From Powells.com
Our favorite books of the year.
Synopses & Reviews
From the Booker-shortlisted author acclaimed as having "no literary precedent" (Independent) comes a gently absurd examination of the systems that trap and frustrate us daily. Fans of dry humor will enjoy this tale of mishap and folly, told from the point of view of a bus driver who's been charged to maintain a precise distance between himself and other buses — a directive that leads him to ignore the very passengers he's meant to serve.
Witty, allegorical, and intelligent, this is a novel for all those who have ever run for a bus, only to have it pull away as they reach its doors. Showcasing all of Mills' strengths, it is the perfect reintroduction for American readers to an incomparable talent.
Review
"A subtle meditation on what it means to try to impose order in a
fundamentally chaotic world . . . I suspect Mills has much more to say
about power, officialdom, and even buses than he has done here. However,
his reticence has always given readers space to think, and his deadpan
celebration of chaos is even heart-warming." The Guardian
Review
"Mills' deadpan humor about the surreal workings of the transport
authority has a distinct ring of truth. This novel should be required
reading for those in charge of our chaotic public transport system." Daily Mail
Review
"Once you've read this excellent, funny, intelligent book, it will make
you look in a more kindly way on that harried driver as he zooms away
into the night." Daily Telegraph
Review
"It's finally happened: Britain's most famous bus-driving novelist has
given us a novel about buses. All your questions will be answered: why
do you wait for ages only for three to come at once? Who are those men
who hang around bus stops muttering into handsets? And why do buses
suddenly terminate halfway into your journey? . . . There is a perfect
match between Mills' subject and his peculiar obsessions . . .
Brilliant." Independent
Review
"Magnus Mills, the bus driver who also writes novels, is a true original in a world of clones. His sparsely written books somehow manage to make the everyday deeply bizarre, occasionally menacing and often funny . . . It's real life, but not quite realism, and strangely brilliant." The Times
About the Author
Magnus Mills, a bus driver by trade, is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories, which he types on a typewriter. He doesn't have an email account, and corresponds by postcard. His first novel, The Restraint of Beasts, won the McKitterick Prize and was shortlisted for both the Whitbread (now the Costa) First Novel Award and the Man Booker Prize. It was praised by Thomas Pynchon as "A demented, deadpan comic wonder." Mills' books have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in London.