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A review by amym84
The Last Goodbye by Fiona Lucas
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
Anna is still grieving the death of her husband Spencer. Though it's been just over three years and her closest friends and family are encouraging Anna to put herself out there again, she simply can't. That's why on New Year's Eve, desperate for that connection she misses so much, Anna finds herself dialing Spencer's mobile phone just to listen to his voicemail message. Except, this time, someone picks up. Thinking she was under some kind of cloud of grief, Anna hangs up. But when it happens again a couple of months later in another overwhelming moment of sadness, Anna decides to call the number again convinced that she hallucinated the person on the other end. But no, Anna wasn't hallucinating, someone else has been assigned Spencer's old phone number. Curious, Anna begins to confide in the stranger and eventually begins to come out of the shell she's formed around herself since Spencer's death.
On the other end of the phone, Brody is just as shocked by the woman randomly calling his number in the middle of the night. But Brody, like Anna, is dealing with his own grief, something that has caused him to retreat almost entirely from society.
As Brody and Anna embark on this tentative friendship, they both discover again what it truly means to be alive. Both the joys and the sorrows and what's really worth fighting for.
Listening to the audiobook of The Last Goodbye I thought that Antonia Beamish did a wonderful job with the narration. Really giving each character - though especially Anna and Brody - their own distinct voice. Really giving nuance to the vulnerabilities of each character, but keeping things from drifting too far into the maudlin.
On that note, I feel like The Last Goodbye is one of the best examples of the varying forms of grief that I've read in quite awhile. I think that Fiona Lucas does a fantastic job of giving taking us on this journey with Anna and Brody and seeing how their grief differs yet also the points where it is the same. Not only grief itself but the actual act of grieving.
When the story starts Anna is still cocooned in her own loss and we're seeing her very early stages of emerging. While Brody has been living with his loss for quite sometime more, but he's let it kind of overshadow his day-to-day life to the point where simple interactions with people are nonexistent.
I kind of liked how we see Anna's grief clearly. We understand immediately what has happened. Whereas with Brody we're not given the full picture right away. We, like Brody, have to work up to the point where we hear his whole story. It's like we experience the growth with the character and I think this makes it all the more rewarding when he's finally at that stage where he can talk about his past with Anna. It shows a depth to their forged relationship.
I know that books that deal with these kind of topics can feel heavy at times. I myself often hesitate to pick up something that I feel is going to delve too much into the desolation of loss. The Last Goodbye certainly has those moments, along with plenty of heartbreak, but it was also full of so much hope that outweighed much of that sense of helplessness that accompanies those moments in life in which we have no control. I think seeing both Anna and Brody take back some of that control, to make the conscious effort to continue to move forward and forming that connection with one another are the shining moments of the book. That they are both fully supported in their grief, but also supported in moving out of that grief.
Overall, I was so happily surprised by this book, this story. It's the first book I've read by Fiona Lucas, but I'll definitely be on the lookout to see what comes next.
*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
On the other end of the phone, Brody is just as shocked by the woman randomly calling his number in the middle of the night. But Brody, like Anna, is dealing with his own grief, something that has caused him to retreat almost entirely from society.
As Brody and Anna embark on this tentative friendship, they both discover again what it truly means to be alive. Both the joys and the sorrows and what's really worth fighting for.
Listening to the audiobook of The Last Goodbye I thought that Antonia Beamish did a wonderful job with the narration. Really giving each character - though especially Anna and Brody - their own distinct voice. Really giving nuance to the vulnerabilities of each character, but keeping things from drifting too far into the maudlin.
On that note, I feel like The Last Goodbye is one of the best examples of the varying forms of grief that I've read in quite awhile. I think that Fiona Lucas does a fantastic job of giving taking us on this journey with Anna and Brody and seeing how their grief differs yet also the points where it is the same. Not only grief itself but the actual act of grieving.
When the story starts Anna is still cocooned in her own loss and we're seeing her very early stages of emerging. While Brody has been living with his loss for quite sometime more, but he's let it kind of overshadow his day-to-day life to the point where simple interactions with people are nonexistent.
I kind of liked how we see Anna's grief clearly. We understand immediately what has happened. Whereas with Brody we're not given the full picture right away. We, like Brody, have to work up to the point where we hear his whole story. It's like we experience the growth with the character and I think this makes it all the more rewarding when he's finally at that stage where he can talk about his past with Anna. It shows a depth to their forged relationship.
I know that books that deal with these kind of topics can feel heavy at times. I myself often hesitate to pick up something that I feel is going to delve too much into the desolation of loss. The Last Goodbye certainly has those moments, along with plenty of heartbreak, but it was also full of so much hope that outweighed much of that sense of helplessness that accompanies those moments in life in which we have no control. I think seeing both Anna and Brody take back some of that control, to make the conscious effort to continue to move forward and forming that connection with one another are the shining moments of the book. That they are both fully supported in their grief, but also supported in moving out of that grief.
Overall, I was so happily surprised by this book, this story. It's the first book I've read by Fiona Lucas, but I'll definitely be on the lookout to see what comes next.
*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders