Jane in One Last Stop: Character Analysis

Overview of Jane Su (Biyu Su) in One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston — Character Analysis & Role in the Story, with Themes, Relationships, and Key Questions Answered. Jane is the magnetic, leather-jacketed woman August Landry first encounters on the Q train in the opening chapters of One Last Stop. She appears to be in her twenties, but she has been riding the Q line since the late 1970s, trapped in a time loop after a 1977 blackout surge knocked her onto the third rail. She begins the novel with almost no memory of her life before Pancake Billy's, knowing only her name from the tag on her jacket. Over the course of the story, August helps her recover her past through sensory triggers—food, music, and eventually kisses—while the two fall in love and devise a plan to free her. Jane is simultaneously a mystery, a romance, and a symbol. She represents the queer people history forgot, the ones who lived and loved and were erased from the record. She is also a person who has spent decades in a liminal space, neither fully alive nor dead, waiting for someone to help her anchor to reality. For a broader look at the novel's structure and ending, see the book overview and the ending explained.