A Long Way Down 3

Now that I’ve finished the book, I can say that it was interesting to see the characters interact with each other given their different personalities and situations. I feel like throughout the whole story, Jess was the leader of the group. She always made the plans for the four of them to meet, and she even organized the whole intervention near the end. I feel like she changed the most by the end of the story. Instead of wanting to give up and throw problems away, she learned to be a little more conservative and have an attitude of wanting to fix her problems. Maureen also changed dramatically towards the end of the story. She started to socialize with other people outside of the group, and even started going out to the bar. The vacation that the four of them took probably influenced Maureen and opened her eyes to a bigger world outside her home, which is the reason for her change. For JJ and Martin, I feel like they didn’t really change as much as the other characters. In the beginning Martin was a pessimist, and I don’t remember a time when he was happy throughout the book. JJ wasn’t a pessimist like Martin, but he kept the same nonchalant attitude throughout the story. However, near the end he was able to come to terms with his life and realize that he needed Martin, Maureen, and Jess no matter how much they annoyed him at times. Overall, all four characters changed to some degree, and they all realized how much they meant to one another.