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kbr0209's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
1.0
This book is so horribly written I can’t believe it got published. For starters it sounds like the author just tried to throw in as many thesaurus words and have the longest and most complicated sentence structures ever. I read that whole book and I have no idea who anyone is or what happened or what year we are in. It is so confusing and nothing makes sense and nothing ties to each other except for a few moments here or there. Like what was the point of that? I truly don’t understand how one could even call that a “book.”
paperknotbooks's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
A quiet contemplative story. Mostly about the humans around the bowling alley. Do other places really not offer candlepin bowling?
mnatale100's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Death of parent, Dementia, Death, Grief, and Suicide
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Sexism
Minor: Ableism, Racism, and Child death
harby's review against another edition
4.0
4.4/ Eliz. McCracken is such a unique and stylistic writer-- a real storyteller. This book takes root and branches off in unexpected ways as we move through time, through multiple generations of a business and family. I thought there were brilliant points made on the nature of genealogy, family, and folklore. I enjoyed the middle and end to the novel even more than the beginning.
manderay's review against another edition
4.0
This book is not a style I would normally be drawn to and I found it to be a bit meandering in the middle, but the final chapter really made the story for me.
terese_utan_h's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
old_murr's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
notaleaf's review against another edition
3.0
This book was odd and very hard for me to finish. I didn’t get into it. I did like the different characters and their intertwining stories but I just didn’t like this style of writing. Not sure I’d recommend this to friends.
districtreads's review against another edition
2.0
Have you ever come into a book as a skeptic, stayed a skeptic, and finished it a skeptic? That’s how I felt about BOWLAWAY by Elizabeth McCracken. It didn’t bowl me away, I guess you might say - if you enjoy terrible puns as much as I do
quietjenn's review
4.0
Really slow getting into it - I started and abandoned it I don’t know how many times before uninterrupted plane reading made it actually stick. But when it clicked, it really, really did.