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daniellekat's review
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I have no words to describe this book. I am in awe. Stunning artwork and beautifully written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Child death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood
Moderate: toxic masculinity Minor: gangslawbooks600's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Representation: Black characters
Score: Seven points out of ten.
This version of Long Way Down circled my recommendations for a while and when I saw this in a library I visited, I immediately wanted to pick it up. Soon enough, I did and then I read the Long Way Down adaptation, but not before glancing the blurb. Despite being heavy, this story was enjoyable, leaving me wondering what the original text is like.
It starts with the first character I see, Will, whose last name remains undisclosed with his brother Shawn, when someone shot him, and no one reported on it. That is all according to the rules: don't cry, don't snitch and, most prominently, get revenge. Thus begins Will's quest to get Shawn's gun and shoot the shooter but he gets on an elevator and has to wait until it reaches the ground floor. In the elevator, Will meets other people who have died in a shooting, all due to the third rule. Once someone shoots another person and they get revenge, the cycle neverendingly continues. Sometimes the poetry is part of the art, which I enjoyed observing. The pictured helped me visualise the story more, but the poetry wasn't that impressive. It was one of many examples where someone pressed the Enter key many times and called it 'poetry.' The conclusion is open, as it's unclear whether Will will get revenge or break the third rule. I hope he chooses the latter.
Score: Seven points out of ten.
This version of Long Way Down circled my recommendations for a while and when I saw this in a library I visited, I immediately wanted to pick it up. Soon enough, I did and then I read the Long Way Down adaptation, but not before glancing the blurb. Despite being heavy, this story was enjoyable, leaving me wondering what the original text is like.
It starts with the first character I see, Will, whose last name remains undisclosed with his brother Shawn, when someone shot him, and no one reported on it. That is all according to the rules: don't cry, don't snitch and, most prominently, get revenge. Thus begins Will's quest to get Shawn's gun and shoot the shooter but he gets on an elevator and has to wait until it reaches the ground floor. In the elevator, Will meets other people who have died in a shooting, all due to the third rule. Once someone shoots another person and they get revenge, the cycle neverendingly continues. Sometimes the poetry is part of the art, which I enjoyed observing. The pictured helped me visualise the story more, but the poetry wasn't that impressive. It was one of many examples where someone pressed the Enter key many times and called it 'poetry.' The conclusion is open, as it's unclear whether Will will get revenge or break the third rule. I hope he chooses the latter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Death, Blood, and Death of parent
Full trigger warnings: Gun violence, death of a father in the past and a brother, blood, grief and loss depictiongalexy_brain's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A very poignant graphic novel. I'm still not sure whether I'd like to read the long-form book, but this book absolutely challenged my beliefs. I wish the book had done more to challenge or explain why you have to live by The Rules, because I found myself quite frustrated by that . This was likely the point and I just don't get it, and maybe this is explained in the original book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent and Blood
Minor: Chronic illness
avisreadsandreads's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Child death
Moderate: Death of parent and Blood
Minor: Drug use
sallytiffany's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Wow. Such a powerful book. I felt the anger, sadness, and mystery of this book so acutely. The art was amazing and really gripping. I adored this story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Death, Grief, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Self harm
bujoxbooked's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Only book read this month and it’s my first graphic novel!
Kinda wish I read the novel first but this still was a beautiful read regardless! The art work is beautiful and great job telling/showing the story of those who deal with this cyclical violence on the regular. Would’ve been great to know what happens next though, but guess it’s just left to the reader’s imagination
Kinda wish I read the novel first but this still was a beautiful read regardless! The art work is beautiful and great job telling/showing the story of those who deal with this cyclical violence on the regular. Would’ve been great to know what happens next though, but guess it’s just left to the reader’s imagination
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Gun violence, and Death
rayannotates's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Drug use, Death, Blood, and Violence
tigger89's review
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is the first graphic novel adaptation I've ever read that I've actually liked. I don't know if it's because it's also the only time I haven't read the original novel(I've heard of it and I know what it's about, but I've never read it) or if it really is just that good, but I was blown away by the quality. In my mind, there's three things that go into a good graphic novel adaptation: the art, whether or not it made use of the strengths of the visual medium, and faithfulness to the original.
Starting with the art, this book was drawn and painted in a beautiful watercolor style by Danica Novgorodoff. The softness of the art was a perfect contrast to the difficult subject matter, providing a cushion for the reader. When moments became sharper the art changed to reflect that, with some parts shown in stark silhouette or drawn as black-and-white sketches. I have nothing but compliments about the art, and I'm glad they didn't choose to go with a more traditional comics-inspired style, because I believe that would have cheapened the violence.
This book also made excellent use of the visual medium to enhance Reynolds's verse. When Will describes the territories in his neighborhood, the thoughts are scattered over a map taking up an entire two-page spread. Lingering effects reach from one panel into another, and silent panels provide a moment for the reader to stop alongside the characters and reflect. Monochrome vs full color is also used to great effect, signifying what's past and present, even as the time periods blur together in the same image.
I can't speak to the faithfulness of the adaptation, because as I said I haven't read the original novel. I did peek at the preview on Amazon, and recognized much of the text. From what I can tell, my conclusion is that this adaptation is different — particularly, the addition of some dialogue to the graphic novel version — but not necessarily unfaithful. I'll leave it to others who have read both to judge for certain, though!
Starting with the art, this book was drawn and painted in a beautiful watercolor style by Danica Novgorodoff. The softness of the art was a perfect contrast to the difficult subject matter, providing a cushion for the reader. When moments became sharper the art changed to reflect that, with some parts shown in stark silhouette or drawn as black-and-white sketches. I have nothing but compliments about the art, and I'm glad they didn't choose to go with a more traditional comics-inspired style, because I believe that would have cheapened the violence.
This book also made excellent use of the visual medium to enhance Reynolds's verse. When Will describes the territories in his neighborhood, the thoughts are scattered over a map taking up an entire two-page spread. Lingering effects reach from one panel into another, and silent panels provide a moment for the reader to stop alongside the characters and reflect. Monochrome vs full color is also used to great effect, signifying what's past and present, even as the time periods blur together in the same image.
I can't speak to the faithfulness of the adaptation, because as I said I haven't read the original novel. I did peek at the preview on Amazon, and recognized much of the text. From what I can tell, my conclusion is that this adaptation is different — particularly, the addition of some dialogue to the graphic novel version — but not necessarily unfaithful. I'll leave it to others who have read both to judge for certain, though!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, and Grief
pika_chuu's review
emotional
sad
tense
4.75
Powerful read. Illustrations and words were amazing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Blood, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Death of parent and Gun violence