#5: Long Way Down

 

                        when

you're walking in the nighttime,

make sure the nighttime

ain't walking into you.

Long Way Down

Jason Reynolds

 

Year Published: 2017

Pages: 306

Genres: YA fiction, poetry, contemporary realistic fiction

Topics: Gun violence, revenge, cycle of violence, loss of a sibling, masculinity

Recognition:

    New York Times #1 Bestseller
    Walter Dean Myers Award for Teen Literature, 2018
    Coretta Scott King Honor Book, 2018
    Newbery Honor Book, 2018
    Printz Honor Book, 2018
    Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2018
    Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers' Favorite Poetry, 2017

Summary

Fifteen-year-old Will's older brother Shawn was his closest friend, showing him the ropes and teaching him everything he knows about the way the world works. The most important thing he taught him was The Rules: Never cry. Never snitch. And always get revenge.

Now Shawn is gone, shot dead in the street. Will is sure he knows who the killer is, and he knows where Shawn kept his gun. Hiding it under his shirt, tucked into his waistband, he walks out of his family's seventh-floor apartment and into the elevator, only one thing in mind.

But nothing can prepare Will for what he encounters on the ride down: ghosts from his past, victims of the same kind of violence he's hoping to inflict on his brother's killer. On his way down, Will must confront the reality of the world he was raised in and make a choice on how to move forward.

Long Way Down and Me

My school's book room has a couple dozen copies of Long Way Down, and I noticed the parade of award medallions on the cover. I'd also heard of Jason Reynolds and knew he was a prolific and well-regarded YA author.

I didn't have much familiarity with novels in verse before I started this reading project, and I wasn't sure what to expect from this one. I'd read Brown Girl Dreaming, which I enjoyed but found the pace a little slow. Long Way Down is a near polar opposite. The narrative is tense and propulsive, building toward an emotional climax. The story is mostly an old-fashioned morality play, but Will's voice feels so urgent and authentic that the novel's obvious message never feels cloying or heavy-handed. I read the whole thing in one sitting and would recommend it to teens and adults alike.

Teaching Considerations

Young Adult: Long Way Down is the kind of read that can reap benefits across multiple grade levels. The protagonist is 15, so readers in 8th or 9th grade may identify with him more quickly. But the curriculum our school uses recommends the book for 12th grade. I would probably lean toward the lower end of that age range, especially if used as a whole class read, but it is a novel that truly anyone could benefit from reading.

Whole Group: With an urgent subject matter, a powerful narrative, and dozens of creative examples of verse, I think Long Way Down would be an excellent whole-group.

Narrative Poetry: Although divided into separate short poems, Long Way Down is a propulsive narrative that almost requires that it be read as a single text. As a tool for teaching—maybe introducing—narrative poetry, it is accessible, engaging, and can be easily chunked for instruction.

Revenge: The central theme of Long Way Down is revenge and how it drives the cycle of violence. The novel would be an ideal choice as a central text in any unit exploring this theme, and it could be paired with a long list of classic and/or contemporary texts, from Hamlet to John Wick.

Sensitive Content: Long Way Down's contains extensive discussions and descriptions of gun violence. There are also a few instances of profanity.

Read-Aloud Passages

• When bad things happen (p. 21)
• A poem that explores Shawn's death using imagery of the new moon. This poem slows down the narrative slightly through the use of the extended metaphor of the moon, making a great instructional passage to read aloud.
  
  
• I won't pretend that Shawn  ...  The middle drawer called to me (pp. 39-48)
• A series of poems in which Will remembers Shawn, mourns his loss, and finds his gun. This selection is a vital part of the story and summarizes much of Shawn's motivation and character.
  
  
• I swear sometimes (p. 134)
• This single poem is a short, beautiful representation of God as a proud parent, a metaphor for humanity's indifference to one another. Like "When bad things happen," this poem slows the narrative down and provides another strong example of metaphor. I think it's one of the most powerful single poems in the book.
  
  
• There was a moment  ...  You coming? (pp. 302-306)
• The final series of poems finds Will at the end of his journey, where he's faced with a choice. The story's moral climax, and the culmination of Will's development throughout the novel.

Liked Long Way Down? Try These:

• Monster by Walter Dean Myers (1999)
• The Crossover by Kwame Alexander (2014)
• Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (2018)