Last Words

by Leanne Baugh

Overview

Sixteen-year-old Claire is walking across Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver when a young man approaches. He's laughing and talking on his cellphone. Then, when they get close, he reaches out, hands her his phone, says, "I'm sorry," — then climbs over the railing and jumps. This is the shockingly vivid first scene of Leanne Baugh's young adult novel, Last Words, a moment that profoundly changes Claire's life as she searches for an explanation to this mysterious suicide.

In the end, Claire's investigation becomes an assertion of life, rather than a mourning over death. Pivotal to the story is Claire meeting with Kiki, a young cancer patient whose determined passion for life inspires her to embrace the everyday. Then there's Claire's sister Belle, who has Down's syndrome and is a steady reminder that life is messy but full of possibilities. This profound novel is rich in diverse characters that illustrate what it is to live fully in this world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780889955769
Publisher:	Red Deer Press
Publication date:	02/01/2020
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	5.19(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Leanne Baugh is a TV and film script writer who has turned her talents to fiction. She is the author of The Story of My Face. Leanne lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Editorial Reviews

01/31/2020

Gr 7–10—Claire Winters witnesses a suicide on the Lion's Gate Bridge one afternoon as she's out taking pictures. The boy, Will, apologizes to her before handing her his phone and jumping to his death. Claire tries to reckon with the tragedy, but struggles with the admission that she's been deeply scarred by this event. The book follows Claire's journey to uncover the mystery behind Will's death, and the people she meets along the way. Life lessons handed down from friends, family members, and community leaders—through poetry, touches of mysticism, and paranormal readings—are unnatural and add little. The story jumps around a lot, while various characters blend together. There are many clichés, dated tropes, and unnecessary plot diversions. With the book's heavy-handed message and superficial characters, it's hard to sympathize with Claire's struggle. VERDICT There are many books about suicide that handle the topic with more sensitivity and compassion. —Erica Coonelly, Monroe Township Middle School, NJ

School Library Journal

2019-12-08
Tackles suicide with lots of quoted poetry but without actually being poetic.

Sixteen-year-old Claire is taking photographs from the Lions Gate Bridge in her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia, when a handsome, young stranger jumps over the railing. Only Claire is near enough to hear him apologize as he hands her his phone and jumps. Seeing Will Szabo die by suicide sends Claire into a state of confusion and trauma. Claire begins to disengage from friends and family, so haunted by Will's piercing blue eyes that she is driven to investigate his full story. Along the way, Claire befriends a cancer patient in hospice, spends time with a widow who speaks to ghosts, is counseled by a father whose young daughter drowned, and learns from a friend who engages in taxidermy. The plot flits through tarot and tea leaf readings, Kurt Cobain's suicide note, Buddhist chants, as well as the question of whether life as a quadriplegic is worth living. First-time novelist Baugh approaches death with a series of thoughtfully researched vignettes, but picking through a stranger's suicide allows for exhaustive exploration without breaching the surface of real loss and grief. The story is filled with convenient characters who quote poetry and provide philosophical approaches for Claire to consider. Most characters are white; Claire's older sister has Down syndrome, and her boyfriend's mother is bisexual.

You can't shake the sense that your guidance counselor assigned this. (Fiction. 13-16)

Kirkus Reviews