Talking to My Father's Ghost: An Almost True Story

by Alex Krokus

“Shortly after his funeral, my dad started haunting me . . . and it’s been a delight!” —Alex



Inspired by real-life experience, Alex Krokus's graphic novel is a heartfelt and humorous story of losing a parent and getting to know him better after his passing.

Set over the course of a single year, this book follows Alex and his father’s ghost as they stroll along winter beaches, camp in rattlesnake-infested deserts, and share countless diner meals together. Between fielding fatherly lectures on the importance of doing his taxes, how to properly shovel the driveway, and why he should always tip twenty percent, Alex tries to figure out what he needs to say to his dad. 



Is this a good time for him to come out as bisexual? Or maybe he should ask his dad why he loved drinking so much when it nearly destroyed his health? With help from his mom, his brother, a whole cast of extended family members, and, of course, the ghost himself, Alex tries to figure out how to say goodbye.



In the tradition of Roz Chast's Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? and Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, this graphic novel uses humor to examine family foibles and eccentricities as well as the experience of losing a parent. Relatable and heartfelt, it speaks to the universal experience of grief and how it ripples through a community.

HEALING THROUGH Told in a series of vignettes with illustrated panels, this graphic narrative evokes the nostalgia of Sunday comic strips. Alex casts his family and friends as anthropomorphic animal characters, lending a playful irreverence to their most serious conversations. His insightful and honest exploration of grief and memory is punctuated with moments of levity and warmth, making this a cathartic, funny, and uplifting read.



EXCITING COMICS This is the first long-form graphic novel from cartoonist Alex Krokus. His webcomic, Loud & Smart, follows the mundane misadventures of raccoon Alex and his millennial friends as they navigate their arguably "adult" lives in the big city. In Talking to My Father's Ghost, Krokus brings his trademark humor to new narrative terrain, guiding readers through big, scary feelings with expert comedic timing and refreshing honesty.

Perfect  


Fans of Roz Chast, Sarah Anderson, Tyler Feder, and Michelle Zauner


Anyone looking for a funny, insightful book about grief, memory, and family relationships


Readers of Alex Krokus's comic strip series, Loud & Smart


People who enjoy unconventional ghost stories

Genres: Graphic Novels, Memoir, Comics, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Family, Death

208 pages, Paperback

Published August 5, 2025

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talking to My Father's Ghost
by Alex Krokus
This is a very touching graphic novel about a family that ends up losing the father to cancer. The main characters, besides the father, who comes back as a ghost, are the two boys and the mother. There is a large extended family, too.
Although the core of the story is grief, the author skillfully places appropriate humor throughout.
At the end of the funeral, Alex, one of the sons, sees his dad's ghost. Later, the ghost is around frequently, and they talk. Alex talks to all the family, but he is the only one who sees and speaks to the ghost.
The book shows how different people handle grief, and everyone may not respond the same way. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. There is also help if needed.
This is an entertaining and heartwarming, but also much needed book for those going through losing a loved one.
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this tremendous book!

[TheConnieFox · Rating 5 out of 5]

♥ My Overall Thoughts ♥

I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did! The author did an amazing job with this heartfelt book. I really enjoyed the illustrations, the family photos at the end and how this entire book was presented! This is in the biographies and memoirs, comics, graphic novels, manga genres! The illustrations really brought me back to my childhood. I loved reading Garfield comics, those were my favorite! I really enjoyed how the author twists this book into a humor one, even though it is dealing with such a heavy and depressing topic.

♥ Book Synopsis & Rating ♥

This is a short story about a guy named Alex who talks to his father’s ghost, after his father’s passing. This is almost a true story that takes us on a journey about love, loss grief and happiness at the end of the tunnel. The book is set over a year and explains everything that Alex had experienced. Alex wonders about telling his ghostly father things, like is this the right time to tell him that he is really a bisexual. It is full of wit and laughter, as Alex processes the passing of his father. Be sure to read the content warnings. I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars!

♥ Thank You ♥

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.

♥ Who I think would enjoy this book ♥

I think people that like reading illustrations on a dark topic would enjoy this book. It brings light to something that is very emotional and heartbreaking.

♥ Publication Date ♥

This book is expected to be published on August 5, 2025!

♥ Quick Review ♥

👻 Son sees his father as a ghost
✔️ Comics & illustrations
👻 Witty & Humorous
✔️ Loss / Grief
👻 Almost a True Story
✔️ Biography/ Memoir
👻 Emotional / Sad
✔️ One Year Time Span Book

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 • ˚《

❥ ୨⎯ Connie ⎯୧ ❥

ツ౨ৎ

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alex Krokus works through the grief following the death of his father by imagining his father as a ghost who talks to him as he stumbles through life.

Since Krokus and his brother shared their father's brand of dark, ball-busting humor this loving tribute comes off much funnier than one might expect an act of mourning to be.

[Milly · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing “mostly true” graphic novel memoir. Krokus surprised me with how much I enjoyed this book. I had so much fun with each chapter I read. Absolutely entertaining look at grief that explores how each of us grieve in different ways.

The story takes place over a year in little slice of life chapters that tend to end in some funny anecdote or line. As fun and hilarious as it is, Alex is also trying to navigate serious emotions like his grief throughout the story, remembering the best about his father as well as the “woulda coulda shouldas” that we all experience. It puts all those tough emotions out in an easy an enjoyable way. The bones of this book are perfectly well-structured so you’ll finish this book in no time without any narrative hiccups.

I liked the watercolor art and I know readers will enjoy it. Something about it is very nostalgic for an early 2000s’ kid.

Art: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Memoir:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Talking to my Father’s Ghost comes out August 5th 2025.
Thank you to NetGalley for having an advanced ecopy of this book available for an honest review.

[Dessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has such lovely pacing — a graphic novel told in two-page panel comics, each of which shares a rhythm. When I teach poetry I tell my students that the end of a poem is supposed to be revelatory, to change something in the way the reader sees things, and in that way poems can be a lot like jokes: they have a punchline, or, at least the same rhythm as a punchline does. Anyway, that’s how these comics feel — a lilt, a dependable tender-funny last panel, and the next comic a continuation but also a departure. This pacing matches grief, I think. And the watercolours are lovely.

[Elizabeth A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This "almost true" graphic memoir explores grieving the death of the author's father via slice of life vignettes. It's lovely and humorous and poignant. I really liked the illustration style and how the author's relationship with his father did not end at death.

[Kai · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Mariana Fabian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really really loved this book and the art style of Grokus. As someone who struggles with their relationship or lack thereof with their father, this healed me in a way I can’t describe. Quite beautiful and poignant when it came to representation of grief and its complexities. I want to read more from Alex for sure.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This moving sort of memoir is the story of the author dealing with the grief after the death of his father. His father haunts him throughout the story, as he tries to find out why he seems to be taking the death harder than those around him.

His mother seeks out a spiritualist to tell her what to do, though, as the ghost says, I didn’t go to that woman.

It is both funny and sad at the same time. The story takes place over a whole year, as he tries to find what the whole meaning is. They go to some land out in Arizona that has been passed down to them, but has no direct access road. He talks to friends and relatives, to see how they have dealt with death, and of course he talks to his dead dad.

For those who follow the author's webcomic “Loud & Smart” this is very much in that vein, the personal take on life in general.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out the 5th of August 2025.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Talking to my father's ghost" presents an interesting blend of slice-of-life elements and the difficult process of dealing with grief. While the concept is strong, I found some of the extended passages focusing on everyday life didn't quite connect with me emotionally. Perhaps with a stronger sense of investment in those moments, they could have enhanced the overall narrative.

That being said, the scenes involving the father's ghost offered touching moments of wisdom and a comforting portrayal of farewell. And the brother, and roadtrip idea, all work well enough.

Ultimately, my feelings are somewhat divided. This is a short book that could very well resonate deeply with readers on an emotional level, even if it didn't fully achieve that for me.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blending the existential angst of BoJack Horseman with the gallows humor of Roz Chast’s Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, this graphic novel tackles grief and family baggage with surprising tenderness. It’s funny, raw, and moving. Alex—the most sentimental raccoon you’ll ever meet—narrates with lots of heart. And I found myself genuinely sad not to have met Jeff, his dad, who comes across like someone I’d want to have a beer with, despite his family’s disapproval. Great cover, too.

[Sarah Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Diana Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

As advertised, this was a heartfelt and humorous look at a son coping with his father's death and all that brings- including a road trip through Arizona with his brother.

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an Advance Reader's Copy. Publication date - August 5, 2025

[kavreb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting the year with two books about dying parents is a choice, and not one in my new year’s resolutions - if anything, it goes against trying to live life less anxiously this year.

But I found this book to be as interesting to consider from the perspective of both a child and a parent as the other one. When Roz Chast, the author of Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant?, spent years tackling the slow process of aging and dying of her parents, in here death comes almost suddenly and way too early, and Alex Krokus is left spending much of the book trying to grapple with it. When Chast found little to say to her parents and her book was mainly concerned with her difficulties in managing the practicalities, here the father is introduced after death as a ghost so that Krokus could say all the things he hadn’t managed before. So basically - when Chast found herself tongue-tied at her parents’ deaths, Krokus had way too much still left to say. As harsh as it might seem, but for Chast the deaths in the book are a freedom while for Krokus it’s a loss, and I have a sad feeling that it’s not only because of the age difference between the dying.

These are not the only difference (and I am sorry I keep harping about both of the books, but my experience of the second was inevitably coloured by the first) - Chast confesses that she didn’t really know how to deal with any of it psychologically, and she makes no seeming attempts to help herself deal, while Krokus spends much of the time trying to do exactly that. There are several pages where he turns to his family members and the people close to his father, searching for an answer as to how to deal with grief. The answers are plenty different, but several speak to a far healthier psychology than that seen in Chast’s book. In a way, it made me sadder for Chast - while she might find some solace and peace after the ordeal is over and she can return to her regular life, Krokus might end up healthier because he doesn’t try to ignore the reality of what’s there and what is not (that is presuming his usual anxieties don’t undermine).

When it comes to art, I prefer Chast’s free-wheeling style though, mixing typography, photography, and drawings that rarely follow any specific outline. Krokus on the other hand keeps things very structured - each turn of the page opens a new two-page comic with its own title and a short story within. They rarely stand completely alone, but the format makes them feel like they almost could. In a way, I found it limiting, because everything had to be forced into this structure. While certain limitations can be freeing to the artist (because you’re more capable of concentrating on what, one hopes, really matters), this limitation makes me feel too constrained. Though this might be an unfair complaint because I do not know which limitations were internal and which external.

I did end up more touched by Chast’s book. Perhaps its practical misery spoke to my darker side (that does sometimes like to dominate), or perhaps I just know too well myself the psychological failings of Chast.

But to say that I didn’t resonate with this at all would not be true either. Perhaps Talking to My Father’s Ghost just suffers from coming after an especially powerful and unfortunately similar book. I did like Krokus’s attempts to actually deal with the grief, not to just push it down and overcome it. I might have had problems with the structure, but within it Krokus manages to create moments of beauty, both visual and psychological. There’s some humour that worked (though also some that fell so flat I just sighed and turned the page), and most of all, I came away feeling perhaps a bit more hopeful than with the other book. Life’s not just about waiting for the bad things to end but figuring out how to live the best side-by-side.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent, gently comic book about grief and recovery after losing a father. Alex Krokus has fun portraying his family as various animals who all come at death from different angles. Specifically, Krokus is most interested in their opinion on ghosts since he seems to be seeing his father's ghost everywhere. (I'm guessing this the "almost true" part from the subtitle.)

The initial chapters go through the funeral and open-bar after party, then a few listless chapters as Krokus tries to find a way through grief, then a final few chapters featuring a road trip with Krokus's brother, who is almost entirely opposite in terms of personality. The book nicely breaks down everyone's relationship with Krokus's father - especially interesting is how everyone sees something different in the dead man.

I say "chapters" above, but that's not really how the book is broken up. Each two-page spread is a mini-comic, often with a punchline at the end. Until we get to the road trip, Talking to My Father's Ghost feels a bit disjointed, like a repackaging of random daily comics. Still, it never lost my interest, occasionally made me chuckle, and offered some good lessons on grief.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A touching memoir of a cartoonist’s late father, and with the subject matter being grief it was light-hearted too. It starts off with a unique and unusual looking family tree as each member of the family was a different animal. Set up in chapters, Alex tells his story over a year’s timespan and demonstrates the five stages of grief very well. His father is metaphorically portrayed as the owl which symbolizes a wise one, and each chapter Alex grows and heals. I really enjoyed the budding friendship he had with his brother, and the roadtrip to Arizona to find the land their father owned was sweet. Towards the end of the book, family photos are provided, so it was nice to put the face to a name.

[Raven Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

While there were a few bumps for me, overall this is a fun, funny and clever way of talking about grief. As we go through Alex's year after his fathers death, we see how he wanted to connect, how he could have and should have with his dad. But of course: Would have, could have, should haves......Yet, he finds a way to connect to him and the rest of his (living) family instead. Read via a reader copy.

[Nichole Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Dan P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I've been reading a lot about grief lately. But then I realize no actually it's just that people write about things that affect them and death is one of the most affecting things there is, so everyone ultimately writes about it. The best part of this comic about a man losing his dad is imagining how much his dad would have loved the book 🥲

[Nate]

I can only imagine the difficulty in writing (and drawing) a book about grief over a dead parent, let alone a book on the subject that’s filled with humor, absurdity, and mundanity. Alex Krokus manages it. Beautiful.

[Claire Mosley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this not only emotionally affecting but also very funny. There were certain parts that got me in my feels about my own father, my own family - and the idea of what we pass down to our children.

And that sounds deep but also there is a lot of great humor here so I would recommend if you like your comics with a little haha boohoo in there.

[Cecily Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A darkly funny, touching story of anticipatory grief and the emotional aftermath of a son losing his father. A funny and honest family dynamic told with charm, wit, and very cute illustrations.

[Regine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moving.

[Buffy Cautela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible! Me and Alex share a lot in common. I feel so seen by this graphic novel. Grief can be all encompassing, and I love the approach that Alex takes to tell his perspective on it. This is a must read for fans of graphic memoirs.

[Tim Ubels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Might be the most sincere, wry and purposeful version of the "cartoonist writing autofiction dealing with grief" genre.

4.5/5

[Tory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex Krokus doesn’t miss.

[Itme · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the book as much as I did, but I found myself becoming deeply immersed in each memory and story shared. It’s a powerful graphic novel about dealing with grief. I was initially on the fence about the art style, but it gradually grew on me after a while

[Jamie Yonker]

had more synchronicities with this book than i would have expected which is what so many of us grieving folks are looking for … a balm of sorts.

thanks for making this comic, it’s so important to archive our loved ones <3

[Patricia Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the vignette style Alex chose to write his story. It made me laugh and tear up.

[Sarah Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

👻 Talking to My Father’s Ghost: An Almost True Story by Alex Krokus

A hauntingly beautiful graphic memoir where grief and humor dance between the panels, revealing how death can become the deepest conversation.

✨ Review
**🎨 Visual Storytelling Magic: Blends raw, sketch-like art with poetic narration—each page feels like a scrapbook of memories and what-ifs.

**😂 Grief with Grin: Tackles loss with unexpected wit (think: dad jokes from the afterlife), proving healing isn’t always solemn.

**🕰️ Time-Bending Intimacy: Collapses past and present—childhood anecdotes and adult regrets coexist like ghosts in the same room.

**💔 Universal Yet Personal: While deeply specific (Polish-American family quirks!), its themes of unfinished business resonate widely.

**🌈 Cathartic Creativity: Turns mourning into art—readers may finish wanting to doodle their own ghosts.

⭐ Star Breakdown (0–5)
Emotional Impact: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) (A gut-punch that somehow leaves you smiling.)
Artistic Voice: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.8/5) (Like Lynda Barry meets Fun Home—messy and magnificent.)
Originality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5/5) (Refreshingly avoids grief memoir clichés.)
Pacing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) (A few transitions feel abrupt, but maybe grief is like that.)
Re-read Value: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) (New details emerge like faint whispers on revisit.)
Overall: 4.7/5 - A séance in book form—equal parts laughter, tears, and the eerie sense someone’s reading over your shoulder.

🙏 Thank you to NetGalley and Alex Krokus for the advance review copy. This isn’t just a book—it’s a permission slip to talk to the ghosts you carry. Pair with Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? for another masterclass in illustrated grief.

Note: For fans of graphic memoirs like Persepolis or The Best We Could Do. Keep tissues and a pencil handy.