A Long Way Down

Suicide is not a laughing matter.  Yet Nick Hornby writes A Long Way Down as a dark comedy.  I wouldn't think that would work but it does.  Four people meet on a London rooftop on New Years Eve. Each has come separately to jump off the roof.  Each has their own reasons.  This group of four depressed people join together and, oddly enough, end up helping each other.  They don't jump off the roof that New Year's Eve and they tell the story of the next three months, chapter by chapter.  Maureen is the easist one to listen to.  The two men, JJ and Martin tell their stories.   But Jess, golly, if you had to imagine a character that would be hard to get along with, you probably couldn't come up with a character as annoying as Jess.  She is  unbelieveably rude.  This was kind of a nutty story but it held my attention and provoked my thinking.  I read Johnny Depp bought the movie rights to this book as soon as he read it.  I guess it would make for a dramatic movie.