Is Long Way Down Worth Reading?
Ada’s Score
Jason Reynolds's 2017 novel-in-verse follows fifteen-year-old Will, who steps into an elevator with a loaded gun, intent on avenging his brother's murder — and in sixty seconds, encounters a series of ghosts who challenge everything he believes about justice and revenge. Written entirely as free verse poetry, the novel is startling in its formal audacity and emotional precision, compressing a world of grief, loyalty, and moral reckoning into a single elevator ride. Reynolds captures the language and logic of street violence without sensationalizing it, making the case that cycles of retribution are learned, not inevitable. A National Book Award finalist, it is one of the most innovative and urgent young adult novels of the decade.
Spotlight“Reynolds breaks every rule of the novel and creates something electric — verse that hits harder than prose ever could.”
Sixty Seconds That Will Stay With You Forever
Jason Reynolds wrote this entire novel in verse — and it moves like a held breath, floor by floor, ghost by ghost. It's technically a young adult book, but I'd hand it to anyone who has ever wondered how cycles of violence actually take root in a life. Short enough to read in an hour, heavy enough to last a lifetime.
Ada Brief
AI reading intelligence“Reynolds breaks every rule of the novel and creates something electric — verse that hits harder than prose ever could.”
Sixty Seconds That Will Stay With You Forever
Jason Reynolds wrote this entire novel in verse — and it moves like a held breath, floor by floor, ghost by ghost. It's technically a young adult book, but I'd hand it to anyone who has ever wondered how cycles of violence actually take root in a life. Short enough to read in an hour, heavy enough to last a lifetime.
Long Way Down Review
Reynolds breaks every rule of the novel and creates something electric — verse that hits harder than prose ever could.
Rating: 4.6 / 5
Book Details
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster Audio
- Published
- January 1, 2017
- Pages
- 208
- Language
- English
- ISBN-13
- 9781534444959
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Ada’s Score
4.6
Ada’s editorial score — not an aggregate of reader reviews.
Common Questions About Long Way Down
- Is Long Way Down worth reading?
- Reynolds breaks every rule of the novel and creates something electric — verse that hits harder than prose ever could. Ada rates it 4.6 out of 5.
- How many pages is Long Way Down?
- Long Way Down is 208 pages long — around 4–5 hours at an average reading pace.
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