprecating Hornby trademark. Infact, for the most part I could imagine a young John Cusack or Hugh Grant narrating the whole thing - due also to the fact that, given the 4-monologue structure, the book seems a lot like the script for a movie or tv show.

Thus said, if you're a Nick Hornby fan (and I do enjoy him quite a bit myself - at least from the movies I've seen), you'll probably love this book. If you're more like me, you might want to jump straight to the next less tv-comedy type book that's been sitting on your nightstand.