cbr17bingo Rec’d:
Grief stories are not new, but each is unique to that person. The main thing I came away with from reading The Last Time We Spoke: A Story of Loss, is that the author (Jesse Mechanic) is human: selfish, loving, scared, fearless, angry and hopeful. They are both a reliable and unreliable narrator as they are telling the story from their eyes and over a 20 year period. The art is tone setting and allows us a peek into the mind of someone who is dealing with grief and mental health issues from a young age. Relatable as most of us have experienced loss, even if it wasn’t a parent to cancer (which regardless if you were 14 or 41, that hurt never is easy).
This title is from the Street Noise Books catalog. The great thing about them is that they do stories we might know, but we do not know them this way. With Mechanic’s book I could relate to things, empathize with him, and even like him even when he did things that usually makes me really dislike someone. Maybe because it is a memoir and not a made up story (as I feel if you’re making it up, why not make someone a bit better than people usually are and are a real role model) I was more forgiving and willing to listen to his side of the story.
Due in September 2025 I read via an online reader copy, though I would like to find a finished copy when it comes out as I am curious how the raw, edgy illustrations come out. The text (due to it being online and to fit my screen I had to make it smaller) was physically small and hard to follow sometimes, but the images really make what the author was saying stand out. Needles float down as a waterfall, a scribbled mind monster, the popping pink word MOM surrounded by the word NEVER so tight it looks almost like a solid block is just the tip of what happens on the page.
For strong readers at least 14 to adults, but it is slightly aimed more for the adult readers as most of their titles are for. I am considering this a recommendation as I received an email from Liz of Noise Street Books advertising it.