A long way down (2005 original; edició 2005)

Het was even geleden dat we nog eens een plak Nick Hornby tussen onze boterham legden, maar we waren er bij voorbaat van overtuigd dat het ons ging smaken.
Hornby heeft een vlotte en toegankelijke stijl en weet als geen ander humor op papier te zetten. Hetzij door de karakters van zijn personages, hetzij door de flitsende dialogen of de situaties waarin de lezer meegezogen wordt: Hornby's boeken hebben vaart en zijn enorm prettig leesvoer.
Daarnaast slaagt hij er ook nog in de condition humaine met rake bewoordingen te schetsen en laat hij zijn personages herkenbaar door het leven laveren zonder in cliché's te vervallen.
Ook hier - waar 4 potentiële zelfmoordenaars elkaar ontmoeten op het dak van een flatgebouw - zijn de situaties geloofwaardig, de personages aandoenlijk en herkenbaar en de plot realistisch en warm. Heerlijk boek, ondanks het zware thema. ( )

I feel this book didn't deliver as much as I had hoped. Admittedly, my hopes are always high for Hornby. I really liked the first 150-200 pages but as I was waiting for Hornby's usual insight, I was left sort of empty handed. Well maybe not empty handed. Let's say only one hand was filled. Some characters were rambling on about things that really didn't 'click' with me, I wasn't sure what they were on about sometimes, or sometimes I didn't know why they were going on about it.

Don't get me wrong, I love pointless rambling, but it just wasn't of Hornby's usual level, nearing the end. I still finished this book quite quickly though, and the characters were quite lively painted as usual. Jess did sometimes get a little on my nerves, but that was the point, I'm sure. I was more disappointed about JJ, really. He was the musician, a young guy who had lost faith in music, love and life, but somehow I couldn't relate much to him.

I'd still say this is a quite enjoyable book, especially the first part. It's a quick read and I still adore Hornby's style. The chapters were switched between the characters, each rehashing the events in their own style, which I found quite amusing.

3.5/5 ( )

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I loved the premise but felt like Hornby didn't quite know what to do with them when he moved them off of the roof and back into their lives. The characters are great and some of the dialogue is hilarious, but the plot really peters out in the second half of the book. I wish I could have seen the book go in an entirely different direction, but overall it was decent. I'm just not a huge Hornby fan. ( )

Loved it! ( )

I wasn't sure Id like this book because it's a really sensitive subject for me but there was humor mixed in with the super serious moments and it never made fun of the people who do struggle with whether or not they want to stay on this Earth. ( )