Last Bus to Wisdom (Doig)

Book Reviews
[O]ne of Doig's best novels, an enchanting 1950s road-trip tale that swaps Kerouac's Sal Paradise for a plucky 11-year-old named Donal Cameron…Doig has always written with a keen ear for Western vernacular, but in Last Bus to Wisdom he kicks subtlety to the curb and adopts the sort of exaggerated patter that the Coen brothers put to use in O Brother, Where Art Thou?…In less experienced hands this might come off as a cheap trick, but Doig handles the device with the loving care of a literary curator, inviting his readers to take pleasure in the language…There's a full-circle feel to the book. Donal's early circumstances—Montana ranch, grandmother's care—match those of the author's own, and it's warming to think that in his final months Doig shared the writing hours with one of his greatest characters: a version of his younger self wound up and set spinning on the long zigzag adventure called life in the American West.
Bruce Barcot - New York Times Book Review


The pleasures of reading Doig’s final novel (he died in April 2015) are bittersweet.... Though this book lacks the deeper resonance of Doig’s previous novels, such as Dancing at the Rascal Fair and his classic nonfiction memoir, This House of Sky, it’s nonetheless a heartwarming, memorable story.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Doig's superb storytelling does not disappoint. The dialog is snappy, funny, and true to the charming characters. With the author's passing in April, this is the last journey into familiar Doig territory we've come to admire. —Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Palisade, CO
Library Journal


(Starred review.) An utterly charming, goodhearted romp...this posthumous publication will be greeted enthusiastically as a fitting tribute to a memorable body of work.
Booklist


Two long-distance bus trips give an 11-year-old new horizons and run a lively gamut through mid-20th-century American life.... A marvelous picaresque showing off the late Doig's ready empathy for all kinds of people and his perennial gift for spinning a great yarn. He will be missed.
Kirkus Reviews