Bowlaway audiobook

If you like sprawling generation-spanning tales brilliantly written in the vein of John Updike or Lauren Groff, then Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken is the book for you. However, if you like poorly written tales full of misspellings, irregular capitalization, a meandering plot, and a peculiar fixation on flatulence (all written in pencil), then I have to say my son Willoughby’s report on Fennec foxes that he wrote last year in 2nd grade would be the recommendation to take. McCracken’s Bowlaway takes place in the world of candlepin bowling in the New England town of Salford, Massachusetts. It starts at the turn of the century when a mysterious woman, Bertha Truitt, is discovered unconscious (maybe napping) in the middle of a cemetery. Willoughby’s tale, “Felix the Fennec Fox,” takes place in the Sahara of North Africa. Or at least I believe it does. This kid has spelled Sahara with three h’s and a backwards r for God’s sake and the page is covered in either chocolate stains or maybe the droppings of a bloody nose. Everyone who knows Willoughby knows the boy is mentally unable to stop using his pudgy fingers to excavate crusty booger-lodes from his nasal mineshafts.The story in Bowlaway is odd, serpentine, sad, and funny, populated with many compelling characters. McCracken’s writing is a marvel. She uses words like Paula Deen uses a deep fryer. With just 26 letters, McCracken constructs sentences that will wobble your ulnar nerve one moment and then the next completely pulverize your heart like an industrial car crusher. To say she can write is like saying the Fennec fox has sensitive hearing. On the other hand, Willoughby’s writing, while informative, is quite possibly one of the hardest undertakings to interpret since Champollion deciphered the Rosetta Stone in 1822. If you can (miraculously) make out the words he is writing, the paths his logic takes often leads to confusion, debatable logic, and even lunacy. God, I really hope you chose Bowlaway over my kid’s scrawling catastrophe.Bowlaway will be sure to keep you up reading well into the night (like the nocturnal Fennec foxes) and you will devour the story quicker than a Fennec will devour an appetizing rodent.

Who could walk away from this opening line?“They found a body in the Salford Cemetery, but aboveground and alive.”It sounds like the start of some gruesome murder mystery, but then the wackiness worms in: “The gladstone bag beside her contained one abandoned corset, one small bowling ball, one slender candlepin, and, under a false bottom, fifteen pounds of gold.”Death and life, frosted with macabre comedy: It’s why we’ve enjoyed Elizabeth McCracken since her debut novel, “The Giant’s House,” appeared more than 20 years ago. She never promises us freedom from pain, but she always offers just enough heart to endure it.Her new novel, “Bowlaway,” is a rueful family saga that begins at the start of the 20th century and revolves around a bowling alley in the small town of Salford, Mass., north of Boston. “Our subject is love,” the narrator announces, “because our subject is bowling.” But not ordinary love and not ordinary bowling — nothing is ordinary in this story. The people of Salford play candlepin bowling — that smaller, harder version peculiar to New England: “a game of purity for former. . . .To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...To watch the Totally Hip Video Book Review of this novel, click here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/...

A sprawling delight. Like reading John Irving circa Garp and The Hotel New Hampshire, but written by a woman.

I loved this book a million reasons—the language, the characters, the storytelling, but most of all, for the way it expresses a love for Massachusetts—the candlepin bowling, the Peggy Lawton cookies, the great molasses flood, the Mary Jane candies—it was like reading a book made straight from my childhood obsessions. A total delight.

**** 1/2Love, love, love Elizabeth McCracken and have been waiting for this one. Solid read but I wanted more Bertha.

This was my first Elizabeth McCracken book, and, my goodness, her writing style is a delight. Her writing is highly inventive and quirky and imaginative. It put me in mind of Heather O'Neill at times, the way you wouldn't be sure where a sentence might take you, but you're amazed once you get there.I particularly loved the first third of the novel, the Bertha years. Bertha is, by far, my favourite character. She is quirky and original, and I would have been happy to spend the whole novel with her. I really felt her absence once she was gone. Though, of course, there are reverberations through the generations. I loved the character of Leviticus, too.Here and there, the novel feels like a bit of a slog, but it remains clever, and I did enjoy it. I also learned a lot about candlepin bowling, and about the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. Who knew?!Towards the end of the novel, it made me think quite a bit about genealogy and family trees, how a larger than life character/person is often relatively unknown to subsequent generations, and the sad fact of that.

Elizabeth McCracken can make a sentence sing, and this book is a chorus. This is a big book, full of vibrant characters and moments of stunning insight.

Spoon River Anthology meets Cold Comfort Farm in this quirky story of a family-owned candlepin bowling alley that spans generations. There is a whisper of magical realism with a hefty dose of down-to-earth wisdom. At the turn of the 20th century, Bertha Truitt, described as matronly and jowly,  wearing a split skirt, is found lying face down in the local cemetery. She sits up and explains that she's the inventor of candlepin bowling. The townspeople are perplexed and mesmerized by Bertha Truitt and are delighted with her candlepin bowling alley, where they can bowl away their problems. Even women are encouraged to go, and it becomes a place of camaraderie.Bowlaway follows Bertha Truitt and her husband, Dr. Sprague, and all their descendants in this small town in Massachusetts. Every character under the spell of Truitt's Alley has their own demons, their own agendas, their own desires. As the years pass,  the bowling alley must change with the times as well as the aims of those who run it and those whose souls are captivated by the candlepins. Bowlaway has many stories of love and loss, and is handled with tenderness. McCracken's writing is sharp and full of joie de vivre. I had to get out my tape flags to mark pages several times because her wordsmithing was so intelligent. It's getting a special place on my shelf because I know I'll smile every time I see it.  Many thanks to HarperCollins for an advance copy in exchange for my review. It was a privilege to read. 

I've been desperately waiting for a new novel from Elizabeth McCracken for 16 years, and I'm thrilled to report it was well worth the wait. I always hesitate to call her books charming--though this is always the first word that comes to mind--because they are also utterly lacking in the cloying sentimentality typical of so-called charming books. Some writers you read for plot, others for their characters, others for their beautifully crafted sentences. McCracken is astonishingly good at all three, but her sentences--oh, her sentences! She strikes me dead with her sentences. In this multi-generational tale, the character that looms over all others is a woman-before-her-time, (the turn of the 20th century) Bertha Truitt. When she goes into labor, she gets stuck in the passageway, via spiral staircase, between two floors of her house. McCracken writes: "The structure had fastened around her like an exosketeton. That was what happened when you had a baby, she told herself...You became part of the house." Bowlaway is jam-packed with sentences this good and better. Elizabeth McCracken's prose is always a joy to read, no matter whether she is writing about birth or death, love or grief. Now if only she would write faster...

When a member of my three person Tiny Book Club recommended we read Bowlaway, I was doubtful. A book about bowling? Since I trust this woman's choices in reading, since it was getting great reviews and ratings, I dove in. It was amazing. The body of a woman is found in the cemetery. She is alive, wearing a divided skirt, with a gladstone bag beside her containing "one abandoned corset, one small bowling ball, one slender candlepin, and under a false bottom, fifteen pounds of gold." Each of these items play a part in the story.The woman is Bertha Truitt, mysterious, free-sprited, and the most quirky character in a story full of them. The time is the turn of the 20th century. The place is Salford, a small town outside of Boston.This wonderful story is about candlepin bowling, women, men, and three generations of a most odd family. Just as I had settled in to loving Bertha, she dies. It was shocking! Not a spoiler but I would not have told you except it is mentioned in the book summary and she had to die to make way for the rest of the story.Elizabeth McCracken, who has written novels, short stories and a memoir, is a wonderful writer. Not a wrong word or phrase or sentence in her almost hefty prose. I am so happy to have made her acquaintance. She has an edginess to her similar to Lydia Millet or Amy Bloom. Her concepts about family reminded me of Ann Patchett. Women's fiction as I like it, without false notes, sentimentality or egregious psychological violence. Yet, her women are sentimental, her men are sometimes false, and everyone is portrayed in all their psychological weirdness, while there is just enough violence to keep you on your toes.All three of us Tinies were rapturously impressed. Bowling (candlepin bowling) infuses the story but it is about life.

This one was a surprise and a delight. I would love to read more of her work.

A breath of fresh air. Ms. McCracken's descriptions, metaphors, adjectives are unparalleled-- in the opening pages she describes "prosperous beavers in their beaver coats" and it is perfect. Eyes are "eely", candlepin balls are the size of "hissing cartoon bombs". Perfection. I could read this again and again just for the language... but the story is great, too! Quirky New England folks for days, a creepy house, bowling, a wooden (mostly) effigy, and even a bog devil. What's not to love? Highly recommended.

“Our subject is love because our subject is bowling. Candlepin bowling. This is New England, and even the violence is cunning subtle. It still could kill you.”“He was born in a bowling alley, and he planned to die in one.”“...grief looks like nothing from the outside, it looks like surrender, but in fact it is the most terrible struggle. It is friction. It is a spiritual grinding, and who's to say it cannot produce a spark and heat that, given fuel could burn a good man to the ground.”Bertha Truitt, is a stranger to the town of Salford, Massachusetts. She is found unconscious in a cemetery, with no idea, where she came from. She becomes an unforgettable force in this small New England town, as she starts the area's first bowling alley. She is smart, scrappy and far ahead of her time. She is the foundation of this novel, which begins around the turn of the century and follows this family and the other bowling alley participants, as they move through the following decades. McCracken's writing is stellar throughout and she has populated her novel with many memorable characters, that you will have a hard time shaking off. Her storytelling style may not appeal to all readers but for those that relish this approach, will have spend a fine time in Salford.