A review by lgindc
Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken

3.0

What an odd, rambling book. It covers many generations of a family whose eccentric matriarch appears out of nowhere in a small Massachusetts town and opens a candlepin bowling alley. The characters are by turns amusing and sorrowful, envious and boastful, and a series of wacky (often disastrous) things befall them. First novel I've read with a central character who spontaneously combusts. But there was no plot and I got tired of it. McCracken is a terrific writer and storyteller, but I liked The Hero of this Book and Thunderstruck much better.