My first exposure to Jason Reynolds was reading a review of this book in Entertainment Weekly, it was coming soon. He sounded like an author my 12 year old social justice warrior son and I could both read and talk about....But while we waited I bought him all american boys for his birthday.
I started and finished Long Way Down in a few hours. It was moving. Powerful. Thought provoking. And left you wondering and hoping and I imagine in a good way...though I guess the opposite view is possible. I am choosing to find the hope....
The style of the writing is poetry, spoken word poetry, so there isn't always a lot of words on each page, but don't let that fool you, I was most ripped by two different pages each with one word on them.....The story takes place in about a minute...while Will is on his way down in the elevator a short time after his brother is shot in the street...Will has a gun in his waist band and is sure he should follow the neighborhood "RULES," Don't Cry, Don't Snitch, and Avenge the dead (kill the killer). He has mastered the crying and hasn't snitched...during the ride down in the elevator with his brother's gun he is faced with the facts of what the cycle has done to those that have come before him...He contemplates his pain and life and death....And the elevator reaches the lobby where Will.....
Jason Reynolds is amazing (check out his appearance on The Daily Show from January 24, 2018)
(Finished January 28, 2018)
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