50 Books Challenge - # 4: A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

Title: A Long Way Down
Author: Nick Hornby
Story: On New Year's Eve, four strangers meet each other on a rooftop, where each has gone to kill himself. JJ is a failed American rock star, Jess a somewhat psychotic teenager, Maureen a middle-aged women with a disabled son, and Martin a disgraced talk show host. On the rooftop, all eventually agree to come down and help Jess find her ex-boyfriend, Chas. The unlikely foursome end up staying together all night, and meet again in six weeks, on Valentine's Day (the next day popular for suicides). When the press gets wind of their escapades, however, they are forced to reunite sooner than planned. The characters struggle to find common ground and convinced each other, and themselves, that staying alive is worth the trouble
Start: january 18th 2011
End: january 21st 2011
Comment: I finished it in three days, which means that I had to keep reading. Nick Hornby is one of my favorite writers, because of "About a Boy" and especially "High Fidelity". I think I can add this one to my favorites list as well. It's a very dramatic theme, but Hornby combines that with a lot of humor. It sounds weird, but it's true. I liked how every chapter was told from a different characters perspective. I liked Maureen the most and then JJ. I thought Jess was very annoying, I would probably punch her if she were real, but there's always that one character you just can't sympathize with. The parts about here weren't as much fun to read as the stories about the other three characters. I really enjoyed "A Long Way Down" and if you like Hornby's previous work, you would probably like this one too.
Rating: 4/ 5