Last Bus To Wisdom: A Novel

Content Warning: The source text includes anti-fat bias as well as outdated and insensitive terminology to refer to Indigenous Americans, people without permanent homes, and people with disabilities. The text also features the theft of Indigenous artifacts by non-Indigenous people.

Last Bus to Wisdom is a Bildungsroman, a coming-of-age story. The novel is an unusual example of this genre in two respects. First, rather than following the main character, Donal, over a period of months or years, the author focuses on a single, pivotal summer in which the protagonist faces a series of challenges that transform his self-image and core beliefs. Early in the trip, Donal confesses that—twice in one day—he realizes he is not up to facing the world on his own. By the end of his two lengthy journeys, however, he has earned a place for himself, and he works toward protecting and providing for the very people who have cared for him. Second, while the main character is a tween boy, the book contains a number of adult references. Donal, who is raised around ranch hands and dropped into a camp of migrant workers, finds himself exposed to callous speech and innuendos. He struggles to learn what he can and cannot say in polite company. While the main character is chronologically little more than a child, the novel is not a children’s book. Instead, the author intends to remind adults of transitional events and stages in their own lives as they moved from childhood to adulthood.

Along Donal’s trek from Montana to Wisconsin and back, Doig records many encounters with previously unknown individuals. Each of these exchanges serves as a step on a staircase leading, in the symbolic sense of the title, toward wisdom. From each experience, Donal gleans new lessons, enabling him to move forward with greater insight and confidence. These lessons, as the author intends, are not all wholesome, but rather fall into the category of life skills—or even survival skills. For example, the first time Donal encounters Harv, the jail escape artist, he considers him simply an oddity who leaves a curious inscription in his memory book. The second time they meet in the migrant camp, Donal quickly connects with him, introducing Herman and announcing that the two of them are also on the run from police and would be grateful for any wisdom Harv can offer.

Donal’s coming of age is marked by his ability to accept life’s complexities, particularly that multiple things can be true simultaneously. At one point, Donal mockingly quotes the proverb that a wise man is one who can hold two distinct, seemingly contradictory statements in his mind. In characteristic fashion, the boy remarks that trying this only makes his head hurt. By the conclusion of the narrative, however, Donal has indeed embraced many contradictory elements in his life. For instance, he recognizes that the obsidian arrowhead he took from Williamson might legally belong to the property owner, but Donal believes he has equal claim to it as its finder. His dearest companion is in fact an unauthorized immigrant considered an “enemy” of the state, but Donal would do anything to preserve Herman’s liberty and anonymity. Donal also yearns to be with his grandmother in the small community of Glasgow, while his heart wants more than anything to stay on the farm with his role model Rags.

Despite remaining 11-and-a-half for the entirety of the narrative, Donal experiences a lifetime of changes and learning that propel him toward real wisdom.