Book 241 of 350 ~ 2025

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I love graphic novels, especially the memoirs, or in this case, an almost memoir :)

Humour meets reflections meets discovery.

I received a complimentary copy of the ebook. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Alex Krokus’s graphic novel is a heartfelt, funny meditation on grief, memory, and fatherhood. Told through whimsical animal illustrations Alex as a raccoon, his dad as an owl. It captures a year of imagined conversations with his late father.
The result is tender, quirky, and quietly profound.
A must read for anyone who’s ever wished for one more talk.

Loss is hard and confusing, so any glimpse into how someone deals with their loss can offer clarity to someone out there. Krokus is vulnerable and real in ways a story about loss needs to be. This book helped me and it can help others too.

A lighthearted farewell to his father, Alex delves into his daily routine while portraying him navigating the memories of his father. I did find the character depictions interesting. Why the animals?


Thank you NetGalley and Chronicle Books for giving me the opportunity to read this!

Talking to My Father's Ghost is a reflective graphic novel that shows a son's journey to accepting the loss of his father by hanging out with his father's ghost. Told with all of the characters as animals, this is a really great way to showcase the process of grief and the fact that it isn't linear. I think this book would help anyone going through a loss and is a cute way to learn about how to look back on the good and funny times along with the sad.

My father died recently and then this showed up on NetGalley, I knew I had to read it. Every single page was exactly how I felt at the time and everything I have felt since. Grief is not a linear process and this comic made me feel like someone else understood what I’m currently going through.

Graphic memoirs are some of my favorite graphic novels to read. This one was particularly touching. I loved the connection between the author’s father’s childhood comics, the author’s childhood comics cowritten with his father, and this comic being written about his father. The exploration of grief was so raw and real. By the end, I felt like I knew the family, too. How beautiful is it to be remembered for everything you are? Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Talking to my Father's Ghost is a very heartfelt comic. It felt like a cozy warm hug reading. This graphic novel is about a family that lost a father to cancer. There is just so much love in this book.

I loved how the main character was asking others how they cope with loss. Everyone handles grief in their own way. I absolutely adored this wise father owl ghost. He reminds me of my father that passed away 10yrs ago. I would have loved to tak to my father's ghost. I have so much that I never told him. In this story, Alex tells his father a lot of the things that he never got to tell him too. It is a beautiful way for processing the grief and working through accepting such a difficult loss.

Thank you to NetGalley, Author,Alex Krokus, and Chronicle Books for this ARC.

Alex Krokus is known for his style of 4- square comic strip cartoons with watercoloring style coloring. Everyone is animals with little reason except that Alex and his mom are raccoons, his dad was a snowy owl, and his brother is a bear. As the title says, it starts with his mom, his brother, and him in a hospital as his father dies. Then at the funeral his dad's ghost sneaks in. The humor is dark throughout. His Dad is with him for most of the book as he reminisces, spending time with his mom and other family members. Towards the end the brother decide to go to a plot of land his Dad had in the desert, It's a bittersweet and funny graphic memoir.

DNF at 30%. As someone who lost his father at 17 years old, I have high expectations when it comes to stories like this one, but it was so casual and laid-back that I didn't care about the characters, the plot, or how things unfolded. It was a collection of vignettes where things just happened and people accepted them as such,

The art style was unique and eye-catching. I loved all the watercolors. This story is told in vignettes over time while grieving his father's death, and it was impactful and succinct - a very comforting read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Chronicle Books for a copy. This is out now!

“Talking with my Dead Father” was a well written story. Let me start off with what I loved. I loved the style of art the author chose to use to create their illustrations in their story. You could really tell that they were passionate about creating each design. The story was well written and I found myself not wanting to put the book down.

While this was a great book, I did feel like it was missing some details. I found myself wishing I got to know more about the characters and wishing some of the scenes had more details.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Alex Krokus and Chronicle Books for this digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This emotionally moving graphic novel reminds the reader to hold close our memories of those we've lost as they can still impart wisdom to us if we do. Almost anyone who has grown up in a dysfunctional family can relate to a young person trying to make their way through the world while attempting to glean meaning from their childhood. As a result, Talking to My Father's Ghost is relevant to a lot of readers; however, although teenagers and twenty-somethings could read and enjoy this graphic novel, I believe some of the deeper messaging needs readers who are mid-thirties and up to fully grasp.

Talking to My Father's Ghost was an interesting exploration into how one explores grief, in this specific case the authors handling of the passing of his father. I found the short snippet style to be easy to follow along with and it made each 'chapter' feel like an episode in the life of Alex. I liked how the story went between time frames and showed when his father was alive and when he was a ghost. I must say though I wasn't really a fan of his father, he came off harsh and stand offish. The humor never landed for me, it was a bit too dry and never really felt like it was supposed to be humorous. It's easy to read and quick to get through. The art style is easy on the eyes but nothing really memorable, though I did like that everyone was an animal of some sort, it was a cute choice.

Thanks Chronicle Books for providing me with a copy.

Talking to My Father's Ghost was an emotional and beautiful graphic novel explaining how the author coped after their father's sudden death. The story follows the emotions the author felt, the interactions with their family, and the process of grief in their own way. After their father died, they began to see their father's ghost everywhere they went, and began talking to him and learning more about him than they knew when he was alive. I have been lucky to have not experienced a similar loss, but reading this was emotional for me as a reader feeling what the author felt,

Oh, this was so good. This is based on the author's real experiences dealing with grief after his father died, and you can tell. In the graphic novel, Alex keeps running into his father in different places and talking to him about everything.
I lost a lot of people all at once a few years ago and it was like their ghosts were following me around-- not in a bad, scary way, but they'd all been in my life so long I kept expecting to see them and hear from them. Years later, I still want to call my mother every time anything interesting happens.
This was such a wonderful book for me to see how someone else went through this process of letting go of loved ones.

This was a beautiful heartfelt look into grief that was laced with humor. I laughed and I cried, and it was a glimpse into my own grief with losing my own father.

Alex Krokus's Talking to My Father's Ghost: An Almost True Story is a poignant and surprisingly humorous exploration of grief, family, and the enduring connection between a son and his late father. Krokus masterfully blends memoir with a touch of the fantastical, inviting readers into his unique coping mechanism: regular conversations with his father's apparition.
​What could easily descend into maudlin territory is instead handled with remarkable wit and an endearing self-awareness. Krokus navigates the absurdity of talking to a ghost alongside the very real pain of loss, creating a narrative that feels both deeply personal and universally relatable. The "conversations" themselves are a highlight, revealing not just Krokus's inner turmoil but also offering glimpses into the complex, loving, and sometimes frustrating relationship he shared with his dad.
​Talking to My Father's Ghost is more than just a story about grief; it's a testament to the ways we continue to process, remember, and even evolve our relationships with those who are no longer physically with us. It's a quick, compelling read that offers comfort and a fresh perspective on the messy, beautiful business of being human.

What if, after your father's death, he just appeared (definitely as a ghost) and you could have all the un-had conversations? Alex Krokus writes (and illustrates) a tender and honest look at the death of a parent in this graphic novel based on his own father's death. Personally, there were elements of this story that were near identical to my own experience with the loss of my own father.

I loved this a lot more than I was expecting to! The story does a great job of capturing what grief feels like, but also being done in such a humorous way. I loved the way the story was told trough a series of scenes and snipets of different people's memories. I also loved the way it was illustrated, very simple, yet lovely to look at! Overall, I think I would recommend this book to just about anyone, as it's a good read for anyone who's ever lost someone, and hasn't everyone?

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-ARC.