J. L. Willow

 

Title: Long Way Down

Author: Jason Reynolds

Genre: Poetry, Paranormal Fiction

Review: To be honest, I’ve been in a bit of a book slump recently. I’ve had trouble connecting to what I was reading, and I was really hoping for something new that would draw me in and surprise me. Long Way Down was just what I was looking for.

Written in prose poetry, Reynolds uses format, repetition, and even anagrams to bring the reader into the mind of Will, a 15-year-old struggling to cope with the sudden death of his brother. In Will’s mind, there’s only one way to move on: kill the man who took his brother’s life. But as he descends on an elevator on the way to do what he feels must be done, he finds himself face-to-face with literal ghosts from his past. Each person that enters the elevator continues to challenge Will’s belief that this is the only way to find justice for his brother — and the other lost people in his life.

Although the book only took me a few hours to read, by the end of it, I felt like I knew Will inside and out. Reynolds’ clear, concise writing holds back nothing from the reader and starkly portrays the pain of grief and loss. He has a clever take on language that can’t be found on any other pages out there (expect, of course, his other work). It kept me enthralled from the very first page to the very last. It was one of those books that had me sitting there, mulling over what I had just read long after I closed the cover.

If you’re looking for a quick read that’s sure to keep you intrigued and perhaps even touch you in an unexpected way, I highly recommend Jason Reynold’s Long Way Down.

Good Choice if You Liked: The Graveyard Book, Crank, City of Ghosts

Rating: 10/10