A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator.

Reader Reviews

Trin

(5/5)

505

Nov 21, 2024

Me on Page 1: Oh great, another novel in verse.Me on Page, like, 5: HOLY SHIT.Then I read the whole thing in one sitting.Incredibly powerful, beautifully written. Reynolds doesn't use the device of verse as a crutch; he wields it like a weapon. I think I held my breath for the entire book, and the ending left me gasping. Truly unforgettable.

Emily (Books with Emily Fox)

(4/5)

266

If you're in a slump and you want a quick interesting read, I would totally recommend this book!It's all about the cycle of violence and written in verse. Really liked it!

Jesse (JesseTheReader)

686

wow wow wow wow i loved this so much. i've read several books written in verse now and this one was superior to all the ones i've read before. the characters were fleshed out so well and the story itself was engaging and rather suspenseful. i highly recommend this if you're looking to try a book written in this style.

Hannah Greendale

170

Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend. A haunting cautionary tale delivered in verse, in which fifteen-year-old Will is forced to consider the potential consequences of his actions as he, armed with a gun and seeking revenge, waits for the elevator in his building to reach the ground floor. THEN THE YELLOW TAPEthat says DO NOT CROSSgets put up, and there's nothing left to do but go home. That tape lets people knowthat this is a murder scene,

Jillian Heise

161

240 pages67 seconds7 floors6 visitorsEach with a pieceof the storynot knownuntil now.Will grievinghis brotherwith a gunand a targetthinking he knowswhat he has to dofollowingThe Ruleswondering what to dowhoto beand what comes next.Jason Reynolds is masterful in the way he can use such sparse language in these free verse poems for such a powerful and emotional impact. I'm going to be talking about and sharing this book for a very long time. Jason's skill at putting words together that grab your h...

Kelly (and the Book Boar)

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/In case you haven’t heard, jasonwritesbooks(.com). More specifically, jasonwritesIMPORTANTbooks. Books that are RELEVANT and NOW and REAL and HEARTBREAKING. Books that make my non-book-lovin’ kid not fight me when it comes to reading. Books that give a voice to a population who so often is rendered voiceless. Books that when I muttered to myself on Sunday morning “what should I read next?” had said non-book-lovin’ kid running to his ba...

♛ may

this was incredible. the writing. the composition. the way jason reynolds narrated it. the emotion. the power. i am floored (lol)seriously the concept of the plot is so fascinating and unique. i love the family history, the stories told in such a short time, the depth of pain and emotion that is only glimpsed for a few seconds bc you can't show emotion when you gotta follow the ruleshow jason reynolds told the stories of so many lives in 1 minute (or 1 hour and 43 minutes, depending on how you l...

Korrina (OwlCrate)

That was incredibly powerful. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Rachel Reads Ravenously

5 stars “I SWEAR SOMETIMESit feels like God be flashing photos of his children, awkward, amazing, tucked in his wallet for the world to see. But the world don't wanna see no kids, and God ain't no pushy parent so he just folds and snaps us shut.” Heartbreaking. In the best possible way, this book was utterly heartbreaking.When Wil's brother is killed in a gang related shooting, he does the only thing he knows how to do: follow the neighborhood rules. So he gets a gun and decides to kill the

Lauren Lanz

I’m beginning to think I’m bound to love stories told in verse. Long Way Down was masterfully written, with an ending that left me breathless. “People always love people more when they're dead.” This book follows fifteen year old William, a boy who’s just witnessed his older brother’s murder. The tragic event has left him hurt and confused, with the addition of a broken mother to account for. All his life, William has been taught the ‘rules’ for situations like these:1. No crying2. No snitchin...

Elyse Walters

Library overdrive…Audiobook….read by Jason Reynolds ….1 hour and 43 minutes Whatever you think this book is….it’s not that!!!I’ve seen this book around for a few years….I had always planned on reading it. After seeing Faith’s review on Goodreads recently — I downloaded the audiobook….. and wow, nothing I read had prepared me….It’s artistically written in verse…OVER-THE-TOP POWERFUL…MUST BE EXPERIENCE to get the full essence of ‘it’s power’…of ‘it’s importance’…of its brutal beauty.….death, blood...

Layla

~ 3.5 stars ~Long Way Down is a very meaningful and symbolic book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I was able to finish this in about an hour. It is written in verse. My interpretation of this book is that it is a message about the cycle of violence. And I did very much like the delivery. Our main character believes that he must uphold justice for his brothers death, by killing his killer. That he must make this life changing decision. He must. That is the rules of the street. But on his way down in t...

Whitney Atkinson

I downloaded this intending on possibly getting to it sometime, but I opened it up out of curiosity and ended up reading the entire thing in about an hour. I don't have too much to say other than I think this is a really effective coming of age story about how violence and toxic masculinity affects so many young black teens. Reynolds writes really honestly and the directness of this is such a well-needed nudge in the side. My only issue is that I struggled with the plot of this book a bit becaus...

Faith

Three rules: no crying, no snitching and always get revenge. Shawn has been shot and killed. Will has Shawn's gun under his second hand shirt as he rides down in the elevator on his way to kill the boy who shot his brother. On each floor, a ghost from Will's past enters the elevator bringing back memories good and bad. Will he get revenge when he reaches the lobby? This was very original, perceptive and moving. Written in verse, the audiobook was perfectly narrated by the author.

Lilith Black Bee

I found the concept of this book very interesting, maybe the first of this kind for me. I'll admit it, at the beginning I was a little confused about the way this book was written. It was not about the fact that it was written in verses. I will just tell you that you will most surely understand when you will read it if you didn't already because I don't want to give any kind of spoilers. The pleasure of discovering it all by yourself is one of the best, for us, the readers.The subject was about

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Long Way Down

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Long Way Down

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