content warnings: gun violence, murder, loss of a loved one
representation: black main and side characters


“Shawn was zipped into a bag
and rolled away, his blood added
to the pavement galaxy of

bubblegum stars. The tape
framed it like it was art. And the next
day, kids would play mummy with it.”


I love me some hard hitting contemporary that makes me want to reevaluate my life choices 👌👌

Jason Reynolds' Long Way Down is a contemporary written in verse about Will, a black teenage boy whose brother has just been murdered. Will knows The Rules; don't cry, don't snitch, get revenge. So he gets his brothers' gun and steps into the elevator, preparing to shoot the person he thinks is responsible for his brothers death. But when he's in the elevator, he sees familiar faces who shouldn't be there.

The writing in this book is absolutely beautiful. As usual with anything written in prose/poetry, it took me a second to get into, but that's entirely a me issue and didn't take away from Reynolds' incredible writing. It's quite simplistic and feels very much like the way that a teenage boy would think.

I loved the way that this book looked at its main theme, which is the cycle of violence. Will feels obligated to get revenge for his brother but as the book goes on both the reader and he realise that this isn't something he feels comfortable doing. Him meeting the various people who enter the elevator also make him realise this.

I'm not sure if this something that all copies had but mine had incredible illustrations by Chris Priestley. They were black-and-white and really simple, similarly to the writing, and they added so much to the story as a whole.

Honestly, I have no idea how coherent this was. This was wonderful and hard-hitting. 10/10 would recommend.