A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

I am a huge fan of Nick Hornby.  I loved High Fidelity, and About A Boy.  Hornby writes about below average humans and makes you like unlikeable people.  And sometimes he even gives his characters some redemption.  This book is no different.  It is told from the point of view of four different Londoners.  All  meet up on a rooftop, New Years Eve, where they were all planning to take their lives.  There is an older woman who has been taking care of her son who has been in a vegetative state for twenty odd years, a punk totally messed up teenage girl, a washed up tabloid-fodder talk show host, and a musician who has never been able to get his career going.  Anyway, they decide to help each other want to live instead of killing themselves.  Hornby doesn't go for feel good solutions and keeps things starkly realistic.  It is darkly humorous, and surprisingly touching, just as all his books are. (Hornby also uses the F-word a lot, so if that bugs, don't read this book or any of his others).