2000年至今

Long Way Down (2018 Newbery Honor)
出版社： Faber and Faber
書林書號：
20229818
作者：
Reynolds, Jason
定價：
420
會員價：
$357
ISBN：
9780571335121
出版年份：
2018
裝訂：
平裝
總頁數：
0
  • 本書介紹
【電梯向下的速度分秒如年，復仇之路近在咫尺卻又觸不可及】
威爾的哥哥尚恩在大街上被射殺，就在威爾與他的玩伴東尼的眼前，一時之間威爾無法做出反應，無法動彈的他只聽到了尖叫聲－尚恩女朋友的、媽媽的還有刺耳的警笛鳴聲。槍響不只讓尚恩倒下，也讓街訪鄰居和其他路人變得盲聾啞，當警察到達現場盤問在場民眾時，東尼早就逃回家了，而威爾只是默默地站在原地，他無法開口回答警方任何問題也無法清楚回憶目擊的當下。

當威爾終於隨面色蒼白的媽媽回到在公寓8樓的家，他的眼淚才終於奪眶而出。但他心裡默念著三項居住在這裡的潛規則：第一、絕不哭泣，第二、絕不走漏風聲，第三、有仇必報。於是他決定拿起尚恩的手槍，搭下電梯找他心中認定的罪魁禍首尋仇。然而，在這七層樓間加入電梯下降的乘客，有些是威爾的親人摯友，有些則是加害者中的一份子，他們似人似鬼、抑或是威爾瀕臨崩潰的情緒衰弱了精神，每個人都與他對話、推波助瀾或者好言相勸，威爾握著槍的手時緊時鬆，他知道他已經深陷在仇恨的牢籠中。

此小說以敘事詩體寫成，利用斷句、分行、排列以及適當的段落安排，讓故事情節節奏明快好讀，並充滿情緒張力與懸疑感。以不寫枯燥的書為原則的作者 Jason Reynolds 身為美國黑人，深知黑人青少年於社會環境下會面臨到的困境，特別是槍械、暴力與幫派文化永無止境的惡性循環，他期望透過這樣能快速閱讀、容易理解的創作，讓孩子們能愛上閱讀、走進書本的世界。

店員讀書真心話：Long Way Down 整體閱讀起來相當流暢舒適，用字不會過於晦澀，可以用相當快的速度讀完整本書，卻同時也會讓你想一看再看，作者的文字乘載著情緒與主角的靈魂，彷彿穿透了紙頁與讀者相望。如果你想嘗試英文小說閱讀，卻又遲遲不敢開始，這本小說好懂好讀的文字與引人入勝的劇情內容兼備，絕對推薦你入門！

A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he?

As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator?

Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator.
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