Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

From Goodreads,

"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. "


Goodreads - Long Way Down

Awards:

• National Book Award Nominee for Young People's Literature (2017)
• Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Young Adult Literature (2017)
• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Poetry (2017)
• NAACP Image Award Nominee for Youth/Teens (2018)
• Edgar Award Nominee for Best Young Adult (2018)
• Michael L. Printz Award Nominee (2018)
• Coretta Scott King Award Nominee for Author Honor (2018)
• Newbery Honor (2018)
• Odyssey Award Nominee (2018)

This book is written in prose and it starts with Will's brother Shawn being shot.  Will has to decide what to do because there are rules that are supposed to be followed.  He's not supposed to cry, he's not supposed to snitch, but he is supposed to get revenge.  Will finds his brother's gun and he decides he is going to get revenge on the person who shot his brother.  He steps onto the elevator and it stops at each floor.  Only the people who step on, aren't alive.  They're all dead.  Will must continue the long ride down to see if the elevator will ever reach the lobby.  

This book was a super quick read.  I read it in under an hour.  I absolutely love that this book was centered around violence and how it is passed on generation after generation.  This is such a real problem in America.  Everything we learn is passed on from our parents and siblings.  In this book violence is passed on and taught to children and siblings.  Violence is a real issue and there are children and teenagers who have to fear for their life.  They have to worry about being shot while walking to school and they automatically duck and take cover when they hear gunshots.  It is just a part of their life, but it shouldn't be.  I'm so glad that Reynolds made this topic the focus of his book.  I loved it even more that he showed the issue of violence through the eyes of a teenager who has been raised in it and struggles to make the right choice.    

I absolutely hated the ending of this book.  At the end they finally reached the lobby and all the dead people got off.  They just asked, "You coming?".  I was so confused.  I didn't understand if they were encouraging him to go and shoot the guy who killed his brother.  I didn't know if he was dead and they were walking him to the other side.  I had so many questions.  The ending just left everything hanging, and I hate when books leave everything hanging.  I would have loved if Reynolds would have given the book a proper ending, but he didn't.  

This book was good, but the ending was very weak.  I give this book 3.5 stars.  If you want a quick read or want to read poetry, then this is an excellent book for you.  There are a few choice words in it, which is why I won't put it in my classroom library.