Scan barcode
A review by futurama1979
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
5.0
Read this for a YA analysis class ✌
And genuinely thought it was incredibly crafted. The narrative echoes elements of Homeric epics. The character voice is immaculately conveyed through verse. The story is literally haunted by generational trauma and violence.
I need to talk about how Reynolds approached the pacing in this story because it's so insane. I'm sure there are other books out there that take place in a very short - I mean minutes - time ([b:An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge|920649|An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge|Ambrose Bierce|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453993106l/920649._SX50_.jpg|905684] comes to mind), but I don't think I've ever actually read one until reading this. Reynolds fits the entirety of the action in this novel into 1 minute and 7 seconds. It adds a strange, liminal context to the entire story and really emphasizes the supernatural - or mental, internal; whichever way you read it - elements of this story. The pacing was unique, and a bold move to take as an author because the timestamps could make the reader question the narrative constantly, and it really, really worked for me.
Actually, the singular thing in this entire book that didn't 100% work for me as a reader was the very few concrete poems Reynolds put throughout. The words and the poems themselves and how they pushed the narrative were good but the form, in the context of the story and how the other poems are structured in it, read as a little corny to me. Especially in a verse novel where the form is really atmospherically influencing.
Something fantastic about Long Way Down is how much agency, even with the "Rules", the structure of this narrative gives Will, and, by extension, Reynolds gives to the reader. Not a single ghost tells Will to shoot Riggs or not to shoot Riggs. They each present him with their story, both so he could have an alternative to violence as a means to deal with grief in the form of memory and to give him context with which to make the ultimate decision of whether or not to get off the elevator. The choice is still entirely Will's own. And by ending the narrative before we see Will physically make that choice, Reynolds puts it and all the agency in the novel in the hands of the reader. It's not only a move that made every reader closer to the story, more sympathetic, but also could be insanely empowering for a kid who grew up like Will to read.
Which, I believe, is at the core of why this novel - and why any good YA - can hit an adult reader stronger than an adult book. Not only are you reading a great story, but there's this element on top of that which is the author's obvious, intense care for and love of his readers. Reynolds didn't just write Long Way Down because he thought it was a powerful or marketable story, which is often what feels like the case for adult lit. He wrote it to help break down boundaries between young readers and having the emotional vocabulary or foot in the door to discuss heavy, racially influenced experiences with one another and find solace and healing in that, and beyond that, he wrote it so that kids suffering a kind of grief they feel they can't show can see - physically, right in front of them on a page - that they are not alone.
I'll leave you with one of my favourite bits of poetry from the book, which is absolutely full of really beautiful language: I SWEAR SOMETIMES / it feels like God / be flashing photos / of his children, / awkward, / amazing, / tucked in his wallet.
And genuinely thought it was incredibly crafted. The narrative echoes elements of Homeric epics. The character voice is immaculately conveyed through verse. The story is literally haunted by generational trauma and violence.
I need to talk about how Reynolds approached the pacing in this story because it's so insane. I'm sure there are other books out there that take place in a very short - I mean minutes - time ([b:An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge|920649|An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge|Ambrose Bierce|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453993106l/920649._SX50_.jpg|905684] comes to mind), but I don't think I've ever actually read one until reading this. Reynolds fits the entirety of the action in this novel into 1 minute and 7 seconds. It adds a strange, liminal context to the entire story and really emphasizes the supernatural - or mental, internal; whichever way you read it - elements of this story. The pacing was unique, and a bold move to take as an author because the timestamps could make the reader question the narrative constantly, and it really, really worked for me.
Actually, the singular thing in this entire book that didn't 100% work for me as a reader was the very few concrete poems Reynolds put throughout. The words and the poems themselves and how they pushed the narrative were good but the form, in the context of the story and how the other poems are structured in it, read as a little corny to me. Especially in a verse novel where the form is really atmospherically influencing.
Something fantastic about Long Way Down is how much agency, even with the "Rules", the structure of this narrative gives Will, and, by extension, Reynolds gives to the reader. Not a single ghost tells Will to shoot Riggs or not to shoot Riggs. They each present him with their story, both so he could have an alternative to violence as a means to deal with grief in the form of memory and to give him context with which to make the ultimate decision of whether or not to get off the elevator. The choice is still entirely Will's own. And by ending the narrative before we see Will physically make that choice, Reynolds puts it and all the agency in the novel in the hands of the reader. It's not only a move that made every reader closer to the story, more sympathetic, but also could be insanely empowering for a kid who grew up like Will to read.
Which, I believe, is at the core of why this novel - and why any good YA - can hit an adult reader stronger than an adult book. Not only are you reading a great story, but there's this element on top of that which is the author's obvious, intense care for and love of his readers. Reynolds didn't just write Long Way Down because he thought it was a powerful or marketable story, which is often what feels like the case for adult lit. He wrote it to help break down boundaries between young readers and having the emotional vocabulary or foot in the door to discuss heavy, racially influenced experiences with one another and find solace and healing in that, and beyond that, he wrote it so that kids suffering a kind of grief they feel they can't show can see - physically, right in front of them on a page - that they are not alone.
I'll leave you with one of my favourite bits of poetry from the book, which is absolutely full of really beautiful language: I SWEAR SOMETIMES / it feels like God / be flashing photos / of his children, / awkward, / amazing, / tucked in his wallet.