Last Bus To Wisdom: A Novel

Last Bus to Wisdom, a New York Times bestseller, was the 16th and final novel by Ivan Doig, who died prior to the book’s 2015 release. The novel is also the last to take place in the fictional Two Medicine Country, Montana, in which Doig set 11 other novels. Though the main character, Donal Cameron, is 11 years old, the book is intended for adult audiences. The coming-of-age story and fictional travelogue follows a summer-long series of excursions Donal takes via Greyhound bus in 1951. When his grandmother must undergo surgery requiring a lengthy rehabilitation, Donal must first ride from a ranch in rural Montana, where his grandmother is the cook, to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where he is to stay with a great aunt whom he has never met. Within a few weeks, his frustrated Aunt Kate puts him on the Greyhound headed back to Montana. To Donal’s surprise, Aunt Kate’s husband, Herman, joins Donal, proclaiming that he has always wanted to see the West. A series of adventures, calamities, and sheer luck eventually leads them to the farming community of Wisdom, Montana, where they hope to find a safe, permanent place to dwell. Born and raised in rural Montana, Doig writes from his personal memories and perspective.

This Guide references the Riverhead Books 2016 paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source text includes anti-fat bias as well as outdated and insensitive terminology to refer to Indigenous Americans, people without permanent homes, and people with disabilities.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.

Plot Summary

Donal Cameron is 11-and-a-half years old during the summer of 1951. His grandmother, Gram, who is the cook for the Double W Ranch in the Two Medicine Country of Montana, must have surgery at the beginning of the summer. She decides to send Donal to live with her sister, Kate Brinker, in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Donal, who has never been outside the state, travels with his bus ticket and a little money, some of which is earmarked to purchase school clothes before he returns. He brings three other possessions: a memory book to hold the autographs of each willing stranger he meets, a pair of moccasins, and a rare obsidian arrowhead. Though Donal found the arrowhead on the ranch, Gram made him give it to the ranch owner, Wendell Williamson. When Wendell refuses to allow Donal to remain and work on the ranch while Gram recuperates, Donal steals the arrowhead from its display case. Initially, Donal travels with his arrowhead and moccasins in a wicker suitcase in the Greyhound bus’s storage.

Red-headed, freckle-faced, and large for his age, Donal fears that he stands out awkwardly among the other passengers. He regularly makes up stories about his background and destination when fellow travelers ask. Donal encounters many unusual individuals and groups as he rides through Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. Notably, he meets the waitress, Letty, who had previously worked with Gram. Later a sheriff, Carl, boards the bus with a handcuffed Harv, who has a talent for escaping from jail. Donal realizes that Harv is Letty’s love interest, then discovers that Harv and Carl are stepbrothers. When another person newly released from jail nearly steals his bag, Donal decides to keep his money and arrowhead with him.

Once in Wisconsin, Donal feels stunned when a large group of boys, many with red hair, board the bus on their way to summer camp. When three of them grab his autograph book and threaten to keep it, Donal fights them, tearing his shirt and chipping a front tooth. Having lost his aunt’s information and now surrounded by red-headed boys about his age, Donal fears his aunt will not be able to find him. Aunt Kate and her husband, Herman Brinker, recognize him immediately, saying that Donal looks like Gram.

Donal’s first experiences of Manitowoc, Aunt Kate, and his living arrangements are all negative. He must sleep in the attic and eat disappointing meals. The city seems aged, dreary, and childless. Donal can tell from Aunt Kate’s attitude that she is instantly disappointed in him. When Aunt Kate throws away Donal’s torn shirt, she unwittingly discards the clothing money pinned inside, leaving the narrator isolated and destitute.

The bright spot during his stay is the relationship he develops with Herman, Kate’s husband, who speaks with a thick accent. Daily, Donal meets Herman in the greenhouse, where he smokes cigars as he tends his plants. Donal learns that Herman loves western novels and lore. Herman also has a glass eye, having lost an eye during a storm while working on Lake Michigan. During that same storm, Aunt Kate’s first husband, Fritz, died. Kate and Herman have been together ever since, though they bicker constantly. Overhearing one of their arguments, Donal learns that Herman is not Dutch, but was actually a German soldier during World War I and stowed away on a ship to the US when the Nazis came to power.

Aunt Kate teaches Donal to play canasta when her regular game needs a fourth player. He helps Kate win $10 the first time he plays, but she keeps the winnings. When he finds her change drawer in the middle of the night and starts to take his $5, they confront each other. Soon after, Aunt Kate tells Donal she is sending him back to Montana. Since Gram is still in the hospital, Donal has no home to go to. Sitting on the bus disconsolately, Donal experiences astonishment when Herman joins him, explaining that he has left Kate, withdrawn his share of their money, and will take Donal anywhere he likes. The two set out for an annual Crow nation western festival in Montana.

As they travel, Donal briefly encounters the author Jack Kerouac. Donal and Herman buy western hats and end up at the Crow festival the day of its key event, a rodeo. Donal sees his hero, Rags Rasmussen, a world champion saddle bronc rider, and gets him to sign his memory book. After the event, Donal and Wendell—who has supplied horses for the rodeo—spot each other. Calling Donal a thief, Wendell compels the Crow police to arrest him. Herman pays Louie Slewfoot, an exhibitor of Indigenous merchandise, to disguise Donal. Louie drives the two away from the festival and to their next bus, which is headed to Yellowstone National Park.

Arriving at Yellowstone, the travelers discover that a pickpocket who portrayed himself as a retired pastor has robbed them. Herman admits that they cannot report this to the police since he is not authorized to be in the US. In fact, he admits, he and Aunt Kate never married. At the Greyhound station, they see an FBI wanted poster with Herman’s picture on it and realize Aunt Kate has turned him in to the federal government.

Donal and Herman ride the Greyhound to Wisdom, Montana, in hopes of working on the annual hay harvest. Their particular ride turns out to be the last bus to Wisdom. They meet a tough-looking group of migrant workers who call themselves the Johnson family and travel from one harvest to another. The travelers quickly befriend Highpockets, the group leader.

Briefly staying in a camp of workers waiting for jobs as harvesters, Donal spots a ranch foreman who wears Rags’s diamond buckle emblem and persuades the foreman to hire them. When Carl tracks his once-again escaped brother Harv to the ranch, the lawman attempts to arrest Harv, Herman, and Donal. The angered Johnson family, carrying sharpened farm tools, surrounds them. Rags calms the group. Harv conditionally agrees to leave with the sheriff. Rags takes Donal and Herman into the ranch house and has them relate their story, after which he retains Donal and Herman and inquires about hiring Gram as his cook.