| The Lilac Bus: Stories (Thorndike Press Large Print Famous Authors Series) | 
 enlarge | Author: Maeve Binchy
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $30.95 (€24.45)
Buy New/Used from $15.44 (€12.20)
Avg. Customer Rating:   (29 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1823282
Format: Large Print
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 571
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0786298723
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780786298723
ASIN: 0786298723
Publication Date: October 17, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The lilac-coloured minibus belongs to Tom Fitzgerald. Each Friday night it is a meeting place for the same seven people who use it to travel home from Dublin to spend the weekend in Rathdoon. Each one has their own secret story, unknown to their fellow passengers?
Once again, Maeve Binchy has conjured up a cast of very human characters with real joys and real sadnesses, portrayed with her trademark wit, compassion and warmth.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...
 Perfection of details makes this book breathe..... December 19, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Maeve Binchy always manages to draw me into her tale, even when I have my mind made up that I am not going to like it!! I read this for a book group. I thought, oh another Binchy novel..........and yet once I start reading her books I have trouble putting the book down.
In this book there are two novellas. The first is the story of eight people whose lives are connected by their ties between Dublin and their hometown of Rathdon. Each character comes vividly to life in this tale in their own chapter. Each of them seems inextricably woven into the lives of each other if only in a very petite manner. It is the very perfection of these details that makes this book breathe!! From a lonely drug dealing mother, to a desperately in love young woman each character is multi -faceted and could stand alone, bringing the complexity to the story.
In the second "book" people are dealing with alcoholism, the toll it takes on the family as well as on the alcoholic. The people of "The Dublin Four" are achingly real. As they deal with the fall out, both emotional, intellectual and even financial you feel a very real connection with them and hope for a solution to the situation.
Maeve Binchy is not a "light read" or a "beach read". She is a portrait artist who uses words to create people with that spark of life in their eye, that captures your full attention.
Good Short Stories May 16, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Normally I'm not a fan of short stories, but each of the 12 stories in this book seemed to be the perfect length. Long enough to tell a good story and pull in the reader, short enough to leave the reader wishing for more.
The first 8 stories are of a group of people who take a bus home each weekend from Dublin. Most of their lives are a bit intertangled, coming from the same small town, some knowing each other from childhood. The last 4 stories are seperate and just stories of life, which could take place anywhere, but happen to take place in Ireland.
The only complaint I have about the collection is I felt a couple of the stories were done a bit of an injustice and could have been wrapped up a bit better. But maybe that's because I am always looking for a neat tidy ending!
 The First Book I Have Read By Her February 15, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Just wasn't my style of book. Sorry. I will try another one written by Binchey.
 An Unmatched Talent June 17, 2005
This is one of the best Binchy books I've ever read, and I'm a huge Binchy fan.
Her character development is unmatched - with a few simple words, a sentence, a conversation, or a movement, she can create rich, in-depth, humerous and fascinating characters. Her characters are like the people next door - but she sees them in a special, deep, sympathetic light - and makes them shine.
Her stories are funny and heartbreaking, all at once.
I have read this over and over, and could not put it down. I enjoyed all of it, but my favorite chapters are about Nancy, Dee, Kev, Rupert, and Tom. And Dinner at Donnybrook was an absolute masterpiece.
She is a subtle artist, creating beauty with deft brush strokes so that the reader cannot see the work, but only the final result, which feels smooth, effortless and natural.
Short Stories October 24, 2004
Each story is about a different person, looks in the characters' minds and how they view the others they travel with. I liked Binchy's heartwarming style, there is no end like typical novel. That makes the book unique, it does not try to give you a message.
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