The Boy on the Bus

This is a fascinating read. Weird and interesting. The first question is, Is this Charlie? But the real question is, What is wrong with this family? Because clearly something is wrong. Reading the book is like unpeeling an onion. That is, more and more revealing as you read.

Our book club read this and we had a wonderful, spirited discussion. There's so much to talk about, whether you love the book (which I did) or not. The premise is fascinating, and execution is surprising, strange and very compelling. All this led to great debates of themes that were interesting to all of us--parents and children, and the ways we depend on each other and let each other down. The book is powerful, poetic and beautifully written. Images have stayed with me to this day.

My book club (9 women) read this and loved it! It makes for a great discussion because everyone has their own take on things. Is the boy on the bus really Charlie? Or is something up with his mother? And what about his father--a good guy who's fighting a losing battle (which I think) or a distant, checked-out guy who's not doing much to help? Read it, talk about it, and just listen to what other people think!

If you like your books with neatly tied ends and simple answers to all your questions, perhaps this one isn't for you. But if you pass it up for that reason, you will have missed an eerie and mind-twisting book that will haunt you for some time after you turn the last page.Other reviewers have outlined the basic plot, so I won't bother with that. Let me just say that this book will hit home for any parent. Like Meg, we send our children out in the world and can be startled by the ways in which they change...the people they turn into. Haven't we all had days of wondering if our child is a changeling? Deborah Schupack takes this feeling and runs with it, crafting a story that gives us a new look at identity and parenting and may leave you wondering how well you know your own child.This is a wonderful book.

Schupack writes prose that is gently brilliant. She takes an unusual situation--an unlikely, even incredible premise--and elaborates it compellingly by murmuring things to you about life and people that are so absolutely true and unexpected that you would trust her about anything. John Gardner said in The Art of Fiction that a successful story is a waking dream--that there is nothing in the text to break the spell, to draw you out of the fiction, to remind you that its a construct, something authored. The Boy on the Bus is like that--it's a page turner, and like all really good page turners the unfolding it offers seems necessary, even when it unfolds in language that is fresh and startlingly wise. You gotta read it.