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mary_goddess_of_oz's review
2.0
I found this book really difficult to follow. I did learn about candlestick bowling however. I came close to not finishing it a couple times. Just not my cup of tea.
impalalove's review against another edition
1.0
Well, the writing was eccentric.
It's everything else. It felt so disjointed, and I didn't connect to the characters (or the plot) at all.
It's everything else. It felt so disjointed, and I didn't connect to the characters (or the plot) at all.
karibaumann's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the first half of this book but when Bertha died (I don’t think that’s a spoiler it is on the jacket flap) I lost interest really quickly.
genizah's review against another edition
3.0
I had a hard time with this one. It sets a fantastical tone, like a New England version of Winter's Tale, and I was prepared for a nice suspension of disbelief. But as it progresses, the narrator painstakingly explains away nearly every fantastical element, and you're left with an oddly told con-artist story. And there are great descriptions of people, but I never really got a sense of the places. Not bad, but ultimately disappointing.
eric_roling's review against another edition
1.0
Ugh. Perhaps I need a new reading rule - if the description or major review of a book uses the word "quirky", that is at least 2 strikes against a book. This was a tedious read, compounded by the author inserting themselves too far into the narrative to tell you how you should feel about each character or event. Don't do that - just tell the story and let me decide if I like someone or think a choice was poor.
bethreadsandnaps's review against another edition
3.0
Bertha Truitt was found in a cemetery, alive but not remembering her origin. She starts a candlepin bowling alley in a small town and marries a doctor, and this novel is about her descendants and people involved in the family bowling alley. A bit of a quirky set-up, reminds me of Ann Patchett and her books with similarly quirky set-ups.
I started losing patience with the novel when it wasn't focusing on the characters I liked, such as Luetta. Time would sometimes zoom ahead at a fast clip to get to Bertha's descendants.
Family is more than blood, and those small connections can be so meaningful. It seems like the general messages of the book became a bit meandering. If I was in the more in the mood for quirk, I think I would have enjoyed it more.
I started losing patience with the novel when it wasn't focusing on the characters I liked, such as Luetta. Time would sometimes zoom ahead at a fast clip to get to Bertha's descendants.
Family is more than blood, and those small connections can be so meaningful. It seems like the general messages of the book became a bit meandering. If I was in the more in the mood for quirk, I think I would have enjoyed it more.
larabavery's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The book was extremely well-crafted down to the letter, but also somehow one of the worst reading experiences I’ve ever had? It was like someone put a bunch of Jonathan Irving, Russell Banks, and Ann Patchett novels into a blender and then arranged the pieces into a book about bowling. Characters waltz in and out, demanding attention, only to never be seen again. Storylines are picked up and dropped randomly. Each paragraph is like an obnoxious musical theater kids constantly nudging you, asking you to acknowledge how clever they are, and the frustrating part is that they are really good, but you’re tired of clapping, and tired of reading about how great bowling is, and all your friends have been killed or abandoned in earlier chapters, and you just want it to end. I wish her well, and she is very good at writing sentences, but I will never pick up another book by this author in my life.
lucymcclellan's review
5.0
I loved this book! McCracken is such an inventive and talented writer. It was especially enjoyable for me because it's a great tie-in to other books I've read: Colin Dickey's "Ghostland," Peter Manseau's "The Apparitionists," and even Olga Tokarczuk's "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead." Books colliding . . . boom!
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.”