The Bus on Thursday

A Novel

By: Shirley Barrett

Narrated by: Katherine Littrell

Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

The Bus on Thursday by Shirley Barrett is a darkly humorous audiobook about one woman’s post-cancer retreat to a remote Australian town and the horrors awaiting her.

It wasn’t just the bad breakup that turned Eleanor Mellett’s life upside down. It was the cancer. And all the demons that came with it.

One day she felt a bit of a bump when she was scratching her armpit at work. The next thing she knew, her breast was being dissected and removed by an inappropriately attractive doctor, and she was suddenly deluged with cupcakes, judgy support groups, and her mum knitting sweaters.

Luckily, Eleanor discovers Talbingo, a remote little town looking for a primary-school teacher. Their Miss Barker up and vanished in the night, despite being the most caring teacher ever, according to everyone. Unfortunately, Talbingo is a bit creepy. It’s not just the communion-wine-guzzling friar prone to mad rants about how cancer is caused by demons. Or the unstable, overly sensitive kids, always going on about Miss Barker and her amazing sticker system. It’s living alone in a remote cabin, with no cell or Internet service, wondering why there are so many locks on the front door and who is knocking on it late at night.

©2018 Shirley Barrett (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Bridget Jones meets The Exorcist

This is campy, quirky horror, which isn't my typical jam, but I thought it was really well done. The author is an Australian screenwriter, and I've noticed that I often like novels by screenwriters (Exhibit A: Where'd You Go, Bernadette). The pacing is great, it's not overwritten, and it's genuinely hilarious.

Eleanor is already coming unhinged when she finds out she has breast cancer in her early 30s. After treatment, she ends up in a remote village where things take a turn for the slightly supernatural. As her life continues to unravel, you get the sense that you're reading a dark and strange commentary on the absurdity of cancer. I love that this story doesn't fit into a tidy box -- Eleanor is the textbook definition of unlikable, and the ending is ambiguous af. Not your typical tug-at-the-heartstrings cancer book.

I'm not sure if this book will find a wide audience because it's so damn weird, but it definitely found a fan in me!

what the heck was that ending?

This book was funny and campy and had some fun mind games. But the ending left much to be desired. I was frustrated with the ending and felt a little cheated. I wanted the mystery to be resolved and felt like I was left hanging. Overall, it was very well written and the narrator did an amazing job. But I'm not happy about the ending.

Major spoiler ahead, so stop reading now if you don't want any spoilers.

Spoiler ahead.

Seriously, there's a spoiler.

If you're still here you either don't do well with directions or you're chill with spoilers.

I'm not kidding, I will spoil this book for you.

If you haven't read it, turn back now!

Do you want the book spoiled? Really?

Ok, I warned you.

The ending literally just cuts off mid sentence. We don't find out if Elenor was dead the whole time, if she was hallucinating because her cancer spread to her brain, or if she was actually the ghost of Ms. B. Why was Ryan sleeping with Ms. B? Was Gregory real or was he a demon? Was anyone real? Who's ashes did Gregory spread around the room? Literally not a single question was answered. I'm so frustrated. I guess the cover art was foreshadowing the ending, the word "novel" isn't finished and this novel is technically not finished.

Warning, Ending is missing from Audiobook

Poor Elenore is having a bad time of it, cancer, losing her job, her best friend having the life she feels she should have had, takes a job in a remote town as a teacher. Not much in Elenore's personality is very teacher like to me, it would be hard to believe she's ever held a teaching job anywhere the way the character is written.

Like all small towns in these books the people in the town are not the sweet, endearing characters Elenore thought they'd be.

Towards the end of the story Elenore is finally about to get on the bus, one that's been talked about throughout the story, the bus on Thursday, and just as she reaches the bus, mid sentence, Audible closing credits come on. I still have no idea who or what is waiting for Elenore on that bus.

I did email the author and the narrator to see if one of them can get this fixed but til it's fixed, the last few minutes of the story are missing.
Update: I have since learned the "missing" part of the book is actually how the story ends.

Narrator saves it

Honestly would've dropped this book chapter 3, but the narrator made it fun enough to get through until chapter 24. I really hoped that after the location changed to the real setting of the story, that the pov would switch from a blog to first person or even 3rd. It being a constant blog post really throws off the flow and the feeling. Also the main character is just too naive for my taste, unrealistically naive.

Disappointed

The author overuses the word "etcetera" which is probably not annoying reading the book, but listening to it made it painful to hear. It started out as a really interesting perspective on cancer. It also was a cool setting in remote Australia. It had a great storyline despite having an unlikable main character. But then it just ends in the worst possible way to end a book: no clear ending, which was disappointing after you spend 6 hours listening.

Great Book Until the End

I absolutely loved this book the whole way through, but the end was too abrupt. I was left with a lot of questions.

surprising, great listen

props to the narrator especially - she was excellent and extremely captivating. ending of the story leaves a bit to be desired but overall very good book.

Good to pass the time but not gripping

The protagonist is not very likeable. The story is kind of annoying. I suppose it was supposed to be humorous, it wasn't. It wasn't horrific either so it failed on 2 fronts. The horror elements were disjointed and unclear. They didn’t serve as metaphor and they aren’t cohesive.

idiodic

a whiny chic, weird kids, garbage ending. don't waste your time with this horrible book.

Hilarious but dark

This story was very funny, but in a fairly dark way. The main character isn’t really likeable, but that is what makes her so human and relatable. Definitely not a story for everyone, but I enjoyed it! The narration was excellent. Perfect match for the character.