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| A Long Way Down | 
 enlarge | Author: Nick Hornby
Publisher: Penguin
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)
New (38) Collectible (3) from £0.88
Avg. Customer Rating:  83 reviews
Sales Rank: 14177
Media: Paperback
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0140287027
EAN: 9780140287028
ASIN: 0140287027
Publication Date: April 6, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Publisher: Penguin Books LtdDate of Publication: 2006Binding: PaperbackDescription: Good clean used book. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.
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| Customer Reviews:
Alright February 12, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Premise is alright. Plot's alright. Characters are, on the whole, alright. Observations on life are alright. Dialogue's alright. Funny bits are alright. If you haven't read any Hornby, maybe leave this one till last because it's just - you guessed it - alright. Alright?
Yes, but... February 11, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It is perhaps no surprise that this book has garnered such diverse scorings on Amazon and similar sites. Those who give it a low score tend to attribute this to the fact that thay cannot "identify with" most or all of the characters, and those who praise it seem to focus on Hornby's ability to portray different character viewpoints and the cleverness of the conceit.
Neither of these viewpoints is wrong. If you read a book hoping to identify and sympathise with a character, then you are bound to feel alienated from at least three of the protagonists - it's more than possible that you will not identify with any of them.
On the other hand, if you are looking for literery conceipt and the ability to switch between viewpoints, you will find it here in abundance. Pay your money and take your choice.
Trying to steer between the two stools is difficult. The multi-person narrative is a device that allows the author to flash a few of his skills, but ultimately is does make it difficult to care about any of the main protagonists in particular. Given that the central plot drive is "will they or will they not sort their lives out?" this is a serious flaw, but not fatal, as the characters and their voices are at least believable. I am also heartened that Hornby didn't try and create some unbelievably sugary ending that tied everyone's lives up in a happy ending that so rarely occurs, and that I still feel that each of the characters has a life oustide of the book that I wish to explore in more detail.
To me it's a clever little tale that never quite pays off, but which is at least not predictable and does remain in the memory
 Good Read January 12, 2007
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Original plot line and engaging characters. Maureen's dilema was dealt with sensitively. I liked the writing style of the characters talking to the reader. Slightly disappointed by anti-climax at the end, but its hard to think of an alternative synopsis- they were never going to jump were they!
 Brilliant! January 7, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the first Hornby novel I have read, and I must say it was a brilliant start. The idea behind it was inspired and really makes it stand apart purely as it is such a novel concept. I found the whole story highly entertaining (an unexpected suprise since the subject-matter is suicide)and it maintained a good story and sense of pace throughout. Although the characters were a little annoying at times, they all had their good and bad points which actually makes them seem more human- after all, who doesn't have flaws? I thought it was excellent throughout and came to a very satisfying and fitting conclusion.
A brilliant and original idea which Hornby managed to pull off. For anyone else who is new to his work I would definitely recommend it as a first read. I expect I will go on to read more of his work in the very near future.
 Please, just jump! December 28, 2006
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book was very disappointing for me. I loved all of Nick Hornby's previous books but this one was almost like a pretender wrote it! The characters were one-dimensional and I could not relate to any of them. I certainly felt no sympathy for any of the characters and that makes a book hard to read. To be honest I now wished they all jumped on page one!
Hopefully it's just a blip in the author's career. I'm hoping his next book will be back to his old style.
Tc
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