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The View on the Way Down
An astonishing and powerfully moving debut novel.
This novel will open your eyes and break your heart.
It is the story of Emma's two brothers – the one who died five years ago and the one who left home on the day of the funeral and has not returned since.
It is the story of her parents – who have been keeping the truth from Emma, and each other. It is a story you will want to talk about, and one you will never forget.
This novel will open your eyes and break your heart.
It is the story of Emma's two brothers – the one who died five years ago and the one who left home on the day of the funeral and has not returned since.
It is the story of her parents – who have been keeping the truth from Emma, and each other. It is a story you will want to talk about, and one you will never forget.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2013
24 people are currently reading
2237 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Wait
6 books262 followersRebecca Wait is the author of five novels, most recently Havoc.
I’m Sorry You Feel That Way was a book of the year for The Times, Guardian, Express, Good Housekeeping and BBC Culture, and was shortlisted for the Nota Bene Prize.
Our Fathers, received widespread acclaim and was a Guardian book of the year and a thriller of the month for Waterstones.
I’m Sorry You Feel That Way was a book of the year for The Times, Guardian, Express, Good Housekeeping and BBC Culture, and was shortlisted for the Nota Bene Prize.
Our Fathers, received widespread acclaim and was a Guardian book of the year and a thriller of the month for Waterstones.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 171 reviews
October 28, 2017
3 stars for this heartbreaking book about loss and (the impact of) suicide, but where the writer does too much to make the story interesting.
I don't often read books about suicide and depression; it's just not my cup of tea. However, I do enjoy books about family-drama, and there is plenty of that in this book. The suicide of the eldest son Kit serves as the basis of this family's suffering, but what actually keeps causing them pain is their inability to accept his passing.
Because Kit's death wasn't an accident. He commited suicide after dealing with severe depression, which couldn't be treated anymore with medication or therapy. Kit wanted out, and by killing himself he destroyed his parents marriage, the peaceful life of his young sister Emma, and most drastically, it got his brother Jamie kicked out of the house.
The reason for the banishment has to do with Jamie's involvement with Kit's death, but what that is remains a mystery until, 5 years after Kit's death, Emma goes looking for Jamie. She found out very recently that Kit's death wasn't an accident - as her parents always told her - and when she comes to Jamie looking for answers, she opens up old wounds. The family Stewart is forced to ask themself if they truely know why Kit wanted to kill himself. And more importantly: have they dealt with his suicide in a good, healthy way?
As I said, lots of drama in this book, but what often killed the tension and the emotional mood is Rebecca Wait's choice in plot devices.
First, she divided the book into three parts, wherin Part 1 and 3 are a collection of P.O.V.'s from various (family) characters, and Part 2 is a description of Kit's depression told by Jamie. That difference in narration is not such a sharp contrast as it could've been, since some P.O.V.'s are from side-characters that don't add much to the story.
Second, the tale of Kit's descent into suicide is done by Jamie, who saw his brother getting more depressed as the years go passing by. Jamie's story beautifully shows how helpless you feel when you see someone you love suffer (from a mental illness), but it also keep the heavy emotions at bay. Kit shares very little about his pain and dark thoughts with Jamie, and so the reader never really gets to know Kit either. It's sad that the boy who sets the main mood for this book remains such a mystery.
Third, the character development of the family in Part 3 feels rushed or lacking. The father and Jamie are the only ones who discuss Kit's suicide and wonder if they really could've done something to prevent it. Rose, the mother, always acts happy in the book to show the outside world that the family is doing okay, and although we get hints that she suffers from the loss of her son, we only get hints. And Emma, the sister who reopens the wounds about Kit in the first place, goes back to being the same girl as she was at the start of the story.
So while the men get at least some form of closure, Wait never digs deeper with Rose and Emma, and gives them zero character growth. A real let down.
And so I can only give this book 3 stars. The View on the Way Down has an interesting plot and Rebecca Wait does have talent to write about heavy subjects as suicide and depression, and in showing how people can react differently on the death of a family member. It's just too bad that Wait focuses too much attention on too many characters, and not on developing Kit's direct family. I'm not asking them to completely move on from Kit's death, but to simply see the family accept Kit's suicide as something they couldn't have stopped would already satisfy me.
So if you want to read a book about family drama, which involves suicide and depression, than this book is a good choice. But apart from that, I wouldn't recommend it.
I don't often read books about suicide and depression; it's just not my cup of tea. However, I do enjoy books about family-drama, and there is plenty of that in this book. The suicide of the eldest son Kit serves as the basis of this family's suffering, but what actually keeps causing them pain is their inability to accept his passing.
Because Kit's death wasn't an accident. He commited suicide after dealing with severe depression, which couldn't be treated anymore with medication or therapy. Kit wanted out, and by killing himself he destroyed his parents marriage, the peaceful life of his young sister Emma, and most drastically, it got his brother Jamie kicked out of the house.
The reason for the banishment has to do with Jamie's involvement with Kit's death, but what that is remains a mystery until, 5 years after Kit's death, Emma goes looking for Jamie. She found out very recently that Kit's death wasn't an accident - as her parents always told her - and when she comes to Jamie looking for answers, she opens up old wounds. The family Stewart is forced to ask themself if they truely know why Kit wanted to kill himself. And more importantly: have they dealt with his suicide in a good, healthy way?
As I said, lots of drama in this book, but what often killed the tension and the emotional mood is Rebecca Wait's choice in plot devices.
First, she divided the book into three parts, wherin Part 1 and 3 are a collection of P.O.V.'s from various (family) characters, and Part 2 is a description of Kit's depression told by Jamie. That difference in narration is not such a sharp contrast as it could've been, since some P.O.V.'s are from side-characters that don't add much to the story.
Second, the tale of Kit's descent into suicide is done by Jamie, who saw his brother getting more depressed as the years go passing by. Jamie's story beautifully shows how helpless you feel when you see someone you love suffer (from a mental illness), but it also keep the heavy emotions at bay. Kit shares very little about his pain and dark thoughts with Jamie, and so the reader never really gets to know Kit either. It's sad that the boy who sets the main mood for this book remains such a mystery.
Third, the character development of the family in Part 3 feels rushed or lacking. The father and Jamie are the only ones who discuss Kit's suicide and wonder if they really could've done something to prevent it. Rose, the mother, always acts happy in the book to show the outside world that the family is doing okay, and although we get hints that she suffers from the loss of her son, we only get hints. And Emma, the sister who reopens the wounds about Kit in the first place, goes back to being the same girl as she was at the start of the story.
So while the men get at least some form of closure, Wait never digs deeper with Rose and Emma, and gives them zero character growth. A real let down.
And so I can only give this book 3 stars. The View on the Way Down has an interesting plot and Rebecca Wait does have talent to write about heavy subjects as suicide and depression, and in showing how people can react differently on the death of a family member. It's just too bad that Wait focuses too much attention on too many characters, and not on developing Kit's direct family. I'm not asking them to completely move on from Kit's death, but to simply see the family accept Kit's suicide as something they couldn't have stopped would already satisfy me.
So if you want to read a book about family drama, which involves suicide and depression, than this book is a good choice. But apart from that, I wouldn't recommend it.
July 24, 2015
This novel is the story of a family suffering. Emma’s eldest brother Kit died. Her other brother, Jamie, left home amid a cloud of anger on the day of Kit’s funeral and hasn’t contacted his parents or Emma since. Emma has no idea why Jamie left or why he refuses to have anything to do with the family. Emma’s parents have been just existing ever since, while Emma has turned to food as a comfort fix. The novel deals with loss, depression and suicide. It shows families and the way individuals cope or don’t cope with tragedy.
While it sounds grim, in many ways it is not. Though not a light read, it is an easy read. The style of writing is spare and matter of fact. It reads like an honest account of such a situation and triggers a range of emotions. I read it fairly quickly as I found I wanted to keep reading to see how it all played out. It is hard to feel anything but deep sympathy for Emma, who is not only struggling at home but is being bullied at school. For debut novel this is a remarkable achievement and it will be interesting to see what this author writes next.
While it sounds grim, in many ways it is not. Though not a light read, it is an easy read. The style of writing is spare and matter of fact. It reads like an honest account of such a situation and triggers a range of emotions. I read it fairly quickly as I found I wanted to keep reading to see how it all played out. It is hard to feel anything but deep sympathy for Emma, who is not only struggling at home but is being bullied at school. For debut novel this is a remarkable achievement and it will be interesting to see what this author writes next.
June 23, 2013
I found this book upsetting to read, and now I am finding upsetting to write about. Because it deals with some difficult subjects – the consequences of depression; the pain of bereavement and loss; the far-reaching effects of grief can do – that strike very close to home. I carried on reading – and now I am trying to write – because Rebecca Wait set those themes at the heart of a compelling family story, and because her perception is so acute that I find myself deeply moved and very nearly lost for words.
The View on the Way Down is the story of a family. Rose lost her eldest child, and she is trying to cope by making a lovely home for her husband, trying to fool herself into thinking that of only she can do that everything will be alright. But her husband, Joe, is withdrawn, going through the motions at work and retiring to his shed at every opportunity. Because her is angry, with the world, but most of all with his surviving son. Jamie left home, and broke contact with his family, on the day of his brother’s funeral. Now he works in a bookshop, and drifts through life alone. Emma is much younger, and she doesn’t know what happened on the night that Kit died, she doesn’t know why Jamie left home, but she feels their loss and the grief that pervades her home deeply. She has a coping strategy: comfort eating and the Christian Union ….
Each character is beautifully realised, and so I was drawn into the story. I cared, and I needed to understand.
The story began with Emma, and I couldn’t help but love her. She was lovely, she was sensitive, and when she found herself being bullied at school she felt overwhelmed and so terribly alone. Both of her brothers had abandoned her and she felt that loss terribly; her parents haven’t talked to her about what happened, and she feared that the distress she might cause if she asked questions. And so she tried to manage, to work things out, by herself, but it all became too much. And so she ran.
Jamie’s ex-girlfriend saw him at work, she knew the family situation, and she thought it best to let his parents know where he was. That gave Emma somewhere to run. But Jamie was struggling just as much as she was, with the loss of the brother he had looked up to, with everything that had led up to Kit’s death, and with his knowledge of what really happened the night Kit died. At first Jamie was not quite so easy to love, but I felt for him, I really did. And I came to love him too as he raised himself, to look after Emma, and to call is parents to let them know that she was safe.
That changed everything …
I came to know Kit as well as his siblings, because Jamie began first to think about, and then to write about, the past. His story was so real, so moving, that it very nearly broke my heart.
That I felt so deeply for these three siblings, that I was so upset, is a measure of what Rebecca Wait has achieved in her debut novel. I never doubted that she really knew, that she really understood, and that her accounts of depression, of bereavement, of grief, were utterly, utterly credible. And the simplicity and the clarity of her story and her writing allowed that understanding to shine.
The children were in the foreground of the story and their parent in the background, but their emotions and experiences were just as real and just as moving.
Some things I know through my own life experiences, some things I know because others have told me, and so many moments struck a chord, touched my heart, made me stop and catch my breath.
And though it is upsetting, it is also a great joy to find a book that captures those life experiences so very, very well. I am sure it is a book that will resonate with those who have lived through any of those experiences, and a book that will bring greater understanding to those who have not.
I would so love to see it widely read, to see it talked about, and to see it showered with plaudits …
The View on the Way Down is the story of a family. Rose lost her eldest child, and she is trying to cope by making a lovely home for her husband, trying to fool herself into thinking that of only she can do that everything will be alright. But her husband, Joe, is withdrawn, going through the motions at work and retiring to his shed at every opportunity. Because her is angry, with the world, but most of all with his surviving son. Jamie left home, and broke contact with his family, on the day of his brother’s funeral. Now he works in a bookshop, and drifts through life alone. Emma is much younger, and she doesn’t know what happened on the night that Kit died, she doesn’t know why Jamie left home, but she feels their loss and the grief that pervades her home deeply. She has a coping strategy: comfort eating and the Christian Union ….
Each character is beautifully realised, and so I was drawn into the story. I cared, and I needed to understand.
The story began with Emma, and I couldn’t help but love her. She was lovely, she was sensitive, and when she found herself being bullied at school she felt overwhelmed and so terribly alone. Both of her brothers had abandoned her and she felt that loss terribly; her parents haven’t talked to her about what happened, and she feared that the distress she might cause if she asked questions. And so she tried to manage, to work things out, by herself, but it all became too much. And so she ran.
Jamie’s ex-girlfriend saw him at work, she knew the family situation, and she thought it best to let his parents know where he was. That gave Emma somewhere to run. But Jamie was struggling just as much as she was, with the loss of the brother he had looked up to, with everything that had led up to Kit’s death, and with his knowledge of what really happened the night Kit died. At first Jamie was not quite so easy to love, but I felt for him, I really did. And I came to love him too as he raised himself, to look after Emma, and to call is parents to let them know that she was safe.
That changed everything …
I came to know Kit as well as his siblings, because Jamie began first to think about, and then to write about, the past. His story was so real, so moving, that it very nearly broke my heart.
That I felt so deeply for these three siblings, that I was so upset, is a measure of what Rebecca Wait has achieved in her debut novel. I never doubted that she really knew, that she really understood, and that her accounts of depression, of bereavement, of grief, were utterly, utterly credible. And the simplicity and the clarity of her story and her writing allowed that understanding to shine.
The children were in the foreground of the story and their parent in the background, but their emotions and experiences were just as real and just as moving.
Some things I know through my own life experiences, some things I know because others have told me, and so many moments struck a chord, touched my heart, made me stop and catch my breath.
And though it is upsetting, it is also a great joy to find a book that captures those life experiences so very, very well. I am sure it is a book that will resonate with those who have lived through any of those experiences, and a book that will bring greater understanding to those who have not.
I would so love to see it widely read, to see it talked about, and to see it showered with plaudits …
June 22, 2013
'He was fine some of the time, yes. But his mood could plummet at any moment. I wondered what that must be like for him.'
I was so very keen to read this novel when I heard about it. At the same time, I was very hesitant, because it deals with some things that affect me personally and that I strongly identify with. With this in mind, I did wonder how I would feel whilst, and after, reading it. The answer was that I was very moved by it and it did affect me, it made me cry and many times it made me think how astonishing it is, because the author has understood depression and has conveyed it as it is and can be; crippling, overwhelming, devastating, rendering a person so different from who they were and leaving those who love the person affected by it wondering what they can do. Aspects of the story were more close to home than I could have realised.
The story tells of Emma, of her brother Jamie, and her other brother Kit, and of her parents Joe and Rose. One of Emma's brothers died five years ago, and the other left the family home on the day of the funeral and hasn't been back since. Emma's parents haven't told her what actually happened, and neither have they spoken to each other about it. The immense impact of what has happened in the past is finally exposed as events in the present bring it out into focus for all of them. Emma is a lovely character who drives much of the story forward. I liked her and I felt for her. She is sweet and sensitive and is being bullied at school and can't understand why Jamie hasn't been in touch since Kit's death. This separation of the younger sister from her older brother with her not knowing why broke my heart. Her memories of time spent with her brothers are so important to her, but she has begun to question them:
'She clung on to memories like this, but it had occurred to her recently that perhaps they couldn't be trusted. If enough time went by, how could you be sure what was actually true and what you had imagined? Especially if nobody talked about any of it.'
It's almost impossible for Emma to bring up the subject of Jamie, and of Kit's death, with her parents, because of the extreme reactions it provokes. So she has been left alone with her thoughts about them both. Rebecca Wait captures so well the complexity and pain of the feelings of those left behind, not just of Emma but of Jamie, Joe and Rose. Jamie has a great deal to cope with, and I was incredibly drawn to him through the way he was portrayed. I thought the portrayal of the father, Joe's feelings, was also particularly well drawn and convincing in showing how difficult it was for him to try and deal with what had happened; quite simply, he hadn't been able to deal with it.
'...he did nothing, simply carried on as before. Head down, struggling through the days. Keeping going, getting through. He'd always known, without having to consider it, that there was no chance of recovery. Not for him, not for any of them. The passing years hadn't changed a thing. There was no getting over this.'
But I have written that the author has been honest and true in portraying this story and these people. So we know that doing nothing can't carry on forever, not without someone breaking or something having to give, and for them all to have to face what happened, at last. The conclusion felt right to me and I'm glad the story ended as it did.
The View on the Way Down is a beautifully written debut novel, and Rebecca Wait sensitively portrays painful, harsh truths about depression. But it remains throughout a compelling, vital story that the reader has to read to the finish.
This story is sad, tender, raw and painful but it is also warm and hopeful. It is heartbreaking, vivid and it feels very real. I felt so involved with this story as I read it, I felt the agonies of this family, I was moved by the characters and I found myself thinking about them after closing the pages. I read the book in one day; it's very rare for me to manage that.
Evidently Rebecca Wait knows the ins and outs of what she is writing about here; there were moments that I felt were so accurate, so heartfelt and true. It had a powerful effect on me to feel the strength and honesty in her words. It's an important story, told so, so well. The writing is light and understated and yet so incisive. The author has a deft touch whether writing about the everyday or the extreme.
So many sentences and passages stood out to me. There are moments that touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes because they were so simply stated yet so painfully true, such as the observation by Jamie's former girlfriend about the letter he once wrote to her; I will let you discover the details for yourself if you read the book. It made me think just how much the author has understood about people and life, how she has captured the reactions and realities that rang so true to me as I read.
One of my principal thoughts after finishing this novel was that it's so special to read a book that actually reminds you why you love reading so much. To read a book that you connect with, that takes you away from your world and into the lives of others, into a story that you are deeply moved by and compelled to read, but a book that, when you put it down and return to your own world, makes you feel that you are not alone in that world or not alone with your feelings.
I hope I have done this book some justice in my review. I think there is so much more I could say, but in the end all I can say is I thought it was an amazing, accomplished debut and please do read it.
I don't use ratings on my blog anymore but if I did this book would get 6 out of 5.
I was so very keen to read this novel when I heard about it. At the same time, I was very hesitant, because it deals with some things that affect me personally and that I strongly identify with. With this in mind, I did wonder how I would feel whilst, and after, reading it. The answer was that I was very moved by it and it did affect me, it made me cry and many times it made me think how astonishing it is, because the author has understood depression and has conveyed it as it is and can be; crippling, overwhelming, devastating, rendering a person so different from who they were and leaving those who love the person affected by it wondering what they can do. Aspects of the story were more close to home than I could have realised.
The story tells of Emma, of her brother Jamie, and her other brother Kit, and of her parents Joe and Rose. One of Emma's brothers died five years ago, and the other left the family home on the day of the funeral and hasn't been back since. Emma's parents haven't told her what actually happened, and neither have they spoken to each other about it. The immense impact of what has happened in the past is finally exposed as events in the present bring it out into focus for all of them. Emma is a lovely character who drives much of the story forward. I liked her and I felt for her. She is sweet and sensitive and is being bullied at school and can't understand why Jamie hasn't been in touch since Kit's death. This separation of the younger sister from her older brother with her not knowing why broke my heart. Her memories of time spent with her brothers are so important to her, but she has begun to question them:
'She clung on to memories like this, but it had occurred to her recently that perhaps they couldn't be trusted. If enough time went by, how could you be sure what was actually true and what you had imagined? Especially if nobody talked about any of it.'
It's almost impossible for Emma to bring up the subject of Jamie, and of Kit's death, with her parents, because of the extreme reactions it provokes. So she has been left alone with her thoughts about them both. Rebecca Wait captures so well the complexity and pain of the feelings of those left behind, not just of Emma but of Jamie, Joe and Rose. Jamie has a great deal to cope with, and I was incredibly drawn to him through the way he was portrayed. I thought the portrayal of the father, Joe's feelings, was also particularly well drawn and convincing in showing how difficult it was for him to try and deal with what had happened; quite simply, he hadn't been able to deal with it.
'...he did nothing, simply carried on as before. Head down, struggling through the days. Keeping going, getting through. He'd always known, without having to consider it, that there was no chance of recovery. Not for him, not for any of them. The passing years hadn't changed a thing. There was no getting over this.'
But I have written that the author has been honest and true in portraying this story and these people. So we know that doing nothing can't carry on forever, not without someone breaking or something having to give, and for them all to have to face what happened, at last. The conclusion felt right to me and I'm glad the story ended as it did.
The View on the Way Down is a beautifully written debut novel, and Rebecca Wait sensitively portrays painful, harsh truths about depression. But it remains throughout a compelling, vital story that the reader has to read to the finish.
This story is sad, tender, raw and painful but it is also warm and hopeful. It is heartbreaking, vivid and it feels very real. I felt so involved with this story as I read it, I felt the agonies of this family, I was moved by the characters and I found myself thinking about them after closing the pages. I read the book in one day; it's very rare for me to manage that.
Evidently Rebecca Wait knows the ins and outs of what she is writing about here; there were moments that I felt were so accurate, so heartfelt and true. It had a powerful effect on me to feel the strength and honesty in her words. It's an important story, told so, so well. The writing is light and understated and yet so incisive. The author has a deft touch whether writing about the everyday or the extreme.
So many sentences and passages stood out to me. There are moments that touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes because they were so simply stated yet so painfully true, such as the observation by Jamie's former girlfriend about the letter he once wrote to her; I will let you discover the details for yourself if you read the book. It made me think just how much the author has understood about people and life, how she has captured the reactions and realities that rang so true to me as I read.
One of my principal thoughts after finishing this novel was that it's so special to read a book that actually reminds you why you love reading so much. To read a book that you connect with, that takes you away from your world and into the lives of others, into a story that you are deeply moved by and compelled to read, but a book that, when you put it down and return to your own world, makes you feel that you are not alone in that world or not alone with your feelings.
I hope I have done this book some justice in my review. I think there is so much more I could say, but in the end all I can say is I thought it was an amazing, accomplished debut and please do read it.
I don't use ratings on my blog anymore but if I did this book would get 6 out of 5.
December 10, 2012
The View On The Way Down by Rebecca Wait will be published by Picador on 11 April 2013. This is the author's debut novel, she is twenty-four years old and she wrote the novel in the evenings whilst working as a teaching assistant the year after graduating.
I am really struggling to review this novel. I'm not a writer and I am finding it difficult to find the words to express just how much I loved this story.
A little about the story; a family; Mum, Dad and teenage Emma, struggling to deal with their lives after the death of eldest son Kit five years ago. There is one other member of the family; second son Jamie, who is estranged from the rest of them and living in
a drab flat in Sheffield. Hundreds of miles away from his family and slowly descending into a world of his own. Young Emma has never really known just what happened on the night that Kit died and finds her comfort in eating and in Jesus until one day the
bullying and the unhappiness gets too much and she sets out to find Jamie.
The real beauty and genius of The View On The Way Down is in it's simplicity, the ease of Rebecca Wait's writing captures the reader from page one and doesn't let go. However, don't be fooled by my talk of 'simplicity', this is a deeply moving and powerful
story of a family that has been torn apart. Four people who have been changed by the same tragic circumstance, yet are dealing with it in four very separate ways.
Each character is drawn so beautifully from Kit's darkest depths of depressive illness, to Emma's child-like naivety. The parents - Rose and Joe, so distant from each other, yet unable to let each other go.
I could easily have read this novel in one setting, except for the fact that at times I was so moved, and so affected by the writing that I had to put it down, walk away and try to think of other things. It's been a very long time since a fictional story has resonated so
strongly with me. Although this is at times almost unbearably heartbreaking, the strong feeling of brotherly love and loyalty that flows through also makes it an uplifting story.
Rebecca Wait is an extremely talented young author and I'm delighted to learn that Picador will be publishing her next novel, whenever that may be.
I am really struggling to review this novel. I'm not a writer and I am finding it difficult to find the words to express just how much I loved this story.
A little about the story; a family; Mum, Dad and teenage Emma, struggling to deal with their lives after the death of eldest son Kit five years ago. There is one other member of the family; second son Jamie, who is estranged from the rest of them and living in
a drab flat in Sheffield. Hundreds of miles away from his family and slowly descending into a world of his own. Young Emma has never really known just what happened on the night that Kit died and finds her comfort in eating and in Jesus until one day the
bullying and the unhappiness gets too much and she sets out to find Jamie.
The real beauty and genius of The View On The Way Down is in it's simplicity, the ease of Rebecca Wait's writing captures the reader from page one and doesn't let go. However, don't be fooled by my talk of 'simplicity', this is a deeply moving and powerful
story of a family that has been torn apart. Four people who have been changed by the same tragic circumstance, yet are dealing with it in four very separate ways.
Each character is drawn so beautifully from Kit's darkest depths of depressive illness, to Emma's child-like naivety. The parents - Rose and Joe, so distant from each other, yet unable to let each other go.
I could easily have read this novel in one setting, except for the fact that at times I was so moved, and so affected by the writing that I had to put it down, walk away and try to think of other things. It's been a very long time since a fictional story has resonated so
strongly with me. Although this is at times almost unbearably heartbreaking, the strong feeling of brotherly love and loyalty that flows through also makes it an uplifting story.
Rebecca Wait is an extremely talented young author and I'm delighted to learn that Picador will be publishing her next novel, whenever that may be.
August 20, 2016
The View on the Way Down is an insightful and honest look at depression and its wide-ranging consequences. Emma is struggling at school. She is starting to lose her grip on things that she had been sure of, like her leadership of the Christian Union school group. And there are the things that she's not very sure of, like why one of her brothers left home on the day of their other brother's funeral. Never to return. Emma navigates her increasingly difficult school life and the silence surrounding her absent siblings at home. But then news arrives that her brother, Jamie, is now working in a bookshop in Sheffield. And the fractured family is forced to face its past...
This is a quick read, but engaging and suspenseful throughout. Emma and Jamie's voices are authentic; their parents, Rose and Joe, each try to survive their loss in their own way; Kit, the first-born son is remembered as only a family can.
This is a quick read, but engaging and suspenseful throughout. Emma and Jamie's voices are authentic; their parents, Rose and Joe, each try to survive their loss in their own way; Kit, the first-born son is remembered as only a family can.
August 21, 2018
I enjoyed this one, but I didn't love it as much as I expected to. I think maybe my expectations were too high, though I'm not sure why. This is the first book I've read by this author. I'd certainly try more of her work. 3.5 stars.
August 17, 2013
A View on the Way Down is a book with depth but not one without a wry sense of humour.
Part one is mainly told from Emma's viewpoint, a teenage girl who is a fervent member of the Christian Union; her world unravels when the `cool' girls decide to join. With life at school becoming ever more miserable she reflects on the death of her brother Kit and the disappearance of her other brother Jamie.
Later on in the book we get to see quite why and how this tragedy happened and why. We have insights into Jamie's life before and after Kit's death, his father Joe's response to the tragedy revolves around his shed and Rose his mother retreated into creating sumptuous dishes for the family, not helping Emma's weight issues. All these characters are well rounded, ones that I will miss now that the last page has been turned, which in my opinion, is the sign of a good book.
This is one of those books that truly earns the sobriquet poignant and although it keeps well away from being mawkish it left me with a real sense of sadness for the whole family. This book deals with a subject that most of us shy away from but Rebecca Wait handles all aspects with delicacy and a lightness of touch making it an accessible read.
I received a copy of this book through the Amazon Vine Programme
Part one is mainly told from Emma's viewpoint, a teenage girl who is a fervent member of the Christian Union; her world unravels when the `cool' girls decide to join. With life at school becoming ever more miserable she reflects on the death of her brother Kit and the disappearance of her other brother Jamie.
Later on in the book we get to see quite why and how this tragedy happened and why. We have insights into Jamie's life before and after Kit's death, his father Joe's response to the tragedy revolves around his shed and Rose his mother retreated into creating sumptuous dishes for the family, not helping Emma's weight issues. All these characters are well rounded, ones that I will miss now that the last page has been turned, which in my opinion, is the sign of a good book.
This is one of those books that truly earns the sobriquet poignant and although it keeps well away from being mawkish it left me with a real sense of sadness for the whole family. This book deals with a subject that most of us shy away from but Rebecca Wait handles all aspects with delicacy and a lightness of touch making it an accessible read.
I received a copy of this book through the Amazon Vine Programme
April 19, 2015
I’ve been postponing reviewing this book for several weeks because my feelings are quite mixed. Rebecca Wait seems someone I’d quite like & admire if I knew her, & in The View on the Way Down she is quiet, understated, but extremely effective. As a study in how a suicide affects a family, this book appealed to me even more than Miriam Toews’ s All My Puny Sorrows, partly because Toews’s characters seem to be constantly knocking themselves out to be ‘characters’ whereas Wait’s are allowed to be very ordinary & that is an aspect of this book I loved. Ordinary people experience grief every bit as intensely as ‘characters’ (& famous literary intellectuals too) & Wait gives us a very true portrait of what happens when members of a family deal with loss in all the wrong ways. In caregiving we distinguish six stages in the process of recovering from loss: you need to recognise, react, recollect, relinquish, readjust & reinvest. Rose & Joe, the mum & dad, haven’t even dealt with the beginning two stages, pretending to their daughter Emma that Kit’s death was an accident. Kit’s room is kept just as it was when he was a teenager & Rose devotes herself to preparing meals full of calories & carbs which only aggravate poor Emma’s weight issues that make her the laughingstock of her school. Joe simply doesn’t talk about it & spends all his leisure time in his woodworking shop, neglecting his work as a solicitor. He is totally estranged from his other son, Kit’s slightly younger brother Jamie. Tho’ Toews’s family were poisoned by religious toxicity, Joe believes in nothing @ all. He thinks of backaches & headaches as ‘a cross he had to bear’ then we’re told: ‘He hated the way religious language invaded everyday speech. Reminded him of Emma’s religious craze, which thankfully seemed to have dampened down in recent months.’ I’d say that in Meyers-Briggs terms Joe is an off the charts ISTJ & woodworking is an appropriate hobby for him - he has about as much spirituality as a chair. Jamie, whom we discover has some reason to be afflicted by guilt, has buried himself in a dead-end job in a bookstore & treats his girlfriend abominably. When he does attempt to become reconciled with his father, Joe ignores his efforts. In some respects parts of this story are a kind of reverse parable of the prodigal son: when Jamie attempts to rise & go to his father, father isn’t having any. My principal problem with The View on the Way Down was with Kit, the elder brother who commits suicide. Had I been Jamie, my issue with grief would have been that I wasn’t entirely displeased that Kit was dead. He is constantly superior, patronising & overbearing, even in the flashback scene @ the beginning of the story where they’re boys playing on the beach. I found the scene in the pub where Kit humiliates Jamie in front of his friend Sam painful reading, Virtually all suicides are squalid affairs, but Kit’s is particularly bathetic & he needn’t have made Jamie complicit. (Jamie of course should have called 999 - there are some things you just do however sympathetic he may feel with Kit’s desire to end the psychic pain.) However the book gripped me all the way through to a resolution that I could both believe & accept. So I thought that whilst Rebecca Wait’s characters displayed some flaws & inconsistencies that made it hard for me to empathise with them, she really gets it so far as the effects of grief are concerned. She has a new book coming out & I look forward to reading it.
Read
August 18, 2017Soms voelt een verhaal gewoon waargebeurd of autobiografisch aan - zonder dat je weet of dit klopt, of de auteur echt iets dergelijks heeft meegemaakt. Het is ook niet altijd aan te wijzen of te verklaren: zit het in de details, in de psychologie, in iets heel anders? Hoe dan ook: al vrij vlug tijdens het lezen van het debuut van Wait realiseerde ik me dat maar deels fictie kon zijn.
Iets in de pijn over het uit elkaar vallende gezin, over de leegte die de zelfmoord van een kind of broer achterlaat, kon niet zijn verzonnen. En dat onverklaarbare iets zorgt er waarschijnlijk voor dat ik deze roman in een dag heb uitgelezen, de laatste tientallen pagina's met natte wangen.
Vergelijkingen met David Vann liggen, gezien het onderwerp, op de loer, maar zouden te makkelijk zijn. Waits kan ook gewoon echt goed schrijven. Daarbij zit er humor in haar observatievermogen, getuige de volgende passage, bij monde van de veertienjarige Emma: 'Ze was echt dik, en werd omringd door mensen die deden alsof ze dik waren. Daardoor kreeg ze het gevoel dat ze langzaam gek werd. Echt weer iets voor haar, om op de verkeerde manier dik te zijn.' Een ander mooi beeld: 'Rose drukte haar geheim tegen zich aan.'
Natuurlijk is niet alles perfect in Wat je ziet. Sommige karakters, zoals Alice, blijven een beetje in de lucht hangen en dat is jammer - wat voor toegevoegde waarde had dit personage? Aan de andere kant hoeven ook niet alle touwtjes uit de knoop gehaald worden, aan het einde van een roman. Laat ons nog maar een beetje puzzelen.
Al met al is dit boek een absolute aanrader, maar vrolijk word je er niet van (o, Jamie).
Iets in de pijn over het uit elkaar vallende gezin, over de leegte die de zelfmoord van een kind of broer achterlaat, kon niet zijn verzonnen. En dat onverklaarbare iets zorgt er waarschijnlijk voor dat ik deze roman in een dag heb uitgelezen, de laatste tientallen pagina's met natte wangen.
Vergelijkingen met David Vann liggen, gezien het onderwerp, op de loer, maar zouden te makkelijk zijn. Waits kan ook gewoon echt goed schrijven. Daarbij zit er humor in haar observatievermogen, getuige de volgende passage, bij monde van de veertienjarige Emma: 'Ze was echt dik, en werd omringd door mensen die deden alsof ze dik waren. Daardoor kreeg ze het gevoel dat ze langzaam gek werd. Echt weer iets voor haar, om op de verkeerde manier dik te zijn.' Een ander mooi beeld: 'Rose drukte haar geheim tegen zich aan.'
Natuurlijk is niet alles perfect in Wat je ziet. Sommige karakters, zoals Alice, blijven een beetje in de lucht hangen en dat is jammer - wat voor toegevoegde waarde had dit personage? Aan de andere kant hoeven ook niet alle touwtjes uit de knoop gehaald worden, aan het einde van een roman. Laat ons nog maar een beetje puzzelen.
Al met al is dit boek een absolute aanrader, maar vrolijk word je er niet van (o, Jamie).
June 20, 2013
I came across The View on the Way Down quite randomly on my Amazon Recommended page, and the cover was the first thing that caught my eye. Coupled with the slightly sparse synopsis, I was intrigued - and the rest, as they say, is history.
At the beginning of the book, I thought The View On the Way Down would probably be one of those sweet coming-of-age stories - Emma is fourteen years old, her parents are practically divorced but still sleeping in the same bed, and her older brother has disappeared. Emma is lonely, has self-confidence issues and a dedication to God. And that's when I started to feel a little uncomfortable - did I pick up a religious book by mistake? Insert spoiler here because I think it's important for people who don't enjoy religious books - Emma's religion is a plot device only, and gradually plays less and less of a role in her life.
The View on the Way Down is told in multiple POV's and formats, which actually surprised me when it happened - although the synopsis actually suggests otherwise, I went into this book thinking it was told completely from Emma's perspective, but all the family members have their say, and there is also one part told completely in letters which worked extremely well.
The characters are realistic and varied - it was easy to sympathise with Emma, who struggles to make friends and whose family pretty much imploded when she was too young to understand what was happening, and now lives in the fall out without realising why her father isolates himself and her mother throws herself into being the perfect housewife. None of the characters are perfect, and all have dealt with the death of one of the brothers, Kit, in their own very personal way.
I'm always a little wary of books that say they will break your heart in the synopsis. I'm a pretty tough nut to crack and although The View on the Way Down didn't have me in floods of tears, it was certainly very touching and in parts, quite emotional to read as the characters deal with grief, guilt, blame and forgiveness, particularly in the final third of the book.
The View on the Way Down isn't a happy ending book - it's a realistic look at family dynamics and grief, and how they effect each person as an individual and as a group. And although there are parts that are incredibly sad and even difficult to read, there is also an element of hope that made it a satisfying, well-rounded story that was a pleasure to read.
Read more of my reviews at The Aussie Zombie
At the beginning of the book, I thought The View On the Way Down would probably be one of those sweet coming-of-age stories - Emma is fourteen years old, her parents are practically divorced but still sleeping in the same bed, and her older brother has disappeared. Emma is lonely, has self-confidence issues and a dedication to God. And that's when I started to feel a little uncomfortable - did I pick up a religious book by mistake? Insert spoiler here because I think it's important for people who don't enjoy religious books - Emma's religion is a plot device only, and gradually plays less and less of a role in her life.
The View on the Way Down is told in multiple POV's and formats, which actually surprised me when it happened - although the synopsis actually suggests otherwise, I went into this book thinking it was told completely from Emma's perspective, but all the family members have their say, and there is also one part told completely in letters which worked extremely well.
The characters are realistic and varied - it was easy to sympathise with Emma, who struggles to make friends and whose family pretty much imploded when she was too young to understand what was happening, and now lives in the fall out without realising why her father isolates himself and her mother throws herself into being the perfect housewife. None of the characters are perfect, and all have dealt with the death of one of the brothers, Kit, in their own very personal way.
I'm always a little wary of books that say they will break your heart in the synopsis. I'm a pretty tough nut to crack and although The View on the Way Down didn't have me in floods of tears, it was certainly very touching and in parts, quite emotional to read as the characters deal with grief, guilt, blame and forgiveness, particularly in the final third of the book.
The View on the Way Down isn't a happy ending book - it's a realistic look at family dynamics and grief, and how they effect each person as an individual and as a group. And although there are parts that are incredibly sad and even difficult to read, there is also an element of hope that made it a satisfying, well-rounded story that was a pleasure to read.
Read more of my reviews at The Aussie Zombie
March 25, 2013
This book absolutely blew me away – beautifully written, staying well on the right side of mawkish (Emma is a lovely young character, and her naive viewpoint gives the book a beautifully light touch, with touches of welcome humour at times), an incredibly moving story of love and depressive illness and loss and the impacts on a family.
There aren’t any spoilers in telling that one of Emma’s brothers dies – the Amazon description says that much. She’s a character you’ll love – overweight, bullied at school, trying to find a way to survive in a world where everything she depended on has fallen apart and where the environment she’s chosen (her Christian Union meetings) has turned hostile. One of her brothers is dead, the other (Jamie) is living elsewhere – but there’s a story here that slowly, unrelentingly and compellingly unfolds.
I loved the style. Emma’s social gaucheness is very real and recognisable: the Jamie chapters are painful; the chapters for Rose, the mother, come as a surprise and are an incredibly poignant picture of a fractured family. I know the letters from Jamie to his father in the centre of the book haven’t delighted everyone as a device, building to a climax, but I thought it was perfectly judged. As was the ending – I was aching by that point (I read the book in two long sittings) and I really loved it.
This is a highly accomplished first novel, treading that difficult path across one of life’s most difficult subjects with an ease and lightness of style that others could learn from. I thoroughly adored it – one of my books of the year so far.
There aren’t any spoilers in telling that one of Emma’s brothers dies – the Amazon description says that much. She’s a character you’ll love – overweight, bullied at school, trying to find a way to survive in a world where everything she depended on has fallen apart and where the environment she’s chosen (her Christian Union meetings) has turned hostile. One of her brothers is dead, the other (Jamie) is living elsewhere – but there’s a story here that slowly, unrelentingly and compellingly unfolds.
I loved the style. Emma’s social gaucheness is very real and recognisable: the Jamie chapters are painful; the chapters for Rose, the mother, come as a surprise and are an incredibly poignant picture of a fractured family. I know the letters from Jamie to his father in the centre of the book haven’t delighted everyone as a device, building to a climax, but I thought it was perfectly judged. As was the ending – I was aching by that point (I read the book in two long sittings) and I really loved it.
This is a highly accomplished first novel, treading that difficult path across one of life’s most difficult subjects with an ease and lightness of style that others could learn from. I thoroughly adored it – one of my books of the year so far.
February 26, 2016
I'm not really a fan of this book, but I can't really put a finger on the very reason why...
Part of the reason might've been that I didn't like to read from everyone's perspective. I think it would've been nicer to have read the story from the perspective of 2 or 3 people, instead of everyone involved in the story. Now almost every question got filled in immediately.
But besides that, I wasn't really a fan of the storyline either. I couldn't really relate to any of the characters (which, like mentioned above, were quite a bunch), and therefore couldn't relate to their motives, which should've made the storyline acceptable. To be honest, I found the plotdisturbing, while I think this shouldn't have been the case if the characters had had understandable motives.
It wasn't really bad or anything: it just wasn't a fascinating story with interesting characters. Maybe my expectations were too high; maybe the expectations of those who liked this book were too low. It's up to you...
Part of the reason might've been that I didn't like to read from everyone's perspective. I think it would've been nicer to have read the story from the perspective of 2 or 3 people, instead of everyone involved in the story. Now almost every question got filled in immediately.
But besides that, I wasn't really a fan of the storyline either. I couldn't really relate to any of the characters (which, like mentioned above, were quite a bunch), and therefore couldn't relate to their motives, which should've made the storyline acceptable. To be honest, I found the plotdisturbing, while I think this shouldn't have been the case if the characters had had understandable motives.
It wasn't really bad or anything: it just wasn't a fascinating story with interesting characters. Maybe my expectations were too high; maybe the expectations of those who liked this book were too low. It's up to you...
May 29, 2014
Why oh why oh why would you subject yourself to this?
Ok this is an afternoon of meloncholy between two covers.
Why would you want to read this book?
1, you need a good cry.
2, You want to understand depression a bit better.
3, You want to commit suicide and need to see how this may affect your loved ones.
4, You like to feel like your heart has been stomped on.
5, You enjoyed Watership down.
I read it with a big sigh. I've been depressed and I know what that tired and can't go on feeling is like. I had to give 2 stars it's an ok book but I could have lived without the feels.
Well written, quick read. Might need some ice cream and a funny film now.
Ok this is an afternoon of meloncholy between two covers.
Why would you want to read this book?
1, you need a good cry.
2, You want to understand depression a bit better.
3, You want to commit suicide and need to see how this may affect your loved ones.
4, You like to feel like your heart has been stomped on.
5, You enjoyed Watership down.
I read it with a big sigh. I've been depressed and I know what that tired and can't go on feeling is like. I had to give 2 stars it's an ok book but I could have lived without the feels.
Well written, quick read. Might need some ice cream and a funny film now.
March 19, 2013
Well worth the read. I found it took me a little while to get started with it but after that I loved it. The story of Emma, her two brothers - one of which has died - and her parents. The problems of depression and the consequences for all of them of it. It felt to me as though it was written by someone who had more than a passing understanding of the subject to. One of the better books of the years so far.
July 20, 2017
Mooi debuut. Roman over de zelfmoord van een zoon en hoe de familie — broer, zus, vader, moeder — ontwricht verder leeft. Elk van hen verwerkt het gebeuren op zijn eigen manier. Broer vlucht weg zonder adres na te laten, zus eet zich te pletter en wordt op school gepest, moeder maakt voortdurend het huis schoon en vader creëert houten figuurtjes in zijn schuurtje. Via flashbacks en via brieven van de jongste zoon aan zijn vader kom je meer te weten over de voorgeschiedenis. Over de depressie waarin de oudste zoon terechtkomt en zijn opeenvolgende zelfmoordpogingen. Triest, beklemmend verhaal in een heldere en toegankelijke schrijfstijl. Onder meer door de humor nooit melodramatisch, en dat is positief. Tijdens het lezen zat ik wel te denken: Anna Enquist zou zeker en vast nog meer psychologische diepgang hebben voorzien. Maar geen erg, de psychologische uitwerking in deze roman is meer dan voldoende.
April 19, 2014
Emma used to have two older brothers, but Kit died five years ago and after his funeral Jamie left home and she hasn't seen him since. Emma is now an overweight teenager who is being bullied at school. She doesn't know what happened to Kit or why Jamie wanted to make a new life for himself away from his family but she'd love to see him again. Her mother Rose is almost in denial to her family's problems, putting on a cheery facade and trying to create the perfect home for her husband Joe. He's easily annoyed by her though and when at home spends a lot of his time in the shed to get away from everything.
This is a beautifully written debut novel that deals with the difficult subjects of depression and bereavement exceptionally well. It's emotional but I never found it heavy going and I read it quickly. I hope The View On The Way Down becomes known to a wide audience and the bestseller that it undoubtedly deserves to be.
This is a beautifully written debut novel that deals with the difficult subjects of depression and bereavement exceptionally well. It's emotional but I never found it heavy going and I read it quickly. I hope The View On The Way Down becomes known to a wide audience and the bestseller that it undoubtedly deserves to be.
February 1, 2014
Loved this. Read it in just a few days which for me is quite an achievement, so must have been good!
A sad read about a family affected by depression, suicide and how they cope, or don't cope with their bereavement and grief. The author is only 24 and must have had a some personal experience of the subjects she deals with as it is so real and believable. Some tender touching moments that really do bring tears to your eyes. I really felt for all members of the family and how they dealt with their grief in their own way.
I won't say too much more on the storyline, as it'll spoil it for those that haven't read it yet.
A sad read about a family affected by depression, suicide and how they cope, or don't cope with their bereavement and grief. The author is only 24 and must have had a some personal experience of the subjects she deals with as it is so real and believable. Some tender touching moments that really do bring tears to your eyes. I really felt for all members of the family and how they dealt with their grief in their own way.
I won't say too much more on the storyline, as it'll spoil it for those that haven't read it yet.
April 15, 2013
Like many other readers I raced through this book. I found it compelling, moving and harrowing. The stories and the depiction of the two brothers in particular was beautifully evoked and felt very real.
I was less convinced when it came to the attitude and relationship exhibited by Rose and Joe, the parents. However this did not detract from the overall effect and I would not hesitate to recommend this novel.
I was less convinced when it came to the attitude and relationship exhibited by Rose and Joe, the parents. However this did not detract from the overall effect and I would not hesitate to recommend this novel.
July 24, 2013
Loved it, a fabulous read.
November 26, 2014
I find it astonishing that such an accomplished book is the debut novel from a 24 year old. The View on the Way Down is a stand-out book this year for me – honest, moving and deeply affecting.
It’s the story of one family and their lives leading up to and following on from one pivotal event – an event that is not talked about within the family and that is skirted around in the narrative too. So Emma, the youngest in the family, doesn’t know a huge amount more than we as readers do. What Emma does know is that when she was very young, she had two much older brothers who doted on her. She knows that one of them died and the other disappeared soon afterwards. She knows that her family has never been the same since. Now Emma is a teenager who seeks solace in comfort eating and the Christian Union, and who desperately clings to an optimism borne of a desire to prevent her mother tipping over the edge or her father snapping. Despite Emma’s optimism and determination – there’s very little in the way of self-pity in Emma’s case – I felt for her. As a reader, it’s easy to see what her parents are either missing or ignoring. Emma feels abandoned, not just by her two absent brothers but also by her very present parents. They are around all the time but they are never really ‘there’. No teenage girl should feel simultaneously so alone and so responsible for her family unit.
Emma also knows not to mention Kit or Jamie in front of her parents. But she thinks about them constantly, terrified of her memories corrupting or fading. And the more she thinks about them, the less she can understand how Jamie could just leave, why he’s never been in touch since the day of Kit’s funeral, how he can just have stopped caring about her and left her alone with no siblings and shells of parents. She consoles herself with further optimistic images of Jamie travelling the world or living a glamorous or bohemian life somewhere.
In reality, Jamie is working in a bookshop in Sheffield, living alone and shutting himself off from the world as far as possible. He too thinks about Kit all the time, though he tries not to – he wants to shut out the past as well as the present. But when Alice, an ex-girlfriend, chances upon the bookstore where Jamie works, his past suddenly catches up with him. Alice’s questions and her insistence on putting things right bring long-buried feelings and truths to the surface, setting in motion a chain of events that force not just Jamie, but Emma’s parents Joe and Rose, to communicate more than they have in years.
It’s sad that the very masterful portrayal of bereavement and depression in The View on the Way Down is the result of personal experience. But that experience gives the novel its authenticity, its raw honesty. For me, each character’s reaction to the pivotal loss of Kit, though not necessarily sympathetic, is believable. In particular, the contrasting ways in which Rose and Joe react to losing two of their children stayed with me after finishing the book. Rose tries to heal her fractured family by being the perfect housewife, filling her mind with recipes and menus and shopping lists. Joe knows the family can’t be repaired and so doesn’t even try; he’s just going through the motions of life and only channels energy into woodwork and the creation of new things. And while certain characters experience depression in different ways, what is consistent is the extent to which that depression changes that individual. The person you are when suffering with depression is not the person you have been before, and this is shown to be one of the most difficult things to accept.
When a novel depicts several complex characters, finding a way to give each of them a voice can be challenging, and often results in a fairly formulaic alternating-chapter approach. In this, Rebecca Wait does something a bit different. There are chapters that focus on different characters’ perspectives and memories, but these are introduced gradually – Jamie and Emma are the two we hear from, learn about and start to care for first, and only then are Rose and Joe slowly introduced as primary characters rather than just supporting roles. The backstory is incorporated masterfully, via the memories of the characters in the present rather than the more common approach of some characters’ chapters being in the present and others’ set in the past. One consequence of this is that it’s hard to pin down exactly what happened in the past: memories are fundamentally unreliable, even without the added dimension of grief editing history. For this reason, I liked the period in which the narrative is comprised entirely of letters from one character to the next. Not only does this add some interest and variety, it also seems to draw out a more objective and honest depiction of past events, filling in some gaps and shedding light on the truth that’s been elusive up to this point.
The ending of the novel feels well-pitched. This is a sad book, there’s no way around that, but the ending is neither excessively tragic nor neatly resolved. It rings true, and feels like the right conclusion to the events leading up to and for the characters involved. I do like a book that can make me cry but doesn’t leave me feeling entirely hopeless and bleak at the end – and The View on the Way Down is that kind of book: ‘deeply moving – yet unsentimental – and profound,’ as one review described it. There’s much to be sad about, but more significantly there is much to reflect on and mull over.
This debut author already writes with a wisdom and compassion that makes me look forward to what she publishes next – her story, characters and narrative are all excellent and combine to produce a real masterpiece of contemporary literature and one that I think anybody – from teenagers upwards – should read.
It’s the story of one family and their lives leading up to and following on from one pivotal event – an event that is not talked about within the family and that is skirted around in the narrative too. So Emma, the youngest in the family, doesn’t know a huge amount more than we as readers do. What Emma does know is that when she was very young, she had two much older brothers who doted on her. She knows that one of them died and the other disappeared soon afterwards. She knows that her family has never been the same since. Now Emma is a teenager who seeks solace in comfort eating and the Christian Union, and who desperately clings to an optimism borne of a desire to prevent her mother tipping over the edge or her father snapping. Despite Emma’s optimism and determination – there’s very little in the way of self-pity in Emma’s case – I felt for her. As a reader, it’s easy to see what her parents are either missing or ignoring. Emma feels abandoned, not just by her two absent brothers but also by her very present parents. They are around all the time but they are never really ‘there’. No teenage girl should feel simultaneously so alone and so responsible for her family unit.
Emma also knows not to mention Kit or Jamie in front of her parents. But she thinks about them constantly, terrified of her memories corrupting or fading. And the more she thinks about them, the less she can understand how Jamie could just leave, why he’s never been in touch since the day of Kit’s funeral, how he can just have stopped caring about her and left her alone with no siblings and shells of parents. She consoles herself with further optimistic images of Jamie travelling the world or living a glamorous or bohemian life somewhere.
In reality, Jamie is working in a bookshop in Sheffield, living alone and shutting himself off from the world as far as possible. He too thinks about Kit all the time, though he tries not to – he wants to shut out the past as well as the present. But when Alice, an ex-girlfriend, chances upon the bookstore where Jamie works, his past suddenly catches up with him. Alice’s questions and her insistence on putting things right bring long-buried feelings and truths to the surface, setting in motion a chain of events that force not just Jamie, but Emma’s parents Joe and Rose, to communicate more than they have in years.
It’s sad that the very masterful portrayal of bereavement and depression in The View on the Way Down is the result of personal experience. But that experience gives the novel its authenticity, its raw honesty. For me, each character’s reaction to the pivotal loss of Kit, though not necessarily sympathetic, is believable. In particular, the contrasting ways in which Rose and Joe react to losing two of their children stayed with me after finishing the book. Rose tries to heal her fractured family by being the perfect housewife, filling her mind with recipes and menus and shopping lists. Joe knows the family can’t be repaired and so doesn’t even try; he’s just going through the motions of life and only channels energy into woodwork and the creation of new things. And while certain characters experience depression in different ways, what is consistent is the extent to which that depression changes that individual. The person you are when suffering with depression is not the person you have been before, and this is shown to be one of the most difficult things to accept.
When a novel depicts several complex characters, finding a way to give each of them a voice can be challenging, and often results in a fairly formulaic alternating-chapter approach. In this, Rebecca Wait does something a bit different. There are chapters that focus on different characters’ perspectives and memories, but these are introduced gradually – Jamie and Emma are the two we hear from, learn about and start to care for first, and only then are Rose and Joe slowly introduced as primary characters rather than just supporting roles. The backstory is incorporated masterfully, via the memories of the characters in the present rather than the more common approach of some characters’ chapters being in the present and others’ set in the past. One consequence of this is that it’s hard to pin down exactly what happened in the past: memories are fundamentally unreliable, even without the added dimension of grief editing history. For this reason, I liked the period in which the narrative is comprised entirely of letters from one character to the next. Not only does this add some interest and variety, it also seems to draw out a more objective and honest depiction of past events, filling in some gaps and shedding light on the truth that’s been elusive up to this point.
The ending of the novel feels well-pitched. This is a sad book, there’s no way around that, but the ending is neither excessively tragic nor neatly resolved. It rings true, and feels like the right conclusion to the events leading up to and for the characters involved. I do like a book that can make me cry but doesn’t leave me feeling entirely hopeless and bleak at the end – and The View on the Way Down is that kind of book: ‘deeply moving – yet unsentimental – and profound,’ as one review described it. There’s much to be sad about, but more significantly there is much to reflect on and mull over.
This debut author already writes with a wisdom and compassion that makes me look forward to what she publishes next – her story, characters and narrative are all excellent and combine to produce a real masterpiece of contemporary literature and one that I think anybody – from teenagers upwards – should read.
June 13, 2025
Required reading
April 3, 2017
Really enjoyed this quick read. Quite emotional and sobering.
June 22, 2016
Not sure where to start with my review of this book.
I know this book was about extremely emotional and sensitive subjects - loss, depression and suicide. I think the author did a good job at conveying what it's like to have and deal with depression and although this book does deal with death I did not find myself becoming emotional in that sense at any point throughout the book as I know some other readers did. Which in some ways I find odd because as I mentioned in previous reviews for books I've read at this time and the book I read just prior to this (Before I Die) I did find myself becoming emotional reading about Tessa Scott and at times felt myself welling up over her predicament.
However, having said that ("the author did a good job at conveying.....") it may now seem odd to say that I found the first part or first third of the book a bit hollow, for lack of a better word. Normally I might find myself saying that I think the author may have used this device or structure to mirror the feel of the story (like for example the fast paced writing in The Girl on the Train to mirror the action in the story) but I genuinely don't think that was the case here. As well I felt the book in its entirety was written by someone very young or someone with a simplistic approach. I don't know, maybe the author did that because it was such a heavy subject, but again I don't think so.
In addition, it may sound insensitive to say but I did however find myself laughing outloud in certain sections of this book obviously not at any of the more extreme moments of despair but more so when sarcasm was used to deflect or diffuse an awkward or uncomfortable situation. Maybe because I recognise that trait in myself and in my own family.
It was a truly tragic and sad story, definitely painful at times. I found myself frustrated with the mother Rose though as she just seemed to have no depth or substance and occupied herself with cleaning all the time and trying to create the perfect family life. I know that everyone copes differently with loss and death but ultimately you would crack under the pressure and I don't think you ever really saw that with her. I felt more was needed here.
Based on the way the book started I had thought that the accident was going to be on the beach and I had believed later in the book that the father was simply just blaming Jamie for Kit's death (this was before the whole story was revealed).
I felt that the scene where the parents came to collect Emma from Jamie's apartment when she ran away wasn't realistic. Okay, yes again, we (the reader) didn't know the full story at this point but I just can't believe that the father nor the mother wouldn't have said anything more at this point AND if they didn't, that Jamie wouldn't have been more aggressive, angry or explosive in some way. I felt it needed something more.
I know that some did not like the author using the device of writing letters from Jamie to his father to tell Jamie's side of the story and to be honest, this is usually not a device that I like in books to tell a story. But in this one I think it worked well because they were all one sided, which worked incredibly well here as it showed Jamie's complete isolation from his family, from life, from everything; his utter despair at the loss of his brother, his family and an insight as to how he was coping, or not coping, as the case may be.
I didn't mind the perspectives from different characters but I don't know that they were all needed. As mentioned in one of my reading status updates I don't know that the religious aspect of Emma's character added much to the story either and at one point, as another reviewer had said, I wondered if I had picked up a religious book by mistake.
In regards to the scene where you finally find out how Kit committed suicide and what was involved I have to say that I thought Jamie would have fought it a little harder. In one sense I can understand that he loved his brother and wanted to give him what he felt he needed but at the same time, if that was me, or pretty much anyone for that matter, I think they would have fought it a bit harder. Granted I didn't see this aspect of the plot coming but I did guess the bits about Jamie then wanting to end his life, him then disappearing, his father finally coming to his senses and coming after him, finding him where I knew he would with Emma's help (without giving too much away).
At the start of this review I was going to give this book 3 stars but now reading back on my review I am wondering whether I should give it 2 stars but I think I will just leave it at 3.
As far as recommendations go, as to whether I would recommend this book to someone, I suppose it would depend on what they are looking to read.
I know this book was about extremely emotional and sensitive subjects - loss, depression and suicide. I think the author did a good job at conveying what it's like to have and deal with depression and although this book does deal with death I did not find myself becoming emotional in that sense at any point throughout the book as I know some other readers did. Which in some ways I find odd because as I mentioned in previous reviews for books I've read at this time and the book I read just prior to this (Before I Die) I did find myself becoming emotional reading about Tessa Scott and at times felt myself welling up over her predicament.
However, having said that ("the author did a good job at conveying.....") it may now seem odd to say that I found the first part or first third of the book a bit hollow, for lack of a better word. Normally I might find myself saying that I think the author may have used this device or structure to mirror the feel of the story (like for example the fast paced writing in The Girl on the Train to mirror the action in the story) but I genuinely don't think that was the case here. As well I felt the book in its entirety was written by someone very young or someone with a simplistic approach. I don't know, maybe the author did that because it was such a heavy subject, but again I don't think so.
In addition, it may sound insensitive to say but I did however find myself laughing outloud in certain sections of this book obviously not at any of the more extreme moments of despair but more so when sarcasm was used to deflect or diffuse an awkward or uncomfortable situation. Maybe because I recognise that trait in myself and in my own family.
It was a truly tragic and sad story, definitely painful at times. I found myself frustrated with the mother Rose though as she just seemed to have no depth or substance and occupied herself with cleaning all the time and trying to create the perfect family life. I know that everyone copes differently with loss and death but ultimately you would crack under the pressure and I don't think you ever really saw that with her. I felt more was needed here.
Based on the way the book started I had thought that the accident was going to be on the beach and I had believed later in the book that the father was simply just blaming Jamie for Kit's death (this was before the whole story was revealed).
I felt that the scene where the parents came to collect Emma from Jamie's apartment when she ran away wasn't realistic. Okay, yes again, we (the reader) didn't know the full story at this point but I just can't believe that the father nor the mother wouldn't have said anything more at this point AND if they didn't, that Jamie wouldn't have been more aggressive, angry or explosive in some way. I felt it needed something more.
I know that some did not like the author using the device of writing letters from Jamie to his father to tell Jamie's side of the story and to be honest, this is usually not a device that I like in books to tell a story. But in this one I think it worked well because they were all one sided, which worked incredibly well here as it showed Jamie's complete isolation from his family, from life, from everything; his utter despair at the loss of his brother, his family and an insight as to how he was coping, or not coping, as the case may be.
I didn't mind the perspectives from different characters but I don't know that they were all needed. As mentioned in one of my reading status updates I don't know that the religious aspect of Emma's character added much to the story either and at one point, as another reviewer had said, I wondered if I had picked up a religious book by mistake.
In regards to the scene where you finally find out how Kit committed suicide and what was involved I have to say that I thought Jamie would have fought it a little harder. In one sense I can understand that he loved his brother and wanted to give him what he felt he needed but at the same time, if that was me, or pretty much anyone for that matter, I think they would have fought it a bit harder. Granted I didn't see this aspect of the plot coming but I did guess the bits about Jamie then wanting to end his life, him then disappearing, his father finally coming to his senses and coming after him, finding him where I knew he would with Emma's help (without giving too much away).
At the start of this review I was going to give this book 3 stars but now reading back on my review I am wondering whether I should give it 2 stars but I think I will just leave it at 3.
As far as recommendations go, as to whether I would recommend this book to someone, I suppose it would depend on what they are looking to read.
August 8, 2019
Having suffered with depression for many years, I felt like I could relate to Kit in a lot of ways. I feel this book asks a lot of questions about a hugely important issue but it does so in a way that shows different sides of the issue. Brilliant.
December 30, 2014
The View on the way down is about depression and suicide. And more than that it is the effects of depression and suicide on a family. For subject matter that some would consider taboo, it read to me as a very everyday story. Which is as it should be because depression and suicide are all around us. There is nothing sensational or melodramatic in this book. This is a regular family dealing with that "permanent solution to a temporary problem". I think Rebecca Wait got the pitch just right. She knows her subject matter, but doesn't showboat it. She doesn't dwell on the details of the illness, but instead shows us the devastating results to all that surround it.
I noticed an interesting trait that all the characters had. At various points in the book the all had to mentally force themselves to say or do something that they weren't comfortable doing. This was written as if it is something that we all have to do every day. Which made me think this was an everyday occurrence for Rebecca Wait, and that she was no stranger to mental health. Though I think the whole book is testament to that. You just could not write a book like this through research alone.
The plot is kept interesting by flicking between various characters perspectives; sister, brother, girlfriend, father, mother. It becomes subtly compelling to find out what will become of each of them.
On a lighter note, whenever I saw this book cover, I wondered why on earth did they have an upside-down flying witch on the cover? It was only when I saw a bigger version that I realized it was a girl on a swing.
July 26, 2016
A book full of emotion.
I haven't listened to any books from Audible for quite a while, but I randomly selected this one and was impressed by how well it came across, expertly read by Mandy Weston and Carl Prekopp. It was mainly narrated by Ms Weston, but Carl Prekopp read the letters with the voice of Jamie, and that worked really well.
Rose and Joe have three children, Jamie and Kit, are teenagers, and Emma is their much younger sister. Emma is having problems in school and has found her niche as a member of the Christian Union. She is overweight and suffering from insecurities which alienate her from the other students. Food has become her crutch in a family where her eldest brother has died, her younger brother left home after an argument on the day of the funeral and no-one will talk about any of it.
As the story unravels, we gradually learn the background: how Kit came to die, where Jamie is and why silence is so rigidly maintained.
The young author has beautifully captured the cruelty of depression and the devastation it can wreak on a family. She writes with feeling about grief and its consequences, and the result is a book that could provide an excellent starting point for discussion on such topics.
Definitely an author to look out for.
I haven't listened to any books from Audible for quite a while, but I randomly selected this one and was impressed by how well it came across, expertly read by Mandy Weston and Carl Prekopp. It was mainly narrated by Ms Weston, but Carl Prekopp read the letters with the voice of Jamie, and that worked really well.
Rose and Joe have three children, Jamie and Kit, are teenagers, and Emma is their much younger sister. Emma is having problems in school and has found her niche as a member of the Christian Union. She is overweight and suffering from insecurities which alienate her from the other students. Food has become her crutch in a family where her eldest brother has died, her younger brother left home after an argument on the day of the funeral and no-one will talk about any of it.
As the story unravels, we gradually learn the background: how Kit came to die, where Jamie is and why silence is so rigidly maintained.
The young author has beautifully captured the cruelty of depression and the devastation it can wreak on a family. She writes with feeling about grief and its consequences, and the result is a book that could provide an excellent starting point for discussion on such topics.
Definitely an author to look out for.
June 13, 2015
I loved this book i read in 2 days
If you want a feel good story this is not the book for you. If you want a story with a true understanding of the effects of Depression and Mental illness this is it.
I found this an emotional read. Rebecca focuses on the devastating effect of this illness on one of Emma's brothers. However Rebecca also focuses on the turmoil that this illness can bring to a sufferers family. The story revolves around Jamie the brother who is made to feel guilty and who estranges himself from his family. Emma the sister who finds solace in religion. She is overweight and bullied and craves the support and interaction of her brother Jamie. Joe the father who cannot connect with the family or the events that happen so he hides away in his shed. Then there is Rose who wants her family to be a 'normal' family unit and tries to ensure this with cooking meals and desserts of all sorts.
The story also reflects the fact that there may be improving situations in families, solutions but no definitive closure
If you want a feel good story this is not the book for you. If you want a story with a true understanding of the effects of Depression and Mental illness this is it.
I found this an emotional read. Rebecca focuses on the devastating effect of this illness on one of Emma's brothers. However Rebecca also focuses on the turmoil that this illness can bring to a sufferers family. The story revolves around Jamie the brother who is made to feel guilty and who estranges himself from his family. Emma the sister who finds solace in religion. She is overweight and bullied and craves the support and interaction of her brother Jamie. Joe the father who cannot connect with the family or the events that happen so he hides away in his shed. Then there is Rose who wants her family to be a 'normal' family unit and tries to ensure this with cooking meals and desserts of all sorts.
The story also reflects the fact that there may be improving situations in families, solutions but no definitive closure
June 7, 2015
This book is reminiscent of a book I had read earlier, The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand. The premise is similar - the suicide of a brother led to the guilt of his sibling, and the disintegration but ultimate union of his family. Heartbreaking yet shocking with twists layered in between the family drama, this is a book that was not easy to read. It is never easy to read about death in a family, especially when reading about the way a parent grieved for his dead child. It is a painful subject to read about. The character to sympathise with is Jamie, who leaves his family as he deals with the grief of losing his brother, ultimately revealing the guilt and the truth about the suicide. Beautifully written and poignant, it was a beautiful story to read after all.
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