Shirley Barrett – The Bus on Thursday (Literature Review)

Australian author and director Shirley Barrett’s latest novel, The Bus on Thursday fails to impress.

Eleanor Mellett is haunted, not only by memories of a bad break up, but also by the demons that linger following her recent battle with cancer. So, when she gets the opportunity to teach in a quiet location away from the hustle and bustle of city life, she jumps at the chance to start again. But things aren’t quite as they seem in this sleepy town and all too soon, the monsters she hoped to leave behind return with a vengeance.

A horror-comedy, The Bus on Thursday has been praised by numerous critics and fans for its dark sense of humour and sharp wit. Best-selling author called the book ‘a quirky, one of a kind, wild ride’ and Kirkus Reviews referred to it as ‘savagely funny’.

Unfortunately, I just couldn’t see the appeal. With such positive reviews, it’s hard not to be at least intrigued by a novel that has been touted as ‘Bridget Jones meets The Exorcist in Twin Peaks’, regardless of your usual literary preferences. And while I didn’t really know what to expect and approached the book with an open mind, I just never really seemed to engage with the story, even from the very beginning.

The writing itself was okay. Barrett’s decision to tell Eleanor’s story through blog posts and diary-type entries made for short chapters. This made the story move quickly and I found myself in a hurry to finish the book. It wasn’t, however, in a desperate desire to find out what happened in the end, but more so just because I wanted to be done with this particular novel and move on to the next as soon as possible.

For me, the biggest downfall of The Bus on Thursday comes in characterisation. By the end of the novel, I found Eleanor to be pathetic rather than adorable. While authors sometimes intend for a character to be unlikeable and for readers to fall into a “love-hate relationship” with them as they embark upon their fictional journey, I’m not convinced that was Barrett’s intention here.

Where others have seen Eleanor’s actions as quirky, I thought they were too outlandish even for a book that is marketed as a comedy.

Though it’s obvious that she is probably in need of some medical attention for psychological issues following her recent health problems, it was, in my opinion taken just that bit too far. This made the plot points and Eleanor’s actions and reactions to certain situations border on absurd rather than funny.

When it comes down to it, whether or not you’ll like The Bus on Thursday comes back to the type of humour you enjoy. Certainly, lots of people have enjoyed this book and Barrett’s dark wit. It’s just that I wasn’t one of them.

The Bus on Thursday is published in Australia by Allen & Unwin. To find out more about this title or others they publish, visit their blog.