The Maintenance of Headway

March 9, 2015
An unnamed London bus driver offers a hilariously real view of the London bus service, with all of its bureaucratic absurdity, in this short novel from Man Booker finalist Mills (The Restraint of Beasts). The author is also a bus driver, which adds colorful authenticity to this wacky novel filled with goofy characters and madcap situations. The driver is a patient fellow, calmly accepting criticism from self-important, officious inspectors, who hand out offense chits for violations of the bus drivers’ code, such as being too early, being too late, and, most importantly, failing to observe “the maintenance of headway” (i.e., not keeping the proper distance between buses on their scheduled runs). The narrator and his bus driver pals do everything they can to thwart the inspectors, all while complaining about their supervisors’ incompetence, annoying passengers, inconvenient road work, inattentive bicyclists, and arrogant taxi drivers. The drivers justify their behavior by their unshakable belief in the Theory of Running Early and the Law of Cumulative Lateness—hilarious explanations of the bus service’s futile attempts to choreograph bus movement. This sliver of life behind the wheel may seem silly, but it is consistently funny and perceptively portrays the plight of the little guy struggling to find sanity in an incomprehensible bureaucratic rat race.

Starred review from March 1, 2015
Set within the bureaucracy of the London bus system, Mills' slim novel fuses whimsy with warped logic.Bus drivers must remain committed to the Maintenance of Headway-"The notion that a fixed interval between buses on a regular service can be attained and adhered to"-even when it seems absurd. Consider a moment when the narrator's bus is running early. What does he do? He disregards his current passengers and fakes engine problems. Another bus driver even stops to help him, and together, they stage an animated discussion and walk around the engine thoughtfully until a proper amount of time has passed. No real plot here-rather, a series of vignettes that demonstrate the kind of bureaucratic logic that's warped because it's so airtight yet so small-minded. Mills-who's been a bus driver himself-has written a fantastically odd novel, full of great details (a TV at the bus station that's been stuck on the same channel for four years) and walk-on characters (like Mrs. Barker, who creates chaos by stopping anywhere-including green traffic lights-to pick up passengers). Mills (Explorers of the New Century, 2005, etc.) avoids revealing anything personal about his characters: even his narrator lacks a life outside the all-consuming absurdity of his work. In a long novel, this might get tiresome, but Mills has written a slender book and made each sentence feel harried, peculiar. There's bizarre logic: "The idea of curtailing bus journeys in order to provide a better bus service defied logic, but needless to say, the Board of Transport had a logic all of its own." There's bureaucratic pseudo-science: beyond the titular reference, there's also the Theory of Early Running and the Law of Cumulative Lateness. It's a comic complaint-whimsical, but pointed. Nearly flawless in its own unassuming way.

April 1, 2015

Fans of wry humor will enjoy this slim volume from McKitterick Prize-winning, Man Booker Prize short-listed author Mills (The Restraint of Beasts), which reveals the inner workings of public transportation from the perspective of one who knows: Mills is not just a seasoned novelist but a seasoned British bus driver. Atypical of the novel genre, this work plays out more like an entertaining essay or tongue-in-cheek exposition on the twists and turns of the public transportation system depended upon every day by an unknowing public. Gently chiding, Mills attempts to make sense of the inanities imposed by those charged with keeping the buses running in a timely manner. VERDICT If calling this deceptively light reading seems a stretch, this delightful work is none the less amusing and informative, a rare ride well worth the fare.--Joyce Townsend, Pittsburg, CA

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