I can't write a proper review of this, quite frankly, amazing book. So many twists and turns, motions and emotions, and things that just keep progressing and happening, even when it feels like it's repeating itself and going on a loop like any trainline. Or a time loop on a trainline.
Twenty-three-year-old August Landry has just moved to New York City in the dead of winter; moved into an apartment inhabited by an eccentric (and queer AF) cast of characters. She works to finally get her college degree; starts working at an old but homely 24-hour all-American pancake diner (also owned by queer AF people; BTW, August is bisexual and fits right in for reasons other than that); and works to leave her past behind, specifically her obsessive mother's baggage (her detective skills and instincts have been ingrained in her throughout her life).The awkward, cynical and straightforward August takes the subway to the places she goes every day. On her first underground trip on a disastrous first productive day in NY, she meets Jane, a beautiful, mysterious lesbian punk rebel in a black leather jacket and ripped jeans, and with a bag full of cassette tapes. Jane Su.
Or so she thinks.
Jane is in her mid-twenties...and she is literally from the 70s.
For, in a bizarre, phenomenal turn in the natural order of things and in a rip in the spacetime continuum, she has become unstuck in time, and stuck on different subway trains in New York, in different times throughout the decades up to the present. What's more, this young woman with all the aplomb August is dazzled by can't remember anything about herself, other than her 70s tastes and awesome, all-inspiring personality. Her name is on a label on her jacket.
Jane is always there when August is on a subway.
This is where the mystery, the investigation, the introspections, the American LBGTQ and race history lessons, and the beautiful romance, begin.
'One Last Stop' got me out of what felt like a years-long reading slump. It is imperfect and a bit messy in some pieces, but gosh darn it, it is brilliant. It is brilliantly written, with loads of kinetic energy, original ideas, colour, and truly, boldly, dramatically and dynamically unforgettable characters that feel so human and real they practically leap off the pages. Herein lie trans characters, drag queens, drag queen parties, drag queen fundraisers, and an eclectic range of races and sexualities. It's mesmerising and electric. So lived in.
Speaking of, it is all set in New York City, and while I have never been (I was going to in 2020 before Covid hit), and some of the phrasing and terms confused me (guess I'm more of a sheltered and ignorant Brit than I realised), I just went with it, and was fully absorbed into the atmosphere, making me feel like I was really in NY in 'One Last Stop'.
The pop culture and historic references of the 70s and onwards gives the book an added layer of nostalgia, charm, wonder, and also melancholia and tragedy. 'One Last Stop' has all the emotions, and they pretty much all hit hard and in the right, magical places.
As I've said it's not perfect. There are un-bothersome-yet-noteworthy contrivances, which due to spoilers I won't mention here. And the main problem I've found with the representation is that the bespectacled, chubby and Caucasian August becomes sort of a White Saviour to the Chinese American Jane; though at least August has help from her mostly all POC friends, and the beautiful-and-impossible-yet-possible couple end up working together on equal footing, to save Jane from being a time anomaly and getting her out of the subway. Plus Jane is an amazing and three-dimensional person in her own right.
(Another huge point to the book: when regaining her memories, Jane remembers having had around twenty girlfriends or hookups in her life, and she is never, ever shamed for it. Great job, Casey McQuiston! Thank you!)
Oh, fuck the flaws - 'One Last Stop' contains practically everything, in elements and emotions. And humanity, and its myriad of variables, differences, diversity, inclusivity, and experiences. It's not only the sci-fi and fantasy stuff that are its selling points.
It is not YA. It is an adult novel, and the very best kind.
Casey McQuiston blew it out of the park already with her debut 'Red, White & Royal Blue', and she does it once again with 'One Last Stop'. I can seriously see it being adapted into a Netflix movie.
'One Last Stop' - a contemporary novel that made me love reading again. Made me believe in the power of good stories again. Made me believe in hope and humanity again.
It made me believe in love, and the power of love, again.
Final Score: 4/5
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