[Book Log 1] Hornby

[chenanceou]

Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

"Even though our problems had driven us up there, it was as if they had somehow, like Daleks, been unable to climb the stairs."

"I knew that the girl was called Buffy, because that's what it said on the poster..."

Mr. Hornby missed the >Dalek< episode, but it's easy to forgive him when he goes on to mention Buffy - all in the same book.

Mr. Hornby has passed by suicide before in About A Boy, so it didn't surprise me (as much as it seems to have other people) that he would go for it again. Maybe I'm the trusting sort and bought the book on faith (the 4 main characters are suicidal and no, this isn't a spoiler since it's right there on the blurb) or maybe I was ready to be entertained in just that particular way, because I really liked the book and found it quite funny. Yes, some of the character voices sometimes lose their individuality and expose a bit the fact there's a puppeteer pulling the strings, but not enough to put me off. I laughed out loud with Mr. Hornby's story and that, given the present circumstances, says a lot about the book.

Note: To give credit, where credit is due: coraline's own book log is the inspiration for this one.

Comments

[usedtobeljs]

Thanks for the review, Chen! Much as I like NH, I'd been putting this one off, but maybe I'll take a look.

[hugs]

[chenanceou.livejournal.com]

I was wary - trying to go positive is hard work and I didn't want a downer book to make it even harder - but this book was funny. It's no deep insight into suicide, more like a particularly skewed view of people who are suicidal (for reasons going from valid to lame).

All of this to say - it's fun and not very serious.

P.S. New Hugh Laurie icon.

[usedtobeljs]

Lovely, lovely icon! :-)

[unclebastard.livejournal.com]

McSweeney's (http://www.mcsweeneys.net) has a series of essays, Short Essays on Favorite Songs, Insprired by Nick Hornby's Songbook (http://mcsweeneys.net/links/song/).

The first (or last) essay is from Hornby himself (http://mcsweeneys.net/links/song/hornby.html).

This is the only Hornby link I have. My friend Kirk likes his books also.

Hope you're feeling better.

[chenanceou.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! I've got it bookmarked myself now since McSweeney's is always a good thing.

And thanks for the good wishes - things are better.