The first time August met Jane was on the subway. Specifically, the Q train in Brooklyn. She was in a hurry to get to class and had just spilled coffee all over herself. Jane saw her and gave her a scarf to wear to cover the stain.
August had just recently moved to Brooklyn. She had found yet another college, to see if this one would help her feel more at home in the world. She found a room to rent, with quirky but interesting roommates. One of her roommates, Myla, helped her get a job waitressing at their favorite restaurant (really, a favorite of most of Brooklyn), Billy’s House of Pancakes, despite her having no experience serving. And then she met Jane.
After seeing Jane (“Subway Girl”), a Chinese-American punk rock loving lesbian who is a sort of subway angel, sharing kindness and happiness on the Q line whenever she can, August can’t believe her luck in seeing her again. And again. And again. At first August (known to Jane as “Coffee Girl”) thinks they must have the same schedule, since they show up on the same train every day. But then she realizes that not only are they on the same train every day, they’re always in the same car. And August is smart enough to figure out that there is something not quite right about that.
She’s not one to believe in psychics, but her roommate Niko is a psychic, so August decides to ask his opinion. Has she spent her subway rides flirting with a ghost? Nope, he says. Jane is definitely not a ghost, but they’re not entirely sure what she is.
August decides to investigate, to find out as much as she can about Jane, to see what’s really going on with her. And she’s not doing it because she has feelings for Jane. Because she definitely doesn’t have feelings for Jane. She can’t have feelings for Jane. (Except she does have feelings for Jane, no matter what she tells herself or does to try to make the feelings go away.)
The weeks melt by, August balancing her classes and shifts at Billy’s, her time on the train with Jane and her time with her new friends. There are her roommates Myla, Niko, and Wes. The gang who work at Billy’s. And the drag queen Annie Depressant, who comes by for pancakes after her show. And there is Jane. There is always Jane.
As August digs deeper into Jane’s past, and Jane opens up about her secrets, they become closer. And as they become closer, Jane remembers more of her past. Eventually, August figures out that Jane is stuck on the Q line of the subway. She’s not dead, but she’s not fully alive either. It’s like she got stuck in time, stuck in place, and it’s August’s unique energy that helps her figure out when it happened and how. But is there a way to break Jane loose from the subway? Or will August spend her life being in love with a woman stuck on the Q line?
One Last Stop is a beautiful, strange, lovely, magical, astounding love story that transcends time and makes you believe in soulmates. From author Casey McQuiston, who brought us Red, White, and Royal Blue, this story is electric. The characters sparkle, the conversations feel entirely real, and the place is as magnetic as the language that draws you closer and closer not only to the heart of the New York City but to your own heart, filling in the cracks with gold paint like Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics with gold or silver dust mixed in lacquer.
I got to listen to One Last Stop on audio, narrated by Natalie Naudus, and I thought it was the perfect marriage of story and narrator. Naudus brought this beautiful story to life, each character with a personality that shone through with her tone, pitch, and inflection. There are some pretty steamy scenes in there, so I recommend you not listen while driving your car during those scenes, but the rest of the book can be enjoyed in your car, at work, at home, while cleaning or crafting or whatever you do while listening to audiobooks.
I was blown away by this book. The writing is beautiful, the characters are people I would love to hang out with in real life, and the depth that McQuiston is able to accomplish with this love story is admirable. I especially enjoyed how much history she was able to imbue this story with, from the struggles that the gay community faced in the 1970s to the punk rock scene in New York’s CBGB. The riots, the insults, the violence and on through the devastation of AIDS, the history of the LGBTQ+ community is filled with painful realities and individuals who faced all the indignities and tried to find healing for themselves and those they loved, and somehow, McQuiston was able to share a surprising amount of that history through Jane’s lifetime. Basically, One Last Stop is just a heck of a ride, and we are all the better for having bought a token.
A copy of the audio book for One Last Stop was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.
