Posted by jay on October 7, 2005, at 0:25:54
"A Long Way Down" — Nick Hornby
In contrast, the four main characters of this novel all have nothing to live for. In fact, they first meet each other on the roof of a London apartment block, on New Year’s Eve, each determined to end their torments by jumping off.Nick Hornby is among the finest modern writers, in every sense of that word, his characters always engaged with today’s world, and today’s problems. I had enjoyed each of Hornby’s previous novels, High Fidelity, About a Boy, and How To Be Good, and his non-fiction books as well, Songbook (quoted a few times in Traveling Music, in which his Fever Pitch is also mentioned), but when I read a review of this latest, I was a little doubtful (again, those darn plot summaries giving too much away).
However, my concern that the story sounded dark, morbid, and possibly depressing was unfounded. My quote from Ovid, “if the art is concealed, it succeeds,” applies equally well to Nick Hornby. The reading seems so effortless that only later do you reflect how much thought he gives to designing his characters and their destinies.
The four main characters in A Long Way Down are each so different, and yet such modern “types” — the disaffected, fragmented teenage punk girl, the shallow, emotionally-crippled television personality destroyed by a sex scandal, the spiritless middle-aged mother of a handicapped son, and the failed American rock musician. Hornby’s skill draws their stories together, and makes their relationship the main character of the story, from their first encounter on the rooftop, humorous and poignant, to their gradual forming of an unlikely bond.
Like all the novels I have celebrated in these reviews, A Long Way Down changed my perception of the world, and introduced me to the lives of other people — who, if imaginary, are no less real — and I think that very quality might be one distinction between art and entertainment.
Art has the power to change you, or at least the way you see the world, while entertainment has, at best, a transitory effect.
Certainly I am not immune to the charms of reading purely for diversion or escape, but with an adventure or mystery book — or movie, TV show, or sports event — you feel temporary, vicarious feelings, and carry away little or nothing from the experience.
A Long Way Down is an enjoyable read, but it also made my world just four stories larger.
poster:jay
thread:563950
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20050728/msgs/563950.html