MUMBAI: Here’s the review of the fifth book in the 10-part series that features the books being adapted into Hollywood movies in the year 2014.

A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby

Life is looking up…!

Just when you’re about to jump off a building and you’re almost at the edge, two other strangers with a similar motive join you! And to make the situation even more awkward, add a pizza delivery boy WITH A PIZZA!

And so starts the live action motion picture adaptation of Nick Hornby’s dark comedy, A Long Way Down, one that stands at 3.41/5 from 41,934 ratings on Goodreads. Nick Hornby is best known for About A Boy and High Fidelity, both of which have been made into films to wide acclaim and popularity.

The story of A Long Way Down is written in the first-person narrative and moves back and forth from the points of view of its four main characters, Martin, Maureen, Jess and JJ; four strangers, who just happen to meet on the roof of a high building in London on New Year's Eve, each with the intent of committing suicide. Their plans of jumping to death are howbeit ruined when they stumble upon each other on the roof-top. The novel recounts their misadventures as they decide to come down from the roof-top alive – however temporarily that may be!

The movie adaptation stars EMMY award winner Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) as J.J., a wannabe musician who now delivers pizza, Imogen Poots (That Awkward Moment) as Jess, an 18-year old girl with endless family problems, EMMY award winner Toni Colette (Hostages, Little Miss Sunshine) as Maureen, the sacrificial mother of a disabled son and Golden Globe award nominee Pierce Brosnan (Remington Steele, Mamma Mia) as Martin Sharp, the famous talk show host who goes to prison for sleeping with an underage girl.

Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice in Wonderland) originally bought the rights for the book even before it was published. And as soon as A Long Way Down hit the bookshelves, it was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award.