A Long Way Down

The Book

Nick Hornby's tale is told through four different voices - Martin, a TV presenter, who cheated on his wife with an underage girl and went to prison; Jess, a politician's daughter who's pampered since her sister vanished; JJ, an American wannabe rock star stuck delivering pizza and Maureen, a single mother left caring for her severely brain damaged son. They are brought together one New Year's Eve as they all decide they want to end it all by jumping from Topper's House, a renowned suicide spot. Instead of jumping, they support each other and vow to help each other through.
None of the characters are immediately likeable, as they all have their own clashing points of view and experiences, but through their interaction and over time, the reader gets to better understand them. Maureen is the one you feel most sympathy for, and get a real sense of the problems for a carer with a child that you can never grow up with - choosing his posters, toys, clothes etc at different ages that you hope he would like but never knowing.

Despite hints to tell you that there would be no Friends-type "happy ending", the finish was a bit surprising and an anti-climax, but I think realistic - everyone has the potential to be in a depression at various times in their life and it is not something you can easily switch off. You just make the best of each day and look forward to the next, finding things to keep you going.




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The Movie

Much of the Nick Hornby's writing is introspective naval gazing, examining their respective lives and how it compares to the other, so this was going to be difficult to translate to the screen. The film's narrative follows the same path as the novel but focuses on one of the four at various stages, so you get to know them a bit better. This doesn't work anywhere near as well as the book, however.
Much of the extraneous characters and background of the four are cut, so we do not get Maureen or Jess trying to help bring Martin's family back together or Jess' parents forgiving her for her sister's disappearance. We also don't get an actual suicide, which brings perspective to their lives.
Of course, the big cop out has to be the ending, which does turn into a sort of Friends type happy-ending with all four characters having found a reason for living - with Martin its his children, with Maureen its not only her son but a blossoming romance with one of the doctors, and with JJ and Jess its each other.

It works as a feel good, uplifting sort of conclusion, but doesn't reflect true life - but hey, this is the movies...