Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by b0r3d_2710_
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
THE WAY I SCREAMED AT THAT ENDING!
So this book was really a surprise for me. The idea alone of a book written in verses whose majority takes place in the timespan of merely a minute was intriguing to me, hence I read the book and I'm not disappointed.
Although yes, the language was a bit weird to me, I mean I just didn't like it tbh and was hoping to find a rather traditonal poem BUT that didn't lower the suspense that this book held. It was so engaging and suspenseful that I couldn't put it down (also because it's too short).
I'm not kidding when I say that I literally screamed "What the fuck" when I read that ending. It is an open ending and I almost pulled my hair off my head to know what exactly it meant but the first thing I thought of was that Will was dead too. It made sense to me. He gets into this elevator and sees all these dead people's spirits, it just felt like they were giving him a closure, to make him accept the death of his brother and himself and move on to the afterlife. It explains why Shawn was crying on seeing him because he felt too guilty because according to this theory of mine, Will must have killed Riggs and then gotten killed by someone else. Maybe he did it at night (especially because there was the mention of "nighttime" a lot) and he died in the process so his spirit just remembers waking up like he'd been sleeping. Maybe he didn't even kill Riggs and just got killed (which explained the 15 bullets that were still in there because 1 was used by Shawn himself). And so in the end, when every spirit was getting out of the elevator, Shawn asked him if he was coming since he was dead too and now he must go on with the other spirits, to the afterlife I suppose.
Honestly I don't know if this theory is correct, I mean no one except the author knows but I want to believe this to be true. This must be true. Had to be.
Or one more theory could be interpreted from the ending, that Will is still alive and by the "you coming?" it meant that eventually after Will gets his revenge, he would soon be killed off in the cycle and would have to join the other spirits, hence Shawn was asking him if he wanted to take that step which would eventually lead him to be dead and thus, going on with them. And no one knows if Will did kill Riggs or not, but I think if this theory is correct, he won't kill him because it was evident that he was second guessing his reasoning. After all, he was just 15. And that's also why he can kill Riggs, even after all that. Because he's 15, a teen. Teens are known to make impulsive decisions without thinking.
Whatever happened, I would like to believe my first theory because him being dead would be a greater shock to me than just him choosing between killing Riggs or ending the cycle. I really liked this book. It captivated me and blew me away.
So this book was really a surprise for me. The idea alone of a book written in verses whose majority takes place in the timespan of merely a minute was intriguing to me, hence I read the book and I'm not disappointed.
Although yes, the language was a bit weird to me, I mean I just didn't like it tbh and was hoping to find a rather traditonal poem BUT that didn't lower the suspense that this book held. It was so engaging and suspenseful that I couldn't put it down (also because it's too short).
I'm not kidding when I say that I literally screamed "What the fuck" when I read that ending. It is an open ending and I almost pulled my hair off my head to know what exactly it meant but the first thing I thought of was that Will was dead too. It made sense to me. He gets into this elevator and sees all these dead people's spirits, it just felt like they were giving him a closure, to make him accept the death of his brother and himself and move on to the afterlife. It explains why Shawn was crying on seeing him because he felt too guilty because according to this theory of mine, Will must have killed Riggs and then gotten killed by someone else. Maybe he did it at night (especially because there was the mention of "nighttime" a lot) and he died in the process so his spirit just remembers waking up like he'd been sleeping. Maybe he didn't even kill Riggs and just got killed (which explained the 15 bullets that were still in there because 1 was used by Shawn himself). And so in the end, when every spirit was getting out of the elevator, Shawn asked him if he was coming since he was dead too and now he must go on with the other spirits, to the afterlife I suppose.
Honestly I don't know if this theory is correct, I mean no one except the author knows but I want to believe this to be true. This must be true. Had to be.
Or one more theory could be interpreted from the ending, that Will is still alive and by the "you coming?" it meant that eventually after Will gets his revenge, he would soon be killed off in the cycle and would have to join the other spirits, hence Shawn was asking him if he wanted to take that step which would eventually lead him to be dead and thus, going on with them. And no one knows if Will did kill Riggs or not, but I think if this theory is correct, he won't kill him because it was evident that he was second guessing his reasoning. After all, he was just 15. And that's also why he can kill Riggs, even after all that. Because he's 15, a teen. Teens are known to make impulsive decisions without thinking.
Whatever happened, I would like to believe my first theory because him being dead would be a greater shock to me than just him choosing between killing Riggs or ending the cycle. I really liked this book. It captivated me and blew me away.