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    Long Way Down
    Long Way Down
    Long Way Down
    Ebook334 pages1 hour

    Long Way Down

    By Jason Reynolds

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    “An intense snapshot of the chain reaction caused by pulling a trigger.” —Booklist (starred review)
    “Astonishing.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
    “A tour de force.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    A Newbery Honor Book
    A Coretta Scott King Honor Book
    A Printz Honor Book
    A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021)
    A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature
    Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
    Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award
    An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction
    Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner
    An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017
    A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017
    A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017

    An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds’s electrifying novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.

    A cannon. A strap.
    A piece. A biscuit.
    A burner. A heater.
    A chopper. A gat.
    A hammer
    A tool
    for RULE

    Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he?

    As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator?

    Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

    And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator.

    Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.

    Editor's Note

    Award-winning intensity…

    This will be the most intense elevator ride of your life. Every second counts in this experimental story about a boy contemplating revenge for his brother’s murder. Jason Reynold’s book has received many accolades, including a Newbery Honor and LA Times Book Prize.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateOct 24, 2017
    ISBN9781481438278
    Author

    Jason Reynolds

    Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a UK Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, an Odyssey Award Winner and two-time honoree, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. He was also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His many books include All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely); When I Was the Greatest; The Boy in the Black Suit; Stamped; As Brave as You; For Every One; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu); Look Both Ways; Stuntboy, in the Meantime; Ain’t Burned All the Bright (recipient of the Caldecott Honor) and My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. (both cowritten with Jason Griffin); and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. His debut picture book, There Was a Party for Langston, won a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. He lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

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    Reviews for Long Way Down

    4.5/5

    807 ratings67 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Long Way Down is such powerful novel. I loved reading about all the people that came into the elevator.At some points I did get confused with the way it is written in verse, but other then that the writing is incredible.
    • 5/5
      Jason Reynolds has gotten my blood pumping in this unputdownable, never forgettable, utterly conscious altering work of genius. Will is just a 15 year old boy grieving the loss of his older brother Shawn. He has grown up with a set of rules: 1. No crying, 2. No Snitching 3. Revenge. And will goes to seek his revenge. However, he has the longest lasting elevator ride ever. Each floor someone new gets on the elevator, and it causes Will to question everything he knows and believes. This book is written entirely in verse. It is so masterfully done you speed read to know what happens next. At times this book makes me think of the movie Scrooged with the ghosts of Christmas past telling you in a mocking sort of what, that what you knew was not always correct. This is life. Life in an area I have never experienced. But Jason Reynolds put me in this life body and soul. I could talk about this novel for longer than I spent reading it. I would love to talk it over with current 15 year olds, to see how it stands up to their experiences. Its a moving and powerful work that I am sure to read again and again.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written book about a boy named Will and his older brother Shawn growing up in a dangerous neighborhood. But then his brother is murdered. So Will has to follow the rules, he has to shoot the person who shot his brother. but as he rides the elevator down from where he lives on the 7th floor, he encounters souls from his past. What will happen when he reaches the lobby?

      This story is beautifully written in lyric and portrays the struggle so many urban teens have to deal with on a daily basis. What do you do when you lose your favorite person? Your only person? Your Brother? Tragic and enlightening and I hope it helps someone who needs this book.
    • 5/5
      Thank god for bookclub! It’s books like this that remind me how lucky I am to be in a club with such a great group of ladies who love to read and know their stuff about what’s out there. The only other Jason Reynolds book I read was for bookclub (was great), but per my norm, since he writes the type of fiction that I don’t usually pursue on my own, it’s likely I would have missed out on this great read as well.During our meeting, there was a persistent theme of us all having read it in one sitting (most of us the very day of bookclub, my bad!) due to the story being written in verse. But this decision was so much more than a device that made the book quick to read! Reynolds masterfully binds together all the strengths that can be gleaned from versed-novels, while deftly avoiding some of the pitfalls, such as melodrama and pretentiousness.Instead, the limited number of words created an almost claustrophobic atmosphere that mirrored Will’s journey down the elevator. From page to page, the words would be laid out differently across the page, sometimes mimicking the topic that was being discussed, such as a jagged splatter of words about an earthquake and a question mark shape drawn in words themselves. The line breaks, and even page turns, were also effective in giving weight to moments and certain words, leaving them to fall hard on the unsuspecting reader.Beyond the style of the book, Reynolds tackles a tough and nuanced topic in his exploration of gun violence in a poor, black neighborhood. His story is a frank reveal of the limited choices and persistent cycles that exists, without casting judgement or freeing characters from the responsibility of their actions. Again, the decision to write in verse just further supported this exploration. As the number of words are limited, Reynolds’ language is precise, clear, and devastating.My only criticism is with the very end, and even there, I’m not entirely sure how I feel. I like the ambiguousness, but I also feel like it wrapped up rather suddenly. However, I also don’t know how else a story like this could have been finished, and the ending itself speaks to the limited and challenging options available in these communities.----I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Jason Reynolds while at ALA’s Annual Conference in 2017, and when I met him I got an ARC of “Long Way Down”. I hadn’t known what to expect from that book, but I knew that the concept sounded very intriguing to me. When I finally opened it up a couple months later I was pretty much blown away. I hadn’t expected to be as taken with the book, only because it’s written in verse and DAMN am I not a poetry fan. But I read it one sitting and said ‘wow’ as I set it down at the end. So when we did the B-Sides theme, I KNEW that I needed to pick “Long Way Down”.Will is a character that the reader can instantly relate to, even if your circumstances don’t match his. He’s a person who has just suffered a great personal loss, and his grief, rage, and helplessness are pushing him towards making a huge mistake: shooting the man who he thinks killed his brother Shawn. As mentioned, this entire story, from his brother’s murder to the aftermath to Will’s experiences in the elevator, is told in poetry form. The poems split up the story into little segments, and you get the full span of anger and deep grief that Will is experiencing. Even though I don’t like poetry, it’s use in this book is incredibly evocative, and in some ways makes it more powerful because of the way Reynolds structures each poem. You know that Will is a boy who deeply loves his brother, and is within a community where cycles of violence can affect, and embitter, anyone.I also really appreciate the way that Reynolds shows the different victims of gun violence in Will’s life, from his brother to his father to his uncle to a childhood friend. They all have different scenarios that led to their deaths, some because of a direct choice, and others because of sheer circumstance and randomness. The one that hits the hardest is that of Dani, a girl who was friends with Will when they were eight, and who died because of a stray bullet meant for someone else. But that isn’t to say that Reynolds makes any of the other victims less of a victim by including her, no matter what choices they may have made. As Serena mentioned above, Reynolds shows that they are all victims in one way or another, be it victims of gun violence of victims of a society that has forgotten about them. There are lots of greys in this book, and, as Serena mentioned, lots of ambiguity, and I think that given that life is filled with greys it hits the point home.Reading “Long Way Down” for the second time cemented it as one of my favorite YA books as of late, and Jason Reynolds is a master who is telling stories that really need to be told. I can’t wait to see what else he brings to the literary world.
    • 5/5
      Wow.....just wow. Written in free-verse, it proves that books with just a few words can be as powerful or even more so, than books with thousands of words. I haven't read many books like this, but this author really makes an impact, especially with the ending.
    • 5/5
      Three rules: no crying, no snitching and always get revenge. Shawn has been shot and killed. Will has Shawn's gun under his second hand shirt as he rides down in the elevator on his way to kill the boy who shot his brother. On each floor, a ghost from Will's past enters the elevator bringing back memories good and bad. Will he get revenge when he reaches the lobby? This was very original, perceptive and moving. Written in verse, the audiobook was perfectly narrated by the author.
    • 4/5
      Finished this book and felt like I had to talk to someone about it. What happens when the elevator door opens? The lesson given is clear to the reader, but does it have the same impact on the main character?After his brother is murdered, Will is following "The Rules" and feels the need to get revenge and kill the guy who killed his brother. Or at least the guy he thinks kills his brother. In a kind of "Christmas Carol" device he meets others in his life who have been killed on the elevator ride down to street level and interacts with them to kind of put a lens to his own situation. The cycle of violence his family has been in that is revealed during this ride is heartbreaking. Sparse and powerful, a quick read I didn't want to put down.
    • 5/5
      A young man caught in the seemingly endless cycle of gang shootings and retaliations spends an elevator ride with the literal ghosts of his past on his way to avenge the death of his brother.Whoa, what a powerful message, and so brilliantly written. This novel cements Reynolds place as a master of free verse, as well. Like Thomas' The Hate U Give, this one is so, so important and comes with an ending that will leave your innards most definitely feeling bruised. Highly, highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Again, Jason Reynolds does not disappoint.Written in verse, this is the story about Will, who's older brother, Shawn was shot dead. For Will, this means following the rules, but sometimes the rules are meant to be broken.Kudos to the publisher for printing this book - I love the feel of the pages...for me, it was like touching Will's hands...
    • 5/5
      Free verse account of a young man's contemplations on the shooting death of his best brother, Shawn. In a long fantasy-filled elevator ride, Will considers the rules of his inner-city world: 1) don't cry; 2) don't snitch; 3) seek revenge. He's got a gun in his waistband: now what? Beautifully written --even poetic-- Author Reynolds takes a hard look at the cycle of violence inherent in many young black men's lives.
    • 5/5
      As Will, fifteen, sets out to avenge his brother Shawn's fatal shooting, seven ghosts who knew Shawn board the elevator and reveal truths Will needs to know.
    • 5/5
      Wow! This is the quick and amazing look into the results of what happens when teens get involved in gang violence. Told in short sections, almost in the form of poetry, this is simply one of the best YA books I have ever read. I won't say any more because I don't want to give the brilliance of this book away, but just would say to every teen and parent - read it!
    • 5/5
      Easily one of the best books I've read so far this year! Utterly compelling, impossible to put down, and packs one hell of a punch. This teen novel in verse discusses gun violence in such a way that leaves no room for argument, it demands to be heard and felt. Will's older brother Shawn has been shot and killed and it falls on Will to exact vengeance. He has to he has no choice. It's part of the rules. 1. No crying2. No snitching3. Get revenge no matter whatIt's what his brother would have done. So he takes his dead brother's gun and heads to the elevator to leave the building and take out his brother's killer. But it's a long way down and he must pass seven floors. On each floor, a victim of gun violence enters on the elevator. Sixty seconds. Seven floors, Three rules. One gun. AMAZING! Seriously can't stop thinking about this book. It's giving me the chills.
    • 5/5
      Stunningly beautiful. This could easily be read in a single sitting, though about half way through, I stopped so I could savor it a bit longer. The precision of language, the symbolism, connections, emotions ... I was fighting back sobs with the final words.
    • 5/5
      When Will's older brother is shot, he knows that he has to follow the rules:1. no crying2. no snitching3. get revenge.Sure of who is at fault, he heads out to follow rule 3. But ghosts of his own past haunt him.
    • 4/5
      I am rating this book immediately though I feel like that's a mistake. I think this is a story I need to sit with and marinate over before rating.
      So my immediate rating is 4 out of 5 stars, but in the long run, this may be a 5-star read. I listened to a Long Way Down while following along with the e-book. The audiobook is narrated by the author and it is exceptional. I highly recommend listing to this story on audio.
      I took off a star for the ending. SPOILER - I'm not a fan of like the Inception - you decide the ending - thing. I want the author to tell me what Will does when he steps off that elevator!
      A goal of mine for 2019 is to read more diversely and I think this is a perfect choice for anyone else with this goal. If you truly open up your mind and heart to this story, you can't leave feeling the same way.
    • 5/5
      This is the most amazing book I've read in a long time.
    • 5/5
      Well written and engaging for readers of all ages.
    • 5/5
      WHAT HAPPENED IN THE END?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DID HE KILL HIM OR NOT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    • 5/5
      Amazing. that's all I could really say it was amazing
    • 3/5
      I was so confused for all the things what goes through the will’s head, but the book are really incredible with a lot of reflections
    • 5/5
      Wonderful story. If you have some great stories like this one, you can publish it on Novel Star, just submit your story to hardy@novelstar.top or joye@novelstar.top
    • 5/5
      The author wrote in the best way possible - Free Verse Poetry.
    • 5/5
      So so so beautifully written. I loved it very much.
    • 3/5
      Evergreen Bk Award nominee for 2020: novel in verse about young man whose brother was shot down in the inner city; he is determined to revenge his death, but after he finds his brother's hidden hand gun, and heads down his apt bldg's elevator, he begins to meet a strange set of people who board at different floors and interact with him - all "ghosts" but deceased friends of his community, culminating with the appearance of his own father (died when he was 3) and his brother Shawn himself. Like a free verse poem but embued with much much more than a captured emotion or single conveyed theme, this story reveals the struggles and fatalistic "code" of the street that young black men are given early on by their neighborhood ... excellent use of dialogue and language; fast read, but certainly not a happy one. Definitely appeals to teens who are fascinated with guns/street violence or are struggling with how to respond to injustices, murder of fellow family members, etc. with a strong message about "why?" and "are you sure revenge is the way to go?"
    • 5/5
      Wonderfully written and narrated by the author. Bit of a cliffhanger at the end.
    • 5/5
      I loved it. Its like deep twilight poetry. Loved it!!!
    • 4/5
      Espectacular! Un libro obligatoria para leer! Genera a uno mucho crecimiento personal
    • 5/5
      WHAT A BOOK!! In the beginning, it didn't impress me, but the last pages left me speechless. Totally recommend it!
    • 5/5
      This book was so touching and heartbreaking. I loved every part of it. Thank you, Jason Reynolds.

    Book preview

    Long Way Down - Jason Reynolds

    Cover: Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds

    Astonishing.

    Gripping.

    Powerful.

    A tour de force.

    Icon: The Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature

    Long Way Down

    Jason Reynolds

    New York Times Bestselling Author

    Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds, Atheneum Books for Young Readers

    For all the young brothers and sisters

    in detention centers around the country,

    the ones I’ve seen, and the ones I haven’t.

    You are loved.

    Black and white photograph of closed elevator gates, with inverted colors.

    DON’T NOBODY

    believe nothing

    these days

    which is why I haven’t

    told nobody the story

    I’m about to tell you.

    And truth is,

    you probably ain’t

    gon’ believe it either

    gon’ think I’m lying

    or I’m losing it,

    but I’m telling you,

    this story is true.

    It happened to me.

    Really.

    It did.

    It so did.

    MY NAME IS

    Will.

    William.

    William Holloman.

    But to my friends

    and people

    who know me

    know me,

    just Will.

    So call me Will,

    because after I tell you

    what I’m about to tell you

    you’ll either

    want to be my friend

    or not

    want to be my friend

    at all.

    Either way,

    you’ll know me

    know me.

    I’M ONLY WILLIAM

    to my mother

    and my brother, Shawn,

    whenever he was trying

    to be funny.

    Now

    I’m wishing I would’ve

    laughed more

    at his dumb jokes

    because the day

    before yesterday,

    Shawn was shot

    and killed.

    I DON’T KNOW YOU,

    don’t know

    your last name,

    if you got

    brothers

    or sisters

    or mothers

    or fathers

    or cousins

    that be like

    brothers

    and sisters

    or aunties

    or uncles

    that be like

    mothers

    and fathers,

    but if the blood

    inside you is on the inside

    of someone else,

    you never want to

    see it on the outside of

    them.

    THE SADNESS

    is just so hard

    to explain.

    Imagine waking up

    and someone,

    a stranger,

    got you strapped down,

    got pliers shoved

    into your mouth,

    gripping a tooth

    somewhere in the back,

    one of the big

    important ones,

    and rips it out.

    Imagine the knocking

    in your head,

    the pressure pushing

    through your ears,

    the blood pooling.

    But the worst part,

    the absolute worst part,

    is the constant slipping

    of your tongue

    into the new empty space,

    where you know

    a tooth supposed to be

    but ain’t no more.

    IT’S SO HARD TO SAY,

    Shawn’s

    dead.

    Shawn’s

    dead.

    Shawn’s

    dead.

    So strange to say.

    So sad.

    But I guess

    not surprising,

    which I guess is

    even stranger,

    and even sadder.

    THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY

    me and my friend Tony

    were outside talking about

    whether or not we’d get any

    taller now that we were fifteen.

    When Shawn was fifteen

    he grew a foot, maybe a foot

    and a half. That’s when he gave

    me all the clothes he couldn’t fit.

    Tony kept saying he hoped he grew

    because even though he was

    the best ballplayer around here

    our age, he was also the shortest.

    And everybody knows

    you can’t go all the way when

    you’re that small unless you can

    really jump. Like

    fly.

    AND THEN THERE WERE SHOTS.

    Everybody

    ran,

    ducked,

    hid,

    tucked

    themselves tight.

    Did what we’ve all

    been trained to.

    Pressed our lips to the

    pavement and prayed

    the boom, followed by

    the buzz of a bullet,

    ain’t meet us.

    AFTER THE SHOTS

    me and Tony

    waited like we always do,

    for the rumble to stop,

    before picking our heads up

    and poking our heads out

    to count the bodies.

    This time

    there was only one.

    Shawn.

    I’VE NEVER BEEN

    in an    earthquake.

    Don’t    know if this was

    even    close to how they

    are,    but the ground

    defi      nitely felt like

    it o    pened up

    and      ate me.

    THINGS THAT ALWAYS HAPPEN WHENEVER SOMEONE IS KILLED AROUND HERE

    NO. 1: SCREAMING

    Not everybody screams.

    Usually just

    moms,

    girlfriends,

    daughters.

    In this case

    it was Leticia,

    Shawn’s girlfriend,

    on her knees kissing

    his forehead

    between shrieks.

    I think she hoped

    her voice would

    somehow keep him

    alive,

    would clot the blood.

    But I think

    she knew

    deep down in the

    deepest part of

    her downness

    she was kissing

    him good-bye.

    AND MY MOM

    moaning low,

    Not my baby.

    Not my baby.

    Why?

    hanging over my

    brother’s body

    like a dimmed

    light post.

    NO. 2: SIRENS

    Lots and lots of sirens,

    howling, cutting through

    the sounds of the city.

    Except the screams.

    The screams are always

    heard over everything.

    Even the sirens.

    NO. 3: QUESTIONS

    Cops flashed lights in our faces

    and we all turned to stone.

    Did anybody see anything?

    a young officer asked.

    He looked honest, like he

    ain’t never done this before.

    You can always tell a newbie.

    They always ask questions

    like they really expect answers.

    Did anybody see anyone?

    I ain’t seen nothin’,

    Marcus Andrews, the neighborhood

    know-it-all, said.

    Even he knew better than to

    know anything.

    IN CASE YOU AIN’T KNOW,

    gunshots

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