The Last True Love Story by Brendan Kiely
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just finished reading Brendan Kiely's THE LAST TRUE LOVE STORY, and I am so bowled over that I do not know where to begin. Brendan is the wonderful author of ALL AMERICAN BOYS with Jason Reynolds, a book I truly loved. These are classified as young adult fiction (so is THE GOSPEL OF WINTER, but in the case of this book in particular, this is a book for teens and adults, since it is a love story-about living with loss, and learning to love despite it all.) It is the story about a young boy who has been raised, in part, by his grandfather, who now has Alzheimer's. Hendrix steals his grandpa out of the nursing home to take him on a road trip, so that he can go back East to the place where he first kissed the woman he loved-his wife and Hendrix's grandma, now deceased. He drags Corrina, his friend and designated driver, along for this wild and wacky journey, which is not just about the road, but also about love, loss, race, grief and finally discovery-personal and in terms of love. This wonderful multigenerational story truly proves, in the most poignant of ways, that the only stories that last are the love stories (grandpa's words). I am SO PROUD that Brendan is a graduate of CUNY's MFA program, and that he will be on my young adult panel at AWP. Way to go, Brendan!!!!

View all my reviews