Jason Reynold's 'Long Way Down' is what you get when you mix 'A Christmas Carol' with 'Boyz n the Hood'

Jason Reynold's new novel Long Way Down is a study in restriction.

The book, which was longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award in Young People's Literature, outlines a single minute in the life of a boy named Will the day after his brother Shawn is murdered.

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In a quest for vengeance, Will steps onto an elevator with a gun, on his way down to find the man that he thinks is responsible for his brother's death. However, as Will tries to make the long trip down, the elevator keeps stopping floor-by-floor, forcing Will to confront the ghosts of his past, and question whether this mission for revenge is really something he wants to do.

Or, to put it more succinctly, "It's A Christmas Carol meets Boyz N the Hood," jokes Reynolds.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we caught up with Reynolds to chat about about the novel. Join us in the episode above as we chat about writing about gun violence, seeing yourself in literature, and Long Way Down.

Check out some interview highlights below.

MashReads: So what inspired this book?

Jason Reynolds: A few things. The first is that when I was 19 years old, one of my close friends was murdered. And it was rough. It was gruesome. And I remember being 19, and being in his mom’s house with all of our friends, and there was that feeling like “Yo are we going to go find this dude? Are we going to go commit murder tonight?” And that’s something most people don’t want to talk about. [There’s] this idea that we’re so peaceful, but most people have never had their peace actually challenged.

So for me in that moment, I had to grapple with this other aspect of my humanity that we don’t express often, for good reason, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.

There’s so much happening in this book. It’s a minute of this kids life in an average-sized book. But you’re dealing with all these things impacting the decision [Will] is trying to deal with. And there’s so many layers of what’s affecting him.

I think that’s sort of the point, and I try not to make points in my book. But this particular book is almost like a social experiment. I won’t spoil the ending, obviously, but when you get to the end, you realize this book is about you. It has less to do about this young person, but it’s about what you bring to the page because you get to make certain decisions. And those decisions are literally about what you think, about your life, your prejudices, your experiences. [They all] affect how this book ends.

How did you get to the form of this book? [The setting] is condensed to an elevator in a small period of time in this person’s life?

I am a consummate metaphor addict. In this book, because I chose to write it in verse, the natural inclination is to layer it. You can create all kinds of symbolism and metaphors that poetry and verse leans towards. So I wanted it to mimic what it feels like to be angry. What it feels like to be traumatized and pained. What it feels like is claustrophobia. It feels like is tightness and coldness, steel, jagged movements and vertigo. All the things that an elevator brings is what it feels like to be that angry.

And as always, we end the show with recommendations:

• Jason Reynolds recommends Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. "I personally think [Jesmyn] is the greatest writer in the 21st century."

Next week we're reading Shirley Jackson's classic horror novel The Haunting of Hill House. We hope you'll join us. 

Also, if you're looking to sink your teeth into something longer, we have a new MashReads book club book for the month — I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez. We'll be chatting with Sánchez about the book IRL on Monday, Nov. 13 at 6:30 p.m. ET. RSVP here and join us!

And if you're looking for even more book news, don't forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter. 

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