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A review by boggremlin
Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
3.0
A sprawling, delightful character novel. I will say the last third or so sprawled a little too much for my tastes--it's like all of the delightful parts were front-loaded, so after a certain amount of time, the characters of Bowlaway were just desperately unhappy--but the prose style was excellent, and there are some laugh-out-loud funny lines (I am a sucker for third-person omniscient narrators). It feels a little like a fable. Albeit a fabulist narrative with a determined New Englander bent. So.
This may appeal to those who liked [b:Olive Kitteridge|1736739|Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1)|Elizabeth Strout|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320430655l/1736739._SY75_.jpg|3263906] or [b:Kitchens of the Great Midwest|23398625|Kitchens of the Great Midwest|J. Ryan Stradal|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1428066565l/23398625._SY75_.jpg|42955214]--or even [b:Blessings|77477|Blessings|Anna Quindlen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390372380l/77477._SY75_.jpg|1121880]. It's got a framing narrative, but there are so many characters, and the book takes place over such a long span of time, that you end up seeing how people radiate out from that center. It's not linked short stories (as Olive and Kitchens both are), but it does explore numerous viewpoints.
This may appeal to those who liked [b:Olive Kitteridge|1736739|Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1)|Elizabeth Strout|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320430655l/1736739._SY75_.jpg|3263906] or [b:Kitchens of the Great Midwest|23398625|Kitchens of the Great Midwest|J. Ryan Stradal|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1428066565l/23398625._SY75_.jpg|42955214]--or even [b:Blessings|77477|Blessings|Anna Quindlen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390372380l/77477._SY75_.jpg|1121880]. It's got a framing narrative, but there are so many characters, and the book takes place over such a long span of time, that you end up seeing how people radiate out from that center. It's not linked short stories (as Olive and Kitchens both are), but it does explore numerous viewpoints.