Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig
Doig needs little introduction to Bellingham readers. He filled to overflowing every session of Chuckanut Radio Hour sponsored by Village Books at which he appeared. This endearing novel is Doig's last novel, in both senses of that world. It is his latest and his final novel. Alas, Doig died in April of this year.
Last Bus to Wisdom tells the tale of Donal, an eleven year old boy who has been living with his beloved grandmother on the high plains of northern Montana just east of the Rocky Mountains, precisely where Doig himself grew up. In an introductory section, because of her health problems, Donal's grandmother reluctantly sends Donal to live temporarily with her estranged sister in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Thus follows the three part novel In the first part Donal travels by bus-alone-from Gros Ventre, Montana, to Sheboygan. In the second part, grandmother's estranged sister turns out to be deservedly estranged-self-centered, tyrannical, stingy, and mean-spirited. Donal precipitates the third part of the adventure when he escapes his great aunt and Sheboygan, to ride back to Montana, with the legendary town of Wisdom as his goal. The great-aunt's henpecked common law husband escapes with him.
On his bus trips Donal meets and mostly charms an intriguing set of characters. An incomplete list includes an itinerant waitress who formerly worked with Donal's grandmother, her freespirited boy friend, who is being escorted to prison by his half-brother sheriff, several scam artists, a world champion rodeo rider. And others. In this episodic tale, Donal makes his way through the world with a fruitful imagination and impish charm.
Doig places eleven year old Donal's adventures in the summer of 1951. It is striking to me that in 1951 Doig was himself eleven years old. I am at a loss to guess the significance of this coincidence.
Two more observations: Doig's art as a master stylist, with wit that was recognizably his alone, is in full display in Last Bus to Wisdom. There is in fact a town in Montana named Wisdom. It's not on highway maps. It's population in the 2000 census was 114; in 2010 it was 98. It nestles at an elevation of 6,000 feet in the valley of the Big Hole River, originally named Wisdom River by Lewis and Clark.
The novel begins with the precarious health of Donal's grandmother and concludes happily with her return to health. In the interim, our hero samples life richly and may indeed have finished his adventures not only safely reunited with his greatly loved grandmother but perhaps also with a measure of wisdom.