Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds is a young adult novel written in free verse that tells the story of Will, a 15 year old boy who’s older brother was shot and killed. Jason Reynolds uses various different literary devices to explore themes of innocence, violence, grief, and masculinity. When Will finds out his 19 year old brother, Shawn, was killed in a gang related shooting, he first looks to “The Rules” of his community for guidance. These rules are not a good place to look to, as they keep a vicious cycle of violence, loss, and toxic masculinity going for generations. Will, disoriented with grief and various complex emotions, decides he needs to get revenge for his brother, by killing the person who killed him. Upon setting out to enact his revenge, Will is faced with an otherworldly elevator ride where he is visited by dead people of importance to him. It is up to the reader to determine the explanation for the situation Will is in. While reading this book, I decided that the two main themes were innocence, (as portrayed with Will’s loss of innocence that comes with his plan to kill someone,) and grief. (Will is so overwhelmed with grief that he resorts to violence.) I enjoyed reading this book, the format of writing keeps it interesting while reading. The choice of literary devices and language keep you from getting bored, and really make you think about the true message of the words and conventions. I would recommend this book for anyone looking to read casually yet with emotion. Overall this book is pretty entertaining and gets you thinking about real world struggles as well as leaving it up to the reader to interpret the many symbolic notions.
Samara C.
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