THE LAST GOODBYEby D. C. ChambersThe Last Goodbye shows a complex relationship between twenty-five-year-old Sonny Noir, a gay man feeling beaten by the system, and forty-two-year-old Jacqueline Svenson Skylar, a newly transplanted wealthy New York socialite who recently moved to Chicago carrying a lifetime of unhappiness on her shoulders. The Last Goodbye opens with a riveting quadruple homicide at the Miami International Airport on February 13, 1981, which the news media quickly labeled as the ?Friday the 13th Massacre at MIA.? It circles back in time with Sonny telling his life story from his teen years to the day he and Jacqueline witness the unfolding scene at MIA. He searches to find a balance between his love life as a gay man, desperately tries to understand the mounting complications of his friendship with a straight woman whose life has fallen apart, and the struggles of social injustice against the lesbian and gay community he encounters along the way. Through all his ups and downs, he fights to stay true to his own identity. He's not exclusive to surrounding himself with men. He also cherishes the comfort of women as friends. Sonny and Jacqueline find a connection within the first few minutes of meeting while attending The Oak Park School of Hairstyling, even though they come from opposite ends of society and the money spectrum. Sonny is driven and worked hard to achieve a great education to pull himself up from his lower middle-class roots. But after five years in his computer career, he became disheartened and began to lose hope in the American Dream. He encounters many disappointments in his life, but he's a fighter. Sonny and Jacqueline's lives are filled with never-ending trials and tribulations, alcoholism, and cheating. It leaves you asking the question many times over?Why can't they part and go their separate ways leading up to the realization that saying goodbye may be their only way to survive.
