I thought I knew some bad elevators...(Long Way Down)

Reynolds, J. (2017) Long Way Down. New York, NY: Atheneum

Beware, Spoilers!

 

Will just watched his brother Shawn die after getting gunned down.  The hurt is more than he can bear.  After he gets home to the room he shares with his brother, he notices the middle drawer of his brother’s dresser, where he kept his gun.  Will also remembers the rules. 1. Don’t cry. 2. Don’t snitch. 3 revenge.

Will sneaks out the next morning, Shawn’s gun tucked into the back of his pants.   He hits the “L” button for the lobby.  He doesn’t know he’s about to spend the longest minute of his life on that elevator.  The elevator stops at the 7^th floor to let someone in.  There is an awkward silence, but he can tell the guy is looking at him.  Finally Will confronts him, and it turns out that it’s his brother’s friend, Buck. Buck is dead.   Buck asks him about the gun he’s carrying and Will explains to him he’s just following the rules.  Buck seems to find it funny for some reason. 

The elevator stops again at floor 6.  A very pretty girl gets in.  While at first Will doesn’t recognize her, she is a friend of his from elementary.  A friend who was his first kiss, and a friend who was killed by a stray bullet.  She’s not impressed with his mission either.

At floor 5 large hands reach in and grab him, wrestling him around.  It is his uncle, who he’s only known from pictures.  His uncle was killed when he started selling drugs by a man who wanted his turf.  Will tells him he’s just following the rules, and his uncle asks him to play it out in his head.  After Will finds this guy that he “knows” killed Shawn, then what?  Will has trouble answering.

Floor 4 comes along and a man who Will hasn’t seen since he was 3 enters.  It is his father.  They embrace heartily, but then come up the subject of what Will is doing. His father spins the tale of how he followed the rules after his brother was shot.  How he was broken inside, how he did what he felt he had to, and how he shot the wrong person. 

The person who comes in at floor 3 Will doesn’t recognize.  He doesn’t know him, but buck does.  He’s the guy who killed buck.  They talk about how buck became a target because this guy, Frick, wanted to get in a gang.  Frick freaked out while trying to rob him and shot him.  In return, Shawn went and shot Frick.

At floor 2, no one enters at first.  Then Shawn comes in. Shawn greets everyone and smiles to them, hugging and slapping backs.  He greets everyone but Will.  He won’t talk to Will.  When Will tries, all he sees Shawn give are tears.  The elevator reaches the lobby and everyone but Shawn and Will disappear.  Shawn turns back to will and says, “You coming?”

I really like the style of this book.  I’m always in awe of an author that can tell a story in verse.  The poetry isn’t just in the words themselves however, it’s also in the design of the book.  The poems jump to different sides of the page.  They change styles.  They even make pictures at times.  It is really cool to look at.  I also love the time stamps you find on some pages.  Even though it would seem that this elevator ride is taking all day, it’s really just over a minute long.  The subject may be a bit somber, but I find the style really cool.

I read this because it is a Printz Honor book.