Long Way Down

Jason Reynolds

• Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
• eBook ISBN:
  9781481438278
• Year: 2017

Jason Reynolds’s electrifying Newbery, CSK, Printz honored novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes to go down an elevator; the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to kill the guy who killed his brother.

Will’s older brother, Shawn, has been shot.
Dead.
Will feels a sadness so great, he can’t explain it. But in his neighborhood there are THE RULES:

No. 1: Crying.
Don’t.
No matter what.

No. 2: Snitching
Don’t.
No matter what.

No. 3: Revenge
Do.
No matter what.

So fifteen-year-old Will puts a gun in the waistband of his jeans and sets out to do just that. Avenge his brother. But when he gets on the elevator, it inexplicably stops on every floor, and each time, a different person—each connected to his brother—steps on. And each person gives Will a bigger piece of the story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator.

Not to mention that each person who gets on that elevator is…dead.

Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• 1. Don’t Nobody
• 2. My Name Is
• 3. I’m Only William
• 4. I Don’t Know You
• 5. The Sadness
• 6. It’s so Hard to Say
• 7. The Day before Yesterday
• 8. And Then There Were Shots
• 9. After the Shots
• 10. I’ve Never Been
• 11. No. 1: Screaming
• 12. And My Mom
• 13. No. 2: Sirens
• 14. No. 3: Questions
• 15. In Case You Ain’t Know
• 16. I’m Not Sure
• 17. When Bad things Happen
• 18. I Stood There
• 19. Random Thought
• 20. In His Hand
• 21. In That Bag
• 22. Maybe There’s Something Invisible
• 23. Beef
• 24. Then the Yellow Tape
• 25. Back on the Eighth Floor
• 26. I Felt Like Crying
• 27. No. 1: Crying
• 28. No. 2: Snitching
• 29. No. 3: Revenge
• 30. The Invention of the Rules
• 31. Another Thing About the Rules
• 32. Our Bedroom: A Square, Yellowy Paint
• 33. Anagram
• 34. The Middle Drawer
• 35. I Won’t Pretend that Shawn
• 36. My Mother Used to Say
• 37. So Usually
• 38. But I Never Touched Nothing
• 39. It Used to be Different
• 40. And When I Was Thirteen
• 41. Shawn Thought That
• 42. Now the Cologne
• 43. Suddenly
• 44. The Middle Drawer Called to me
• 45. Nickname
• 46. Which Brings Me to Carlson Riggs
• 47. People Said Riggs
• 48. Riggs and Shawn Were So-Called Friends, But
• 49. A Penny Drop
• 50. No. 1: Turf
• 51. No. 1.1: Survival Tactics (made plain)
• 52. No. 2: Crime Shows
• 53. No. 3: . .
• 54. I Had Never Held a Gun
• 55. A Noise from the Hallway
• 56. Sleep
• 57. I Woke Up
• 58. But I also Felt Guilty
• 59. I Wrapped My Fingers
• 60. In the Bathroom
• 61. I Stuck the Cannon
• 62. The Plan
• 63. In the Kitchen
• 64. The Yellow Light
• 65. At the Elevator
• 66. There’s a Strange Thing
• 67. A Guy Got On
• 68. L Stood for “Loser”
• 69. It’s Uncomfortable
• 70. I’ve Seen Girls
• 71. Do I Know You?
• 72. My Stomach Jumped
• 73. I Rubbed my Eyes
• 74. Yeah
• 75. I Did All the Wake-Up Tricks
• 76. I Know What You Thinkin’
• 77. But No Need to Be Afraid
• 78. I Take it Back
• 79. Anagram No. 1
• 80. Catching My Breath, I Asked
• 81. My Response
• 82. I Put My Hand Behind My Back
• 83. Thought About Moving It
• 84. I Remember
• 85. And I’m Glad I Found It
• 86. The Elevator Rumbled
• 87. Maybe He Didn’t Hear Me
• 88. Relax?!
• 89. Buck Laughed, And
• 90. You Got Work to Do?
• 91. He Asked Me
• 92. Give It to Me
• 93. He Held the Gun Out
• 94. Buck Finally Let Go
• 95. I Had Half a Second
• 96. A Girl Stepped In
• 97. She Checked to Make Sure
• 98. I Didn’t Know
• 99. She Could See
• 100. At This Point
• 101. I Joined In
• 102. She Brushed Her Hand Against Mine
• 103. But There Was a Ghost in the Elevator
• 104. Plus
• 105. She Asked
• 106. The Next Exchange was a Simple One
• 107. But Then
• 108. I Won’t Front
• 109. From Where?
• 110. Very Funny
• 111. She Opened Her Purse
• 112. Me and My Friend Dani
• 113. You Remember This?
• 114. My Eyes Got Big
• 115. Yeah, I Remember
• 116. Gunshots
• 117. And Now I Wanna Throw Up
• 118. I Told Dani
• 119. I Swear Sometimes
• 120. When They Said
• 121. The Way I Felt
• 122. Anagram No. 2
• 123. It’s Cool
• 124. What You Need
• 125. My Face
• 126. Dani Was Killed
• 127. Then Dani Asked
• 128. But
• 129. Dani Was Disappointed
• 130. I Looked Back at Buck
• 131. Buck Offered
• 132. The Elevator
• 133. Cigarette Smoke
• 134. I Fanned and Coughed
• 135. I Took a Step Back
• 136. Two Large Hands
• 137. Then in One Swift Motion
• 138. I Could Hear Laughing
• 139. When I Was Finally Let Up
• 140. What the Hell?
• 141. What You Reachin’ For
• 142. There Are
• 143. Uncle Mark?
• 144. No. 1
• 145. Casting of the Worst, Stupidest Movie Ever
• 146. Uncle Mark Pulled Me In
• 147. And You Know
• 148. Why You Here?
• 149. With His Hand
• 150. A Better Question
• 151. Random Thought No. 2
• 152. Anagram No. 3
• 153. What You Mean?
• 154. What Do I Mean?
• 155. Okay, Okay
• 156. But to Explain Myself
• 157. Uncle Mark Huffed
• 158. Uncle Mark Squeezed His Lips
• 159. The Scene
• 160. I Got Stuck
• 161. But He Didn’t (the scene, continued)
• 162. My Mouth
• 163. The Scene (completed)
• 164. For the Record
• 165. Story No. 2 About Uncle Mark
• 166. His Plan
• 167. I’m Sure
• 168. He Held That Corner
• 169. That Guy Took the Corner
• 170. Uncle Mark Should’ve
• 171. Anagram No. 4
• 172. Random Thought No. 3
• 173. So Anyway, After I Said It
• 174. Meanwhile
• 175. And What Happens Next in This Movie?
• 176. This Time
• 177. And There He Was
• 178. My Pop
• 179. Is it Possible
• 180. Pop Pulled Away
• 181. I Have No Memories
• 182. A Broken Heart
• 183. But That’s Not What Shawn Said
• 184. I Always Used to Ask
• 185. Hi, Will
• 186. How You Been?
• 187. I Wanted to Unload
• 188. I Already Know
• 189. I Wiped My Face
• 190. What You Think You Should Do?
• 191. Pop Gave Uncle Mark
• 192. When Mark Was Shot
• 193. That Something
• 194. Pop Said
• 195. When I Got Home
• 196. But You Did What You Had to Do
• 197. Uncle Mark and My Father
• 198. You Ain’t Kill Gee?
• 199. I Leaned
• 200. Random Thought No. 4
• 201. Then Pop Made the First Move
• 202. And That’s When It Happened
• 203. I Freaked Out
• 204. I Called Out
• 205. Pop Stood Over Me
• 206. You Would Think
• 207. My Stomach
• 208. A Warm Sensation
• 209. Then Pop Uncocked the Gun
• 210. I Screamed
• 211. And Like Old Times
• 212. A Stranger
• 213. So I Figured
• 214. The Thick Pale Dude
• 215. The Man Turned Around
• 216. This Is
• 217. Before Frick Could Answer
• 218. How Do I Know Him?
• 219. Wait
• 220. You Heard Me Right
• 221. Buck’s Real Name
• 222. Buck Was Two-Sided
• 223. People Always Said
• 224. But He Didn’t Start That Way
• 225. Back to Frick
• 226. He Never Really Talked About It
• 227. Shawn Ain’t Say Nothing
• 228. Well, Let Me Tell You
• 229. A Dumb Thing to Say
• 230. I’m Not Sure What His Name Is
• 231. While He’s Going on About this Dude
• 232. So Because Shawn Was
• 233. How to Become a Dark Sun
• 234. I Was Assigned
• 235. Gangstas
• 236. Frick Said
• 237. Buck Said
• 238. Whatever, Man
• 239. Buck Bent
• 240. Again
• 241. Actually
• 242. Took Me Out
• 243. Frick Yanked His Collar Down
• 244. When the Joke Was Over
• 245. Tony Talking
• 246. Now Let Me Ask You
• 247. Anagram No. 5
• 248. Frick Looked
• 249. Frick Had
• 250. When the Elevator Door Opened
• 251. Come On
• 252. Uncle Mark Chuckled
• 253. Finally
• 254. Him
• 255. Everybody
• 256. All
• 257. When We Were Kids
• 258. I Looked at Shawn
• 259. I Stepped Toward Him
• 260. I Asked Him
• 261. I Told Him
• 262. Explained
• 263. Confessed
• 264. The Rules Are the Rules
• 265. I Was Breaking Down
• 266. I Looked Back at Shawn
• 267. And Even Though
• 268. And There Was a Sound
• 269. Random Thought No. 5
• 270. There Was a Moment
• 271. I Looked Around
• 272. I Want Out
• You Coming?
• Acknowledgments
• Reading Group Guide
• ‘Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . .’ Teaser
• About the Author
• Copyright