Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds Book Review

The first book I decided to read this summer was Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds because there were very high reviews about it. In the first section of the book there was an “Aha Moment” when Will was in the elevator on his way to shoot Riggs, the guy who he thinks killed his brother. Two people got on. They were Buck, Will’s brother’s friend, and Dani, Will’s childhood friend. However, both of these people had died, so Will obviously had no suspicion it was them. Soon after, though, they revealed themselves to him and Will realized he was seeing dead people. This could touch his feelings enough to make him smarten up and realize what he plans to do, or, at the very least, scare him into not shooting Riggs. I’m pretty sure that if I started seeing the people I cared about who had died, I’d stop what I was doing in my tracks.

There was also a “Words of the Wiser” moment, also when Will was in the elevator. When Dani stepped on and Will realized who she was and she realized what he was about to do, she mentioned he could miss. Now, since Dani had been killed by a gun, so in this situation, I’d say she’s wiser even though she isn’t necessarily older than him. I think, and hope, that Will might take that into consideration. While Will was trying to convince her he wouldn’t miss, she also pointed out that he had never even shot a gun before to which he replied, “Don’t matter.” He then repeated that to himself as if he was trying to convince himself of it. Therefore, it makes sense that he’d be nervous that he would miss and decide not to do it, or would at least think over what he plans to do. It implied in the beginning that gun violence is something that Will’s used to and he’s aware of the “rules” that apply when someone is murdered. With the knowledge that he already has and Dani planting the seed in his head that he could miss, I think there’s a good chance that Will will think twice before firing the gun at someone. 

Lastly, there was an “Important Quotation” in this section. There were multiple things in this section that were almost like random thoughts and they made me take a second and reread them, but there was one that really stood out to me. Will was narrating the incident when his brother died and the moments after. He pointed out that when his brother's body was laying there on the ground it looked “a lot like chocolate syrup when the glow from the street lights hit it,” but he knows “ain’t nothing sweet about blood.” At first I was really confused as to why he would think that but after thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense. The people who shot Shawn, Will’s brother, did so because they thought they were going to be eliminating trouble and thought it would be a good thing to do for themselves and the gang they were involved with. In reality though, all they did was take away a son, a brother, a friend and a boyfriend from the people who loved him. There’s nothing good about that. This line really sends the message about the theme of this book, which is gun violence, that no matter how good of reason you think you have to shoot someone, in reality, it’s never the answer.