Four people meet on New Year’s Eve on the top of a tall building with the same goal in mind. But because of a lack of privacy, they cannot jump. Instead, they agree to spend the next 90 days as semi-friends until they determine whether they really want to go through with it. These are four very different people, and each gets a shot at telling the story from his or her own point of view. The problem is that none of it really gels or becomes a real story—it just feels like a novelty act, a “what if” scenario that never grows legs.

This novel was definitely interesting. It was a lot different from what I expected, though. I was prepared for a really serious, depressing novel about four suicidal people, but instead it was actually quite light and humorous. It read like a 4-way memoir, and reminded me of Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker, because rather than their stories just being told, its as though they’re “speaking” directly to you.

He does have the ear for young people and for a certain strata of the media. even if his characters are willful and self-destructive, he is true to them and in that honesty and the humour he laces his descriptions with, he is able to make you empathize. Suicide is a difficult topic at the best of time, let alone when addressed in the vein of a comedy of manners. The plot veers into the absurdities of modern England and the end result finely observed and suitably muted.

I’ve wanted to write something in this style for a while, and may still do it. I really enjoyed this book, although really disliked one of the characters/narrators (but I think that they’re deliberately unlikeable) much more readable than fever pitch, and hopefully the jumping around of narration will prevent anyone attempting to butcher it into a film (with the exception of high fidelity and the original fever pitch (which i’ve not seen) the hornby films are trite) although it works well with election.

I listened to this and thought the audio version was hilarious. It is pretty fancy for an audio book — four different people read the four different narrators’ parts. I don’t think I would have enjoyed reading it as much as I did listening to it.

I had heard a lot about Nick Hornby books and so when I found this one on sale, I picked it up. The story goes by fast because it is mostly dialogue, but what little development there is seems forced. Maybe I just had too high expectations, but the story just wasn’t all that interesting.

If you liked “High Fidelity” (as i did), and were disappointed when you bought “31 songs” (like me), you should definitely buy this one and give Hornby a second chance. This book is a laughter machine even on the harshest bits. I didn’t like the end, but that happens to me in every single book, so I’m not to trust on judging book ends.

Nick Hornby is a great author no doubt but this one wasn’t his best (High fidelity will always be one of his greatest). The thing that made it hard for me to really enjoy this was finding one of the characters extremely annoying as oppose to humourous. And the conclusion reached at the end for all the characters didn’t feel that profound enough for me.

Ohhhh – I have enjoyed quite a few Hornby books, but this one was fairly torturous. It’s based on a premise that, from the outset, seems like it will be impossible to sustain for the length of a novel. And it is. It drags and drags, there are few highs and lows and I found it completely infuriating. I perservered to the end, and then barely restrained myself from throwing it in the river.