Last Bus to Wisdom: A Novel (Two Medicine Country)
Named a Best Book of the Year by the Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Kirkus Review
The final novel from a great American storyteller.
Donal Cameron is being raised by his grandmother, the cook at the legendary Double W ranch in Ivan Doig’s beloved Two Medicine Country of the Montana Rockies, a landscape that gives full rein to an eleven-year-old’s imagination. But when Gram has to have surgery for “female trouble” in the summer of 1951, all she can think to do is to ship Donal off to her sister in faraway Manitowoc, Wisconsin. There Donal is in for a rude surprise: Aunt Kate–bossy, opinionated, argumentative, and tyrannical—is nothing like her sister. She henpecks her good-natured husband, Herman the German, and Donal can’t seem to get on her good side either.
After one contretemps too many, Kate packs him back to the authorities in Montana on the next Greyhound. But as it turns out, Donal isn’t traveling solo: Herman the German has decided to fly the coop with him. In the immortal American tradition, the pair light out for the territory together, meeting a classic Doigian ensemble of characters and having rollicking misadventures along the way.
Charming, wise, and slyly funny, Last Bus to Wisdom is a last sweet gift from a writer whose books have bestowed untold pleasure on countless readers.
The final novel from a great American storyteller.
Donal Cameron is being raised by his grandmother, the cook at the legendary Double W ranch in Ivan Doig’s beloved Two Medicine Country of the Montana Rockies, a landscape that gives full rein to an eleven-year-old’s imagination. But when Gram has to have surgery for “female trouble” in the summer of 1951, all she can think to do is to ship Donal off to her sister in faraway Manitowoc, Wisconsin. There Donal is in for a rude surprise: Aunt Kate–bossy, opinionated, argumentative, and tyrannical—is nothing like her sister. She henpecks her good-natured husband, Herman the German, and Donal can’t seem to get on her good side either.
After one contretemps too many, Kate packs him back to the authorities in Montana on the next Greyhound. But as it turns out, Donal isn’t traveling solo: Herman the German has decided to fly the coop with him. In the immortal American tradition, the pair light out for the territory together, meeting a classic Doigian ensemble of characters and having rollicking misadventures along the way.
Charming, wise, and slyly funny, Last Bus to Wisdom is a last sweet gift from a writer whose books have bestowed untold pleasure on countless readers.
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Community Reviews
thenextgoodbook.com
Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig
450 pages
What’s it about?
Donal is 11- years- old and lives on a ranch in Montana with his grandmother. When she needs major surgery, necessity dictates that Donny head to Wisconsin on the Greyhound bus and stay with his great Aunt Kate and Uncle Herman- people that he has never met and his grandmother is none to fond of. The adventures of Donny’s summer make up this sweet story.
What did it make me think about?
This book was charming and sweet. It really made me think about a West that I am not as familiar with. This is a character driven story. The plot is slow but steady.
Should I read it?
This is a book for those who like the West and are patient enough to keep turning the pages. It is not a hard read- but it is not a book for those who are interested in suspense novels. It is slow, sweet, and very charming.
Quote-
“All of which is a way of saying, what an emotion came over me in that precious space of time at Crow Fair. For the first time that unhinged summer, I felt like I was where I belonged. Around horses and cattle and men of the ranches and reservations. and the smell of the hay in the fields and the ripple of willowed creek where magpies chattered. Most of all, I suppose , because he was the author of this turnaround of our lives, in the company of halfway wizardly Herman, the pair of us blest with freedom of the road wherever the dog bus ran, enjoying ourselves to the limit at this peaceable grown-up game of cowboys and Indians. This is not the prettiest description of a perfect moment, but it was a king hell bastard of a feeing, filling me almost to bursting.”
If you like this try-
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
The Orchardist by Amanda Copeland
Out Stealing Horses by Per Peterson
Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig
450 pages
What’s it about?
Donal is 11- years- old and lives on a ranch in Montana with his grandmother. When she needs major surgery, necessity dictates that Donny head to Wisconsin on the Greyhound bus and stay with his great Aunt Kate and Uncle Herman- people that he has never met and his grandmother is none to fond of. The adventures of Donny’s summer make up this sweet story.
What did it make me think about?
This book was charming and sweet. It really made me think about a West that I am not as familiar with. This is a character driven story. The plot is slow but steady.
Should I read it?
This is a book for those who like the West and are patient enough to keep turning the pages. It is not a hard read- but it is not a book for those who are interested in suspense novels. It is slow, sweet, and very charming.
Quote-
“All of which is a way of saying, what an emotion came over me in that precious space of time at Crow Fair. For the first time that unhinged summer, I felt like I was where I belonged. Around horses and cattle and men of the ranches and reservations. and the smell of the hay in the fields and the ripple of willowed creek where magpies chattered. Most of all, I suppose , because he was the author of this turnaround of our lives, in the company of halfway wizardly Herman, the pair of us blest with freedom of the road wherever the dog bus ran, enjoying ourselves to the limit at this peaceable grown-up game of cowboys and Indians. This is not the prettiest description of a perfect moment, but it was a king hell bastard of a feeing, filling me almost to bursting.”
If you like this try-
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
The Orchardist by Amanda Copeland
Out Stealing Horses by Per Peterson
Great road trip/adventure story. Donal, an 11-year-old who lives in Montana with his grandmother, is sent across the country to Wisconsin on the "dog bus" (Greyhound) to stay with his aunt and her husband when his grandmother has to have surgery. He meets some interesting characters along the way and gets into some sticky situations. Things don't go so well with his aunt, but he and his uncle form a special bond and they end up on the "dog bus" together and find some new adventures heading back west. A fun read.
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