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The Bus on Thursday: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Shirley Barrett (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.0 393 ratings

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"A horror novel about a breast cancer survivor told in the voice of your funniest but most anxious friend, The Bus on Thursday is an appealing mix of genres that is both fluffy and deeply affecting at the same time." —Maris Kreizman, Vulture

"Funny, angry, feminist . . . [Barrett is] a masterly world-builder." —Melissa Maerz, The New York Times Book Review

Bridget Jones meets The Exorcist in this wickedly funny, dark novel 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.

Riotously funny, deeply unsettling, and surprisingly poignant, Shirley Barrett’s The Bus on Thursday is a wickedly weird, wild ride for fans of Helen Fielding, Maria Semple, and Stephen King.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A BookRiot Best Horror Book of 2018
A Vulture Editor's Pick

"Funny, angry, feminist . . . [Barrett is] a masterly world-builder." ―Melissa Maerz, The New York Times Book Review

"A horror novel about a breast cancer survivor told in the voice of your funniest but most anxious friend, The Bus on Thursday is an appealing mix of genres that is both fluffy and deeply affecting at the same time." ―Maris Kreizman, Vulture

"Barrett’s novel abounds with a steadily advancing dread, even as it's tempered by bursts of bleak humor. The result is a subtly unnerving novel with a sinister climax, and some imagery that's hard to forget." ―Tobias Carroll, Vol. 1 Brooklyn

"A romp through literary horror, packed with the stunning images that one might expect from a writer who is also a director. But it also gives life to the crushing reality of a cancer patient?―?the anger, the grief, the crazy-making self-blame. The Bus on Thursday elegantly rides along the edges of these issues." ―Joseph Scapellato, Electric Literature

"A horror novel about a breast cancer survivor told in the voice of your funniest but most anxious friend, The Bus on Thursday is an appealing mix of genres that is both fluffy and deeply affecting at the same time." ―Vulture

"Your heart will go out to the eccentric, self-destructive Eleanor, whose sharply witty narration is a superb companion ot the weird world of Talbingo." ―People

"Ingenuously exploits folk horror conventions . . . Funny and harrowingly honest." ―Toronto Star

"Brilliant . . . A darkly funny tale." ―Eithne Farry, Mail on Sunday

"Thrillingly original and wildly funny. A slippery narrative keeps you guessing what's really going on with a sharply witty narration." ―Deirdre O'Brien, Sunday Mirror

"The Bus on Thursday takes the 19th century literary conceit of a woman going mad in the face of repressive social expectations and updates it with brio for the 21st century." ―Claire Allfree, Metro UK

"Delightfully bizarre . . . Eleanor Mellet steps straight out of a chick-lit plot line into WICKER MAN-type horror . . . This book deserves to find its (cult) audience. For readers who enjoy their horror elegantly twisted." ―Library Journal, starred review

"Narrated by a cybercentury Wife of Bath, this bawdy tale suspends both our disbelief and our scruples." ― Kirkus

"With her snarky wit and old-school horror style, Barrett has mastered the art of the small-town gothic ― perfect for readers who like their horror to straddle the nebulous border between the real and the otherworldly. Hilarious, bizarre, and absolutely terrifying, The Bus on Thursday reads like the Lovecraftian love child of Shirley Jackson and Stephen King!" ―Powells.com

"The Bus on Thursday is a delirious, exhilarating ride that you can't predict and you won't forget. Like Rosemary's Baby recast with Bridget Jones, it will make you laugh and make you gasp. What more could you possibly want?" ―Adam Sternbergh, author of The Blinds

"I don't know that I've read a book before that made me laugh out loud while remaining totally unnerved, but The Bus on Thursday does just that. It's a novel overrun with a rapidly metastasizing host of unreliable outbursts, odd characters and suspicious events. I'd willingly bear witness to any world through sociopathic Eleanor's eyes." ―Jac Jemc, author of The Grip of It

"Bursting with raucous energy, while anchored in seriousness, The Bus on Thursday is an intoxicating horror-humor romp.” ―Jeff VanderMeer, author of Borne and The Southern Reach Trilogy

“Shirley Barrett has crafted a quirky, one-of-a-kind, wild ride of a novel with demons, kangaroos, a missing schoolteacher, a remote town where things are strangely off-kilter, and a wonderfully bizarre cast of characters. The Bus on Thursday is a darkly funny and deeply unsettling novel you’ll devour in one sitting.” ―Jennifer McMahon, author of The Winter People

About the Author

Shirley Barrett is an award-winning filmmaker and writer. She is the author of Rush Oh! and has written and directed three feature films and worked extensively as a director in television. Barrett was born in Melbourne and lives in Sydney, Australia.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07B2YWKN6
Publisher ‏ : ‎ MCD x FSG Originals (September 18, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 18, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 874 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,380,546 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #6,415 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction
- #7,466 in Paranormal Suspense
- #11,290 in Contemporary Literary Fiction

Customer Reviews:
3.0 393 ratings

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Shirley Barrett

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Shirley Barrett is best known for her work as a screenwriter and director. Her first film, Love Serenade, won the Camera D'Or (Best First Feature) at Cannes Film Festival in 1996. In 2010, the script for her her film South Solitary won the Queensland Premier's Prize and the West Australian Premier's Prize. Shirley's first novel Rush Oh! was released in 2015. The Bus on Thursday is Shirley's second novel. She lives in Sydney, Australia.

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3 out of 5

393 global ratings

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ct1156

I paid for it,

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2019

Verified Purchase

so I read the whole thing. I am crushingly disappointed about having done both. Deal of the day or not. I am sorry to have to say that. Really. I'm sure this even appeals to someone, but I couldn't find a single positive thing to say. There's no cohesive story line. No positive, likable supporting characters, subplots, or redeeming descriptive prose, and it is NOT funny. The one thing I can say, is that I was reading so hard and fast desperately wanting something good or even interestingly bad to happen, that I was pleasantly surprised and relieved when I realized it had stopped. Because there is no ending.

I read a lot. I can find something positive to say about 99.8% of the books I resd, because that's the kind of person I am. I get made fun of for it. Defending the underdog, always finding the silver lining, seeing both sides, blah, blah, blah....
I got nothing here.

And please. PLEASE. No one must ever compare this to Stephin King again. There is no similarity whatsoever.

11 people found this helpful

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Gabe Lemkin

A Fantastic Page Turner

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2018

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This is a wonderfully entertaining novel and wholly unique--a mashup of comedy and thriller that never lets up.

3 people found this helpful

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Sandra

Hilarious and strange

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2019

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This book was hilarious and also very strange. Oddly addictive. Would recommend for something very different in writing style and story line.

2 people found this helpful

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Elaine Watkins

Wait...what???!

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2019

Verified Purchase

I really liked the narrative voice, and no question, it's a page-turner. But don't get your hopes up. It takes a bizarre turn and NEVER resolves. In fact, it stops in mid-sentence, and (literally) that's all she wrote.

I give it two stars because it's funny (up to a point), and I can't help wondering if I'm just missing something. Like, [spoiler alert]... did she actually die on the highway? Is the bus a metaphor for something? I wish there were a supplement or something. I'd even pay (a little) for it. I read the book "The Pain Colony," which helpfully offered a supplement to flesh out the plot twist at the end. But still, even with that book, I KNEW what was happening. This one? Wow.

2 people found this helpful

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Melise Gerber

Some will love it

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2018

I read an advanced reading copy from MCD/Farrar Straus and Giroux via NetGalley. Thanks!

This was a quick fun read. The "official" description of the book as "Bridget Jones meets the Exorcist" is a pretty good one. Unfortunately, without wanting to spoil anything, the scary elements mostly seemed odd and strange, and I was hoping for more supernatural and horrifying.

But, for a reader who leans more towards being a Bridget Jones lover, and less on the Exorcist side, I definitely recommend this book.

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apollonia1044

Not funny, crazy in a stupid way

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

Poor character development. "Plot" was surreal to the point of insanity.

2 people found this helpful

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Pop Bop

The Turn of the Loose Screw

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2018

The blurbs for this book all declare that it is a "wickedly funny" version of Bridget Jones meets "The Exorcist", and I think that that is absolutely spot on. Our heroine, Eleanor, is a cancer survivor who finds herself in a weird and creepy place, and this book, which reads like a series of blog posts, is a wild combination of narrative, digressions, musings, dream reports, drunken reveries, sex, and stone cold deadpan observations about the meaning of it all. It is laugh out loud funny and may be the only ever example of truly manic/sad/funny modern gothic.

The book has a plot, of course, but it goes off the rails with such frequency that the plot is easy to lose. Which was fine by me. It also has an artsy/ambiguous ending, which I usually hate, but which I didn't mind at all here. That's probably because the ride up to the ending was so fun, and because the artsy/ambiguous ending is actually pretty good and sort of a neat final little twist and thought provoking joke on the reader.

You can go as deeply into the book as you care to, depending on how much you like allegory, metaphor and symbolism. Demons, cancer, mad priests, tongueless dwarves by the side of the road, isolation, (heck, kangaroos), and so on would let you spin out meanings and messages forever. Or, you could just go with the vibe and laugh at the witty, deadpan, acerbic, tender, insightful, and manic lines that are crammed onto every page. Your choice - and what a fine choice that is. This was a great, fun find.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

9 people found this helpful

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Carolyn

Good book with uncomfortable storyline and black humour

Reviewed in Canada on October 20, 2018

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3.5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I found it made me uncomfortable at times with its black humor and its weird storyline. Certain scenes evoked laughter or repulsion, sometimes both at the same time.

Eleanor has broken up with her boyfriend, Josh, after he informed her that he doesn’t want children. Eleanor discovers she has an aggressive type of breast cancer and the outcome is a mastectomy. She is shattered, especially as her friends are far from supportive, she is devastated by her body image. Her emotions are at an all time low when a friend sets her up on a date with Harry the Hairlip. He seems like a pleasant man until he sees her post operative body and is repulsed. A support group for women with breast cancer turns out to be a disaster for Eleanor after she tells them that she tried to return some worn underwired bras for a refund, claiming they caused breast cancer and caused a scene as the store refused to accept used underwear. She no longer has her teaching position.

Eleanor is rude, sarcastic, snarky and has withdrawn from former friends and her mother. We don’t know if her personality was this way before the mastectomy, or if she has undergone a change for the worse due to emotional turmoil and strong medication. She has a tendency to use vulgar language and make inappropriate comments.

She feels she needs a new start in life. An offer to start teaching school in a small town, population 241, in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, Australia is exactly what she needs to get her life back on track. The former teacher disappeared during the night, and Eleanor is anxious to start immediately. She has eleven students who are concerned about what happened to their former teacher, Miss Baker. They keep reminding Eleanor how perfect and caring her predecessor was, and that her teaching methods were superior. It seems that Miss Baker was loved and highly respected in the community. Eleanor makes a valiant effort but feels she can never measure up to such perfection.

There is an older boy in the classroom who tends to be surly and a troublemaker. Eleanor learns that his parents died in a car crash and he lives with an older brother who is seldom at home. She is indulging in too much wine and having wild dreams, blackouts and hallucinations. She meets her older student’s brother/guardian who is unbelievably handsome, and indulges in wild sexual escapades with him, not that she can remember everything. She learns from both her pupil and this man that the perfect Miss Baker had a secret life, unlike the way she had been portrayed. What happened to her?

A visit to the church led her to discussing her cancer with the Friar. He tells her that she let demons into her body which caused her illness. She finds this very creepy but reluctantly allows him to perform an exorcism. Later he visits her and blames her and her demons from causing him to develop cancer. At a funeral Eleanor has a frightening hallucination and causes a scene. There is a foreboding of danger, and she feels she must get out of this isolated and disturbing town quickly. A quirky book filled with some unpleasant scenes and dark humor,

One person found this helpful

jacobus everaers

A verry unuseal book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2019

Verified Purchase

Such a strange book, it will stay a long time with me. It started of very funny I laughed out loud then it tailed off a bit
I read some one else review who compared it to Jacobs ladder, and I agree with that, but as I said it will stay with me
for a long time.

lady jane grey

What were she thinking ?!

Reviewed in Germany on December 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

It started out well and funny. After its half though it has got more and more chaotic, like written while having a sk-yhigh fever, or the writer had no idea anymore what to do with the characters. To the end it wasn’t funny at all, it gave no sense whatsoever, and was just stupid. Honestly, I don‘t understand the writer‘s concept.

Therese Tucker

What the???!!

Reviewed in Australia on January 27, 2019

Verified Purchase

Not sure what i just read, weird, pointless book. Sorry i think the genre is definitely not for me. Good luck.

One person found this helpful

c leicestershire

Odd

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 31, 2019

Verified Purchase

I read the first few pages of this and thought I would enjoy it. The response of a young woman to a diagnosis of breast cancer. But the book changes and becomes bizarre and I thought uninteresting ( or dark and funny depending on your sense of humour?). Anyway. Read the first few pages and if you enjoy them, buy something else! And it dosn't even end with a full-sto

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