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2005 novel written by British author Nick Hornby

A Long Way Down is a 2005 novel written by British author Nick Hornby. It is a dark comedy, playing off the themes of suicide, angst, depression and promiscuity. The story is written in the first person narrative from the points of view of the four main characters, Martin, Maureen, Jess and JJ. These four strangers happen to meet on the roof of a high building called Toppers House in London on New Year's Eve, each with the intent of committing suicide. Their plans for death in solitude are ruined when they meet. The novel recounts their misadventures as they decide to come down from the roof alive – however temporarily that may be.

Martin Sharp – Martin Sharp is a celebrity whose age isn't revealed, but he is described as a middle aged man. Martin's life was perfect: he had a wife and two little daughters, a well paid job and was successful. He was host of a famous show called "Rise and Shine with Penny and Martin" but Martin made the mistake of sleeping with a girl aged 15 years and 250 days old (a 115 day gap to legality), for which he spent three months in prison. The scandal only increases his fame, as his case was stripped in the yellow press. When he is released from prison, he discovers that his marriage is ruined. From that point he works for a cable TV channel with low popularity (FeetUpTV!) and has an affair with Penny, his former colleague. He does not make an effort to see his daughters or to clarify the tense situation with his wife. He's very unhappy about his situation and feels that he has "pissed his life away" and that's why he wants to end his life. Maureen – Maureen is a 51 year old single mother of a disabled son named Matty. Her whole life revolves around Matty, to whom she is a very sacrificial mother, having had to leave her job to care for him. She has no freedom and free time except the services at church she attends every Sunday. Maureen and Matty live in a small flat, who has his own room which she decorates for him even though she can't be sure that he realises it. Maureen dreams of going on a holiday, but she is isolating herself more and more from her surrounding. She is trapped in this difficult situation. She wants to commit suicide to get rid of her problems, which seems impossible to her. Jess Crichton – Jess is an eighteen year old girl with family problems. She does not have any real friends. Jess tends to easily irritate others as she tends to say everything that comes to her mind, without considering the feelings of others. Jess' father, Chris Chrichton, is a local politician and the family is completed by her mother. Her sister Jen, who is very important to her, left the family a few years ago and is thought to have committed suicide. The whole family, especially the mother and Jess, are still very upset about it. Jess uses a lot of slang terms, and says the word "fuck" often. She doesn't respect the feelings of the other characters, and as such is not close with any of them. She often argues with Martin because it bothers her that he is everything she dislikes: educated and rather arrogant, features that fit to her father, too. Her relationship with her parents is tense because her mother accuses her of having stolen a pair of earrings from her sister Jen which the mother had left in Jen's untouched room. She is the one who convinces the group not to jump immediately but, instead, to find her ex boyfriend. She wants to commit suicide by jumping from the tower block because of her family problems and losing her ex boyfriend though it's also slightly impulsive, brought on by attending a party downstairs in Toppers House. JJ – JJ is a forty eight year old American who came to London with his girlfriend Lizzie. He played in a band called "Big Yellow" and toured across the country. For Lizzie he gave up his dream of becoming a rock star, but the band broke up and Lizzie dumped him. But the dream of becoming successful still exists in his heart. Much to his disappointment, he now earns money by delivering pizza. He compares his own ambition for suicide with the ambitions of well known musicians and also compares the four people on the roof with a band he calls "Toppers House Four".

The book received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator Metacritic reported the book had an average score of 55 out of 100, based on 32 reviews.

Johnny Depp bought the rights to the book before it was published and hired writer D. V. DeVincentis, who previously wrote the script for the film High Fidelity, to write the screenplay. Depp is also quoted on the back of the paperback edition as saying that the book is "Masterful some of the finest writing, and some of the most outstanding characters I've ever had the pleasure of reading." However, when the rights came up for renewal Hornby awarded them to his partner Amanda Posey and producer Finola Dwyer. The film stars Pierce Brosnan as Martin Sharp, Imogen Poots as Jess Crichton, Toni Collette as Maureen, Aaron Paul as J. J. Sam Neill plays Jess's father.