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Bowlaway
A sweeping and enchanting new novel from the widely beloved, award-winning author Elizabeth McCracken about three generations of an unconventional New England family who own and operate a candlepin bowling alley.
From the day she is discovered unconscious in a New England cemetery at the turn of the twentieth century—nothing but a bowling ball, a candlepin, and fifteen pounds of gold on her person—Bertha Truitt is an enigma to everyone in Salford, Massachusetts. She has no past to speak of, or at least none she is willing to reveal, and her mysterious origin scandalizes and intrigues the townspeople, as does her choice to marry and start a family with Leviticus Sprague, the doctor who revived her. But Bertha is plucky, tenacious, and entrepreneurial, and the bowling alley she opens quickly becomes Salford’s most defining landmark—with Bertha its most notable resident.
When Bertha dies in a freak accident, her past resurfaces in the form of a heretofore-unheard-of son, who arrives in Salford claiming he is heir apparent to Truitt Alleys. Soon it becomes clear that, even in her death, Bertha’s defining spirit and the implications of her obfuscations live on, infecting and affecting future generations through inheritance battles, murky paternities, and hidden wills.
In a voice laced with insight and her signature sharp humor, Elizabeth McCracken has written an epic family saga set against the backdrop of twentieth-century America. Bowlaway is both a stunning feat of language and a brilliant unraveling of a family’s myths and secrets, its passions and betrayals, and the ties that bind and the rifts that divide.
From the day she is discovered unconscious in a New England cemetery at the turn of the twentieth century—nothing but a bowling ball, a candlepin, and fifteen pounds of gold on her person—Bertha Truitt is an enigma to everyone in Salford, Massachusetts. She has no past to speak of, or at least none she is willing to reveal, and her mysterious origin scandalizes and intrigues the townspeople, as does her choice to marry and start a family with Leviticus Sprague, the doctor who revived her. But Bertha is plucky, tenacious, and entrepreneurial, and the bowling alley she opens quickly becomes Salford’s most defining landmark—with Bertha its most notable resident.
When Bertha dies in a freak accident, her past resurfaces in the form of a heretofore-unheard-of son, who arrives in Salford claiming he is heir apparent to Truitt Alleys. Soon it becomes clear that, even in her death, Bertha’s defining spirit and the implications of her obfuscations live on, infecting and affecting future generations through inheritance battles, murky paternities, and hidden wills.
In a voice laced with insight and her signature sharp humor, Elizabeth McCracken has written an epic family saga set against the backdrop of twentieth-century America. Bowlaway is both a stunning feat of language and a brilliant unraveling of a family’s myths and secrets, its passions and betrayals, and the ties that bind and the rifts that divide.
384 pages, ebook
First published February 5, 2019
About the author
Elizabeth McCracken
36 books871 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Elizabeth McCracken (born 1966) is an American author. She is married to the novelist Edward Carey, with whom she has two children - August George Carey Harvey and Matilda Libby Mary Harvey. An earlier child died before birth, an experience which formed the basis for McCracken's memoir, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination.
McCracken, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts, and holds a degree in library science from Simmons College, a women's college in Boston. McCracken currently lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she is an artist-in-residence at Skidmore College. She is the sister of PC World magazine editor-in-chief Harry McCracken.
Elizabeth McCracken (born 1966) is an American author. She is married to the novelist Edward Carey, with whom she has two children - August George Carey Harvey and Matilda Libby Mary Harvey. An earlier child died before birth, an experience which formed the basis for McCracken's memoir, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination.
McCracken, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts, and holds a degree in library science from Simmons College, a women's college in Boston. McCracken currently lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she is an artist-in-residence at Skidmore College. She is the sister of PC World magazine editor-in-chief Harry McCracken.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,297 reviews
January 14, 2019
My first novel from McCracken, and probably my last if the others are like this.
“Sprawling” is the best word for this book. It spans like 15 different lives, all stemming from one bowling alley in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. It’s weirdly untethered despite everyone being related in some way to each other, and I found myself getting more and more bored as the book went on.
There just isn’t a point. I’ve had this same reaction to books like this before and had I known that Bowlaway wouldn’t have a point, I wouldn’t have read it. It’s just lots of random occurrences in people’s lives. They don’t grow or reflect or overcome anything. Sure, it’s a nice homage to everyday lives, but why would I want that? If I wanted to read about an everyday life where nothing happens, I’d just go experience my own.
“Sprawling” is the best word for this book. It spans like 15 different lives, all stemming from one bowling alley in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. It’s weirdly untethered despite everyone being related in some way to each other, and I found myself getting more and more bored as the book went on.
There just isn’t a point. I’ve had this same reaction to books like this before and had I known that Bowlaway wouldn’t have a point, I wouldn’t have read it. It’s just lots of random occurrences in people’s lives. They don’t grow or reflect or overcome anything. Sure, it’s a nice homage to everyday lives, but why would I want that? If I wanted to read about an everyday life where nothing happens, I’d just go experience my own.
March 9, 2019
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.
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.
January 31, 2019
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/...
“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/...
November 27, 2018
This was an ARC I received from a publisher. I had loved one of Elizabeth McCracken's short story collections (Thunderstruck) so I thought I would enjoy this book. However, it turned into one of those slogs that I ended up forcing myself to power through.
I don't know how to describe this novel because it made no sense to me, but the story mostly revolves around a bowling alley in a small New England town. The bowling alley is founded by the mysterious Bertha Truitt. Eventually it is run by her son, his wife, and various other family members. The plot is so dull I can barely remember it. Characters are mentioned in plotlines that are trickle away, only to be brought back to life a hundred pages later. The language falls over itself with its perceived cleverness. The whole book just drags and drags. Nothing very exciting happens. So much of the story is about characters who are supposed to be full of mystery, but they are mostly just frustrating, and ridiculous.
I was sick of everything by the end of this book, but I was also extremely disappointed. I loved Thunderstruck, and was thrilled when it won literature prizes. I wanted this novel to be great, but it was so terrible I can't see myself recommending it to anyone.
I don't know how to describe this novel because it made no sense to me, but the story mostly revolves around a bowling alley in a small New England town. The bowling alley is founded by the mysterious Bertha Truitt. Eventually it is run by her son, his wife, and various other family members. The plot is so dull I can barely remember it. Characters are mentioned in plotlines that are trickle away, only to be brought back to life a hundred pages later. The language falls over itself with its perceived cleverness. The whole book just drags and drags. Nothing very exciting happens. So much of the story is about characters who are supposed to be full of mystery, but they are mostly just frustrating, and ridiculous.
I was sick of everything by the end of this book, but I was also extremely disappointed. I loved Thunderstruck, and was thrilled when it won literature prizes. I wanted this novel to be great, but it was so terrible I can't see myself recommending it to anyone.
November 27, 2018
A sprawling delight. Like reading John Irving circa Garp and The Hotel New Hampshire, but written by a woman.
June 30, 2019
I loved the breezy, whimsical writing. This book is often touching and funny and wise. Unfortunately, it got bogged down with too many characters and a lot of the book was focused on characters that weren’t even the most interesting ones. Overall, though, it was charming and she’s a great writer. 3.5 ⭐️
February 20, 2019
Actually, 2.5, because it isn't often that a novel has an incident of human spontaneous combustion.
May 6, 2019
I can't believe I'm giving a 3-star rating to a novel by Elizabeth McCracken, for I adored her first two novels, The Giant's House and Niagara Falls All Over Again. I found her to be a tremendously original, creative and engaging storyteller. Bowlaway, however, just didn't do it for me. I gave it three stars for the quality and strength of the writing, but I found the narrative elements and character development to be somewhat lacking. I found as I got deeper into the book and the initial leading characters disappeared that I was becoming less and less interested in the proceedings.
The story begins with the entrance of Bertha Truitt, who is discovered one day lying in a cemetery in a small town near Boston, MA, found by an African American doctor name Leviticus Sprague. They marry and Bertha opens up a candlepin bowling alley. She has a daughter Minna, who is partly cared for by the housekeeper Margaret, who considers Minna to be like a daughter to her.
After Bertha and Leviticus die, the story shifts to the life of Margaret and her two sons, Roy and Arch. This is where the novel started to lose me. I felt that the author did not do an adequate job seguing into their lives, and I found myself bec0ming frustrated with the task of keeping engaged in their lives. The plot seemed scattered and slipshod to me, and there became minimal dramatic interest for me to continue, though continue I did.
The actual writing, the prose, sentence structure, choice of words, and turn of phrases was top-notch, written by someone who has definitely honed her craft. I'm not sure exactly what the problems with her plotting were, and I suspect that if people relate to her characters better than I did they may enjoy the book much more. For me, however, it became tedious.
The story begins with the entrance of Bertha Truitt, who is discovered one day lying in a cemetery in a small town near Boston, MA, found by an African American doctor name Leviticus Sprague. They marry and Bertha opens up a candlepin bowling alley. She has a daughter Minna, who is partly cared for by the housekeeper Margaret, who considers Minna to be like a daughter to her.
After Bertha and Leviticus die, the story shifts to the life of Margaret and her two sons, Roy and Arch. This is where the novel started to lose me. I felt that the author did not do an adequate job seguing into their lives, and I found myself bec0ming frustrated with the task of keeping engaged in their lives. The plot seemed scattered and slipshod to me, and there became minimal dramatic interest for me to continue, though continue I did.
The actual writing, the prose, sentence structure, choice of words, and turn of phrases was top-notch, written by someone who has definitely honed her craft. I'm not sure exactly what the problems with her plotting were, and I suspect that if people relate to her characters better than I did they may enjoy the book much more. For me, however, it became tedious.
August 31, 2018
What a big, sprawling novel this is. It reads like an anecdotal history of a bowling alley, and the family who starts it, grows with it, and feels trapped by it. It’s about the farthest branches of a family tree and the stories we tell about them. But the best part is McCracken’s writing—every few pages a line or a passage will sneak up on you and knock your socks off.
July 22, 2020
This is a story spun around a bowling alley, the first kind, back in the northeast corner of the US, hundreds of years ago. Before picking this book up I had no idea there was more than one kind of bowling, each with its own pins, balls, alleys and experts. Had no idea. (Ten-pin, Candlepin, Duckpin, Nine-pin & Five-pin, just to name a few. . . .)
Generations of characters hover around the old place, in Salford. The story (if you can call it a story) is filled with races, families, types mix and mingle just like families do, with all the quirks and querulousnesses for which they are known. Thrown in, for some kind of commonality, is bowling - the place, the process, the history, the people such as they are, passing through, anchored for generations, or accidentally falling out of the sky. It is a rather loosely organized chaos of free association. The writing reminds me of one of my aunts who finishes sentences, and closes conversational loops no sooner than hours later. . .and because we've all grown up with it, we totally understand her. The delay only adds to the charm of the tale.
More a catalog of characters than a "story" - or maybe a genealogy of a community rather than one family - I was charmed by this. It was hard to stay focused, and I must confess to being lured away a number of times to more compelling books between breaks, but I finally had to come back and finish it.
I will seek more from this author. . . .3 stars, a nice autumn read.
Generations of characters hover around the old place, in Salford. The story (if you can call it a story) is filled with races, families, types mix and mingle just like families do, with all the quirks and querulousnesses for which they are known. Thrown in, for some kind of commonality, is bowling - the place, the process, the history, the people such as they are, passing through, anchored for generations, or accidentally falling out of the sky. It is a rather loosely organized chaos of free association. The writing reminds me of one of my aunts who finishes sentences, and closes conversational loops no sooner than hours later. . .and because we've all grown up with it, we totally understand her. The delay only adds to the charm of the tale.
More a catalog of characters than a "story" - or maybe a genealogy of a community rather than one family - I was charmed by this. It was hard to stay focused, and I must confess to being lured away a number of times to more compelling books between breaks, but I finally had to come back and finish it.
I will seek more from this author. . . .3 stars, a nice autumn read.
February 10, 2019
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.
April 17, 2019
Quirky, yes. Amazing sentences and rambling style and completely enjoyable. If wondering if such would interest you, read the 5 star reviews and then read the 2 star ones. You'll likely find your people. Ha!
November 17, 2018
**** 1/2
Love, love, love Elizabeth McCracken and have been waiting for this one. Solid read but I wanted more Bertha.
Love, love, love Elizabeth McCracken and have been waiting for this one. Solid read but I wanted more Bertha.
May 18, 2019
I just... can’t. At first I thought the writing would get me through, it seemed high quality as well as quirky and whimsical, but it started grating on me as pretentious. Then, I realized that I felt extremely distant from the characters... they didn’t grab me as interesting or particularly relatable. Then, I started getting the distinct impression this was just going to meander and realized reading it feels like a chore.
This is too bad, I remember reading a McCracken short story years ago that knocked me out, so I had pretty high hopes. But this just started feeling like way too much of a slog, so as much as I dislike abandoning books (although I am getting much better about abandoning when I’m just not enjoying!) and not finishing, I’m out.
This is too bad, I remember reading a McCracken short story years ago that knocked me out, so I had pretty high hopes. But this just started feeling like way too much of a slog, so as much as I dislike abandoning books (although I am getting much better about abandoning when I’m just not enjoying!) and not finishing, I’m out.
June 25, 2019
As if dropped from the sky, Bertha Truitt is found unconscious in Salford Cemetery with a bag beside her containing "one abandoned corset, one small bowling ball, one slender candlepin, and, under a false bottom, fifteen pounds of gold." She awakes and quickly gets to work building a candlepin alley in town.
OK I guess. I mean I'm intrigued but it just can't sustain me for an entire book. At the sentence level McCracken absolutely slays, her writing feels turn of the century meets Tim Burton which works in small doses. In aggregate though it can totter to what repeatedly comes up as "twee" and I simply couldn't take a full-length novel of it. I think I would have enjoyed these more as a series of jewel-like short stories instead of the accumulated mass of it all that overwhelms like a flood of molasses. (A plot point here that actually did happen in real life.)
Frustratingly I tried to invest myself in Bertha but she passes the story on to others and we jump from character to character. It's as if McCracken is determined to avoid creating any resolution for any of her characters. Knock the pins down and they get set up again for another frame.
OK I guess. I mean I'm intrigued but it just can't sustain me for an entire book. At the sentence level McCracken absolutely slays, her writing feels turn of the century meets Tim Burton which works in small doses. In aggregate though it can totter to what repeatedly comes up as "twee" and I simply couldn't take a full-length novel of it. I think I would have enjoyed these more as a series of jewel-like short stories instead of the accumulated mass of it all that overwhelms like a flood of molasses. (A plot point here that actually did happen in real life.)
Frustratingly I tried to invest myself in Bertha but she passes the story on to others and we jump from character to character. It's as if McCracken is determined to avoid creating any resolution for any of her characters. Knock the pins down and they get set up again for another frame.
May 31, 2023
2.5 stars rounded to 3
I reealllyyyy wanted to love this one. Sounded like the perfect lady and legacy. Just the execution and everything fell flat for me. Disappointed. The premise seemed great though. I wouldn't recommend.
I reealllyyyy wanted to love this one. Sounded like the perfect lady and legacy. Just the execution and everything fell flat for me. Disappointed. The premise seemed great though. I wouldn't recommend.
February 19, 2019
I didn't finish this, I just didn't like the style of writing.
December 24, 2018
2.5 stars. I wanted to like this book. But it was just *too* quirky for me, in a way that made it feel like it was trying to be.
There were moments of real feeling, and where it managed to convey deep unsettling emotions of the realities of life. It had decently portrayed characters. And the story, or the very intertwined stories, was/were overall good.
And yet...there was somehow both too much and too little at the same time. I almost stopped reading several times, and while I'm glad I didn't, I wouldn't say I enjoyed the experience.
There were moments of real feeling, and where it managed to convey deep unsettling emotions of the realities of life. It had decently portrayed characters. And the story, or the very intertwined stories, was/were overall good.
And yet...there was somehow both too much and too little at the same time. I almost stopped reading several times, and while I'm glad I didn't, I wouldn't say I enjoyed the experience.
March 5, 2019
I took a peek at a few reviews of Elizabeth McCracken's Bowlaway before I started reading it. One or two (positive) reviews suggested that it might 'verge on the precious', so I was on the watch for that. I didn't find it. Bowlaway is, in a word, perfect. This one sentence from a great Buzzfeed article says everything I want to say about the book and the author:
While her output has been steady — and Twitter has been a wonderful place to find her in the meantime — McCracken’s third novel still feels long-awaited and hard-earned. Bowlaway is a sweeping family saga that is spectacularly weird in the author’s trademark way as grief and hope and oddity coexist in the same paragraph or even the same sentence — and are all tied together with a wry little bow.
February 28, 2019
As a girl in the 1950s, I grew up watching my grandmother bowl. It came about like this:
The fire department burned down the house across the street from us, an early 19th c house like ours, one built by a founding family in the area. It was scheduled to be demolished and the volunteer fire department decided to burn it as a training exercise.
My parents and I watched from our second-floor windows as the house became enveloped in orange flames that lit our faces, the heat nearly too much to stand. My father recorded it all on the home movie camera, bought at my brother's birth, so I know it was around 1960 when the house was burned down.
In front of our house was the gas station built by my grandfather. What were they thinking of, starting a fire so close to gas pumps?
And on that newly vacated land, a bowling alley was built. My grandmother, who lived with us, joined a league and bowled with her lady friends. I would go with her to watch the games. I remember having to put on special shoes that always smelled funny. I recall the snack bar, the bright lights, the balls rolling back to us, and especially the noise of the balls knocking down the pins.
Once there was another kid at the alley with his grandmother. He talked about baseball the entire time. I don't know why I listened, I had no interest in Little League or baseball--or in even boys.
Reading Elizabeth McCracken's novel Bowlaway brought back those bowling alley memories. But the novel's bowling is of a different sort than the nine pin I grew up watching.
"Our subject is love because our subject is bowling. Candlepin bowling. This is New England, and even the violence is cunning and subtle. It still could kill you. A candlepin ball is small, two and a half pounds, four and a half inches in diameter, a grapefruit, an operable tumor. You heft it in your palm.
Our subject is love. Unrequited love, you might think, the heedless headstrong ball that hurtles nearsighted down the alley to get close before it can pick out which pin it loves the most, the pin it longs to set spinning. Then I love you! Then Blammo."
from Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
There is it! In the first pages of the novel, the theme laid out for the observant reader to see. We become addicted to the very act that knocks us off our pins--Love--which can even kill us. Bowling as metaphor.
I loved this novel for the many lovely tricks of language and quirky descriptions.
"Joe sat down on the bed and pulled the animal close, one of those accordion cats that got longer when you picked it up by the middle." from Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
And how McCracken sums up things that knock you over with unexpected truthfullness--why didn't I think of that? you wonder.
But sorrow doesn't shape your life. It knocks the shape out. from Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
McCracken tells us that this is a story about genealogy. We read about generations of the Truitt family and the people whose lives they touched.
Just before the turn of the century, a century ago, Bertha Truitt is discovered in a cemetery by Joe Wear, an orphan boy who works as a pin setter in a bowling alley. Bertha is attended to by another visitor to the cemetery, Dr. Sprague, an African American doctor with a penchant for deep thought--and drink.
Bertha has arrived with a candlestick bowling ball and pin and a pile of gold. She builds a candlestick bowling alley, hires Joe, and marries the doctor. The local women come to bowl. Bertha builds an octagonal house for her and the doctor and their daughter Minna.
But tragedy strikes (pun intended) in the form of a molasses flood. The doctor sends Minna away to his people and he slowly lets grief consume him. First, he and Joe fashion a Bertha doll with carved candlepin appendages and a stuffed body.
Joe had hoped to inherit the bowling alley, as Bertha once promised. It is assumed that everything goes to Minna, but she never returns. When a Mr. Truitt comes along saying he is Bertha's heir, showing a family bible with the handwritten family births, he takes the alley over, banning females and marrying a local woman. Their children are yoked to the alley unwillingly.
"When he was a young man the mysteries of the world seemed like generosity--you can think anything you want! Now the universe withheld things." from Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
It is a story of revelations, sudden deaths, marriages, love, and how life slams lovers apart. The characters and plot may be Dickensian, but the truths are spot-on. As one character says, "Lady, lady. All sorts of things happen in this world. This is only one of them."
I purchased the book from the publisher.
The fire department burned down the house across the street from us, an early 19th c house like ours, one built by a founding family in the area. It was scheduled to be demolished and the volunteer fire department decided to burn it as a training exercise.
My parents and I watched from our second-floor windows as the house became enveloped in orange flames that lit our faces, the heat nearly too much to stand. My father recorded it all on the home movie camera, bought at my brother's birth, so I know it was around 1960 when the house was burned down.
In front of our house was the gas station built by my grandfather. What were they thinking of, starting a fire so close to gas pumps?
And on that newly vacated land, a bowling alley was built. My grandmother, who lived with us, joined a league and bowled with her lady friends. I would go with her to watch the games. I remember having to put on special shoes that always smelled funny. I recall the snack bar, the bright lights, the balls rolling back to us, and especially the noise of the balls knocking down the pins.
Once there was another kid at the alley with his grandmother. He talked about baseball the entire time. I don't know why I listened, I had no interest in Little League or baseball--or in even boys.
Reading Elizabeth McCracken's novel Bowlaway brought back those bowling alley memories. But the novel's bowling is of a different sort than the nine pin I grew up watching.
"Our subject is love because our subject is bowling. Candlepin bowling. This is New England, and even the violence is cunning and subtle. It still could kill you. A candlepin ball is small, two and a half pounds, four and a half inches in diameter, a grapefruit, an operable tumor. You heft it in your palm.
Our subject is love. Unrequited love, you might think, the heedless headstrong ball that hurtles nearsighted down the alley to get close before it can pick out which pin it loves the most, the pin it longs to set spinning. Then I love you! Then Blammo."
from Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
There is it! In the first pages of the novel, the theme laid out for the observant reader to see. We become addicted to the very act that knocks us off our pins--Love--which can even kill us. Bowling as metaphor.
I loved this novel for the many lovely tricks of language and quirky descriptions.
"Joe sat down on the bed and pulled the animal close, one of those accordion cats that got longer when you picked it up by the middle." from Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
And how McCracken sums up things that knock you over with unexpected truthfullness--why didn't I think of that? you wonder.
But sorrow doesn't shape your life. It knocks the shape out. from Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
McCracken tells us that this is a story about genealogy. We read about generations of the Truitt family and the people whose lives they touched.
Just before the turn of the century, a century ago, Bertha Truitt is discovered in a cemetery by Joe Wear, an orphan boy who works as a pin setter in a bowling alley. Bertha is attended to by another visitor to the cemetery, Dr. Sprague, an African American doctor with a penchant for deep thought--and drink.
Bertha has arrived with a candlestick bowling ball and pin and a pile of gold. She builds a candlestick bowling alley, hires Joe, and marries the doctor. The local women come to bowl. Bertha builds an octagonal house for her and the doctor and their daughter Minna.
But tragedy strikes (pun intended) in the form of a molasses flood. The doctor sends Minna away to his people and he slowly lets grief consume him. First, he and Joe fashion a Bertha doll with carved candlepin appendages and a stuffed body.
Joe had hoped to inherit the bowling alley, as Bertha once promised. It is assumed that everything goes to Minna, but she never returns. When a Mr. Truitt comes along saying he is Bertha's heir, showing a family bible with the handwritten family births, he takes the alley over, banning females and marrying a local woman. Their children are yoked to the alley unwillingly.
"When he was a young man the mysteries of the world seemed like generosity--you can think anything you want! Now the universe withheld things." from Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
It is a story of revelations, sudden deaths, marriages, love, and how life slams lovers apart. The characters and plot may be Dickensian, but the truths are spot-on. As one character says, "Lady, lady. All sorts of things happen in this world. This is only one of them."
I purchased the book from the publisher.
February 14, 2019
Book buzz spread like fire when the release of Bowlaway was announced. I hate to admit that I hadn't read a single word from Elizabeth McCracken before but appreciated the fervor readers have for the author.
Bowlaway certainly pulled me in with this first line:
"They found a body in the Salford Cemetery, but aboveground and alive."
And so begins a sweeping family saga full of quirky characters.
We are introduced to Bertha Truitt, the mysterious woman found in the cemetery with nothing more than a bowling ball, candlepin, and several pounds of gold. Dr. Leviticus Sprague and young Joe Wear are the first people in town to lay eyes on Bertha and it will change their lives forever.
Bertha arrives as if she fell from the sky and everyone is amazed by and stranglely drawn to the mysterious woman who never speaks of her past. She simply appears one day and shakes up the sleepy town of Salford and its people by marrying Dr. Sprague, building a strange octagonal house, and opening a candlepin bowling alley called Truitt Alleys managed by Joe Wear.
Just when I was settling into the odd story of Bertha, she died in a freak (and historically accurate) accident involving a flood of molasses. Her husband Leviticus mourns her death, sending away their teenaged daughter Minna to live with his family in Canada, which causes their longtime housekeeper Margaret to grieve over the loss of the child she helped to raise.
Just when I was beginning to shake off the sudden death of Bertha, Leviticus Sprague up and died in a bizarre way.
Enter Nahum Truitt, a man claiming to be the long lost son of Bertha Truitt and rightful heir to Truitt Alleys. He marries Margaret (Bertha and Leviticus's former housekeeper) and together they have two sons, Roy and Archer. Joe Wear disappears, leaving Jeptha Arrison as the only remaining original employee at Truitt Alleys.
Just when I was getting into this story that now had a completely different cast of characters, Nahum disappears and leaves his family to continue running the bowling alley. Roy grows up and sets off on his own but Archer marries a local girl once he returns home from war and together they update Truitt Alleys and rename it Bowlaway.
Years later, through family drama, disasters, and secrets; Bertha Truitt's last will and testament is found and it's the key to (literally) unlocking an old safe in the basement of the bowling alley.
Bowlaway is a look at a small town, a family, and their inheritance. I adore quirky stories but I was bummed that every time I settled into a character's storyline they up and died or disappeared!
We are introduced to many people, all connected and centered around the bowling alley, learn the random events of their lives, but I couldn't connect with the story because of how often central characters were pulled in and out.
The writing was surprising and absolutely lovely at times:
"The future is coming. It always is. We have generations to get through first, marriages and divorces and widowhoods and re-marriages, the yoking of families, the unyoking. The disappeared and misattributed. The pathetic life spans of dead children, the greedy awful life spans of the very old
...
You will be born soon. You're promised. What damage you'll do to the family tree is in your hands."
I enjoyed the well crafted descriptions and eccentricity but the abrupt introductions and dismissals of characters left me uninvested in their lives and connections.
If you're a huge fan of multi-generation family sagas and a whole lot of quirk, Bowlaway is worth a try!
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
Bowlaway certainly pulled me in with this first line:
"They found a body in the Salford Cemetery, but aboveground and alive."
And so begins a sweeping family saga full of quirky characters.
We are introduced to Bertha Truitt, the mysterious woman found in the cemetery with nothing more than a bowling ball, candlepin, and several pounds of gold. Dr. Leviticus Sprague and young Joe Wear are the first people in town to lay eyes on Bertha and it will change their lives forever.
Bertha arrives as if she fell from the sky and everyone is amazed by and stranglely drawn to the mysterious woman who never speaks of her past. She simply appears one day and shakes up the sleepy town of Salford and its people by marrying Dr. Sprague, building a strange octagonal house, and opening a candlepin bowling alley called Truitt Alleys managed by Joe Wear.
Just when I was settling into the odd story of Bertha, she died in a freak (and historically accurate) accident involving a flood of molasses. Her husband Leviticus mourns her death, sending away their teenaged daughter Minna to live with his family in Canada, which causes their longtime housekeeper Margaret to grieve over the loss of the child she helped to raise.
Just when I was beginning to shake off the sudden death of Bertha, Leviticus Sprague up and died in a bizarre way.
Enter Nahum Truitt, a man claiming to be the long lost son of Bertha Truitt and rightful heir to Truitt Alleys. He marries Margaret (Bertha and Leviticus's former housekeeper) and together they have two sons, Roy and Archer. Joe Wear disappears, leaving Jeptha Arrison as the only remaining original employee at Truitt Alleys.
Just when I was getting into this story that now had a completely different cast of characters, Nahum disappears and leaves his family to continue running the bowling alley. Roy grows up and sets off on his own but Archer marries a local girl once he returns home from war and together they update Truitt Alleys and rename it Bowlaway.
Years later, through family drama, disasters, and secrets; Bertha Truitt's last will and testament is found and it's the key to (literally) unlocking an old safe in the basement of the bowling alley.
Bowlaway is a look at a small town, a family, and their inheritance. I adore quirky stories but I was bummed that every time I settled into a character's storyline they up and died or disappeared!
We are introduced to many people, all connected and centered around the bowling alley, learn the random events of their lives, but I couldn't connect with the story because of how often central characters were pulled in and out.
The writing was surprising and absolutely lovely at times:
"The future is coming. It always is. We have generations to get through first, marriages and divorces and widowhoods and re-marriages, the yoking of families, the unyoking. The disappeared and misattributed. The pathetic life spans of dead children, the greedy awful life spans of the very old
...
You will be born soon. You're promised. What damage you'll do to the family tree is in your hands."
I enjoyed the well crafted descriptions and eccentricity but the abrupt introductions and dismissals of characters left me uninvested in their lives and connections.
If you're a huge fan of multi-generation family sagas and a whole lot of quirk, Bowlaway is worth a try!
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
March 26, 2019
Like the balls in a game of candlepin bowling, this book bounced all over the place. Both the writing style and the plot were difficult to follow. What is McCracken trying to say? Therein lies the problem—a dearth of interesting or any themes.
Bertha magically appears in a snow bank in a cemetery where she is discovered by Joe Wear and a “colored” doctor, Leviticus Sprague. She later tells Joe with the deformed head she will leave her candlepin bowling alley to him and proceeds to marry the doctor.
Women adore the sport and come from all over New England to bowl. Bertha’s idea is men and women can bowl away their problems.
The problems increase for Bertha and the doctor. Bertha disappears. Is she dead? Every character in the book has some problem. Does the bowling alley lessen their problems? Or is the bowling alley the source of the problems?
Connections are difficult between and among the characters, the plotting, the bowling alley, and the themes. The book read like a new player learning candlepin bowling—it was like trying to follow a pinball machine game.
I’d heard McCracken was a good writer but I for one will not be reading her older work. This is a novel that promised to be something and then wasn’t.
Bertha magically appears in a snow bank in a cemetery where she is discovered by Joe Wear and a “colored” doctor, Leviticus Sprague. She later tells Joe with the deformed head she will leave her candlepin bowling alley to him and proceeds to marry the doctor.
Women adore the sport and come from all over New England to bowl. Bertha’s idea is men and women can bowl away their problems.
The problems increase for Bertha and the doctor. Bertha disappears. Is she dead? Every character in the book has some problem. Does the bowling alley lessen their problems? Or is the bowling alley the source of the problems?
Connections are difficult between and among the characters, the plotting, the bowling alley, and the themes. The book read like a new player learning candlepin bowling—it was like trying to follow a pinball machine game.
I’d heard McCracken was a good writer but I for one will not be reading her older work. This is a novel that promised to be something and then wasn’t.
April 17, 2019
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.
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.
September 1, 2018
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.
March 31, 2019
Charming and sweet, if a bit precious for my tastes.
Read
June 13, 2019DNF--hoo boy, I did not care.
January 14, 2023
The book starts at the turn of the 20th century, when a woman named Bertha Truitt mysteriously emerges in Salford, Massachusetts, and decides to open a bowling alley there, and it ends about 60 years later, near the end of the bowling alley's life. In the meantime, we have met with many people, all connected to the bowling alley in some way: Bertha of course, her husband and descendants, employees, and patrons.
There is no single main character. People come and go (although we sometimes get a little flash-forward so we know what happens to them later in life), and as such, the book reminded me of The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner, about a 14th-century convent and its succession of inhabitants.
I loved it, and I loved the writing style. I will definitely be seeking out more of McCracken's work.
There is no single main character. People come and go (although we sometimes get a little flash-forward so we know what happens to them later in life), and as such, the book reminded me of The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner, about a 14th-century convent and its succession of inhabitants.
I loved it, and I loved the writing style. I will definitely be seeking out more of McCracken's work.
June 1, 2019
This is a wonderfully quirky family saga revolving around a bowling alley. How could that not be original? And it starts with a woman found (alive) in a cemetery. What was she doing there? Where did she come from? This is Bertha Truitt, who claimed to have invented candlepin bowling. Readers will discover that she'd certainly reinvented herself; the only story Truitt ever gives is the present one. During this first scene, we get a first impression of Bertha, Leviticus Sprague, the doctor she marries, and Joe Ware, who will become an important part of her future business.
Very quickly, it seems, she's built a bowling alley and become the focus of the little town of Salford, Massachusetts. This happens around the turn of the century, when women bowling in public (without a curtain to hide them!) is a bold undertaking. But then, Truitt has also wed the black doctor we met in the cemetery. This may raise eyebrows, but the reaction is subtle.
As time rolls on, the alley goes through changes, as do the people. A series of unpredictable events occur, and the first seemed too strange to be true. I thought the book was taking some kind of mythical turn, but no, it's based on a real event and I'm not going to reveal it. Read it before someone spoils this for you! It's a major plot twist that changes everything. It won't be the last twist.
Bowlaway surprised me in its seriousness. It's about love and grief and it's actually profound. Odd people who go forth and either set up or knock down their lives have stories that are vividly engaging. I rooted for everyone. Well... almost everyone.
The farther I got into this novel, the faster I read. If Elizabeth McCracken intentionally wrote this to be like a ball gathering speed, she nailed it.
I highly recommend this! This was my first experience with this author.
(note: Years ago, my husband and I were visiting Mount Snow, Vermont, and found some random local place to have lunch. I don't remember what we ate, but the place also had a small, different sort of bowling alley-- what I think they called pin bowling. We wound up trying it, and enjoyed it. Spontaneous bowling! Who knew? Too bad I don't remember more about it.)
Very quickly, it seems, she's built a bowling alley and become the focus of the little town of Salford, Massachusetts. This happens around the turn of the century, when women bowling in public (without a curtain to hide them!) is a bold undertaking. But then, Truitt has also wed the black doctor we met in the cemetery. This may raise eyebrows, but the reaction is subtle.
As time rolls on, the alley goes through changes, as do the people. A series of unpredictable events occur, and the first seemed too strange to be true. I thought the book was taking some kind of mythical turn, but no, it's based on a real event and I'm not going to reveal it. Read it before someone spoils this for you! It's a major plot twist that changes everything. It won't be the last twist.
Bowlaway surprised me in its seriousness. It's about love and grief and it's actually profound. Odd people who go forth and either set up or knock down their lives have stories that are vividly engaging. I rooted for everyone. Well... almost everyone.
The farther I got into this novel, the faster I read. If Elizabeth McCracken intentionally wrote this to be like a ball gathering speed, she nailed it.
I highly recommend this! This was my first experience with this author.
(note: Years ago, my husband and I were visiting Mount Snow, Vermont, and found some random local place to have lunch. I don't remember what we ate, but the place also had a small, different sort of bowling alley-- what I think they called pin bowling. We wound up trying it, and enjoyed it. Spontaneous bowling! Who knew? Too bad I don't remember more about it.)
October 6, 2018
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.
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.
November 28, 2018
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...
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