Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds Review done by Elaine Alexander
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reynolds, Jason. Long Way Down. New York: Atheneum, 2017. ISBN: 9781481438261
SUMMARY
After his brother is killed, fifteen year old Will grabs his brother's gun, fully prepared to adhere to the code of conduct he's been taught and seek revenge for the slaying. As he rides the elevator down to commit the act, Will sees several ghosts he knows -- all victims of gun violence. These ghostly encounters lead him to question everything he thought to be true and to wonder if he has it in him to commit a violent, senseless act, as the rules dictate.
ANALYSIS
This is a gripping, fast-paced novel that will appeal to teens, packing a punch with its raw and gritty realism. The immediacy is visceral, escalated by the fact that the novel primarily takes place in the elevator ride to the lobby. The layout of the book is broken into chapters that begin on 7 and progress chronologically downward to mark the floors Will is descending in the elevator. The structure puts the reader on edge and increases the poignancy of Will's dilemma, whether or not to exercise revenge for the death of his brother. The ending is ambiguous with the final words directed to the narrator in the form of the question: "You coming?" (Reynolds 306) The reader is left to wonder and come to their own conclusions about Will's fate, hoping that the traumatic experience of seeing the ghosts of friends and loved ones will steer him away from the revenge slaying he had assumed he'd have to commit to honor the street code that perpetuates endless cycles of violence.
This collection of poems relies on brevity and straight talk. Words are not minced in the poems and the effect is to put the reader directly into the experiences of the main character, Will. The reader can sense exactly what life in this neighborhood is like. There is an emotional impact in the sentences that paint a picture of the moment where shots were fired and Will looks up "like we always do...to count the bodies. / This time there is only one./ Shawn." (Reynolds 11-12) Reynold's is similarly blunt when explaining the rules that Will and other young men in this community live by: no crying, no snitching, and be ready to get revenge. Even though the source of the rules can't be traced, the way that the poems highlight those rules in bold lettering suggest that it is inconceivable for anyone to consider breaking them. Readers will grasp the pressure these young men feel that compel to continue to honor those rules, even at their own detriment.
Reynolds employs spaces in his poems to emphasize the tough subject matter. For example, when equating Will's grief to an earthquake, the lines of poetry are arranged to show a fissure in the page. In addition, anagrams are scattered throughout the collection to highlight poignant words, such as "ALIVE = A VEIL" (Reynolds 88) which draw to the duality of the words and what they might mean in the context of the book. There is the surface reference, that one minute, Shawn was alive, the next he's covered with a shroud. But the anagram also draws a parallel to the rules that they live by, a thinly disguised veil that hides the true reality of the code they live and die by. The truth is revealed in Will's elevator ride, that sometimes revenge is taken on the wrong person and sometimes gun violence claims the lives of innocent bystanders. This duality forces the reader to see that living this life, isn't really living and that the path might ultimately claim their lives as well.
Even the title of the book, Long Way Down, is an oxymoron that is ripe for discussion, as is the choice of the main character's name -- Will. While the elevator ride is chronologically short, the appearance of multiple ghosts that force Will to deal with the realities of what he is about to do, make for a long, soul-searching journey. Will's name draws up comparison to free will, to choice and also to having the will of other's force upon you in the form of the rules. It also asks a big question, will Will follow his brother's course or will her chose a new path. It is brilliant word play that continues to invite us all into a worthwhile discussion on gun violence and the trauma on youth.
Use & Highlight Poem
Since the book ends on an ambiguous note, with the reader unsure what decision that Will has made -- to pursue revenge and adhere to the code or find a new path -- I think the final poem in the book would make a great classroom lesson for students. It's ripe with discussion as to what Will might choose and why young men in his neighborhood continue to fall victim to these cycles of violence. The author, Jason Reynolds has many Youtube discussions centered on the book, it's format and violence that youth face. Viewing one of those videos to talk context of the story and then moving on to discuss how students thought Will might choose to move forward would be a poignant and important discussion.
09:09:09 am
I WANT OUT.
The door opened slowly,
the clouds of smoke
rushing out of the elevator,
rushing out of me
like an angry wave.
I caught my breath as
Buck,
Dani,
Uncle Mark,
Pop,
Frick,
and
Shawn
chased behind it.
The L button
no longer lit.
I stood alone
in the empty box,
face tight from
dried tears,
jeans soggy,
a loaded gun
still tucked in my
waistband.
Shawn
turned back toward me,
eyes dull from death
but shining from tears,
finally spoke
to me.
Just two words,
like a joke he'd
been saving.
YOU COMING?
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