Bowlaway

"A story equal parts sorrow and wonder, magical realism and cold, hard reality.... McCracken's gift is to deliver that pain wrapped in astounding sentences and characters who leap off the page.... The book is best read pen in hand, ready to underline standout sentences." --Texas Observer "Every now and then, a novel reinvents the language of storytelling in dazzling ways.... A comic marvel... The master stylist uses the offbeat lilt of fairy tales to spin a quintessentially New England saga.... Rolls a strike right through the heart of the American epic."--O, the Oprah Magazine "If you think 100 years is an awful lot of time to spend in a small, family-owned and operated bowling alley, think again. In fact, bowling offers the perfect narrative arc.... [McCracken writes, ] 'Turn the page!' Believe me, you will."--Bustle "McCracken's delightful prose and rich historical details make this the perfect book to get lost in."--Real Simple "McCracken's newest novel, a 20th-century family epic centered on candlepin bowling, is populated by strange, excellent characters, and unfolds with all the offbeat coziness and heartache of a great American fable: molasses floods, workplace fires, surprising heirs, and all."--Vanity Fair "Reading Elizabeth McCracken--the gorgeously-put-together sentences parading the pages like models on a Paris runway; the crazy, original insights; the definitive, wholly fictional pronouncements--is like going on an automotive safari. . . . I could not stop reading."--Newsday "In an enthralling, magical story that spans generations, award-winning writer McCracken imbues a candlepin alley with the ability to bowl over sexism."--Ms. magazine "Elizabeth McCracken's Bowlaway is so deliciously weird and wise and alive. It's a page-turner set in a bowling alley, a grief-haunted and hope-raddled book, and a gloriously fresh paean to the 'perversity of love.' I loved it--what a generous pour of humor and sorrow and wonder."--Karen Russell ""To tell a good tale, you need drama--and in this area, Bowlaway spares no expense.... McCracken's prose is well-tooled, hilarious and tender, thoughtful and jocular. Her characters inhabit their world so completely, so bodily, that they could've truly existed."--BookPage (starred review) "Bowlaway snatches up every individual that finds joy or tragedy in proximity to the bowling alley and allows them to be observed tenderly and precisely.... McCracken's love of language is the catching kind.... In Bowlaway, the journey through McCracken's lush, piercing prose is the destination."--Austin Chronicle "Wonderful and weird.... For fans of Elizabeth Strout and Fredrik Backman, Bowlaway, much like Bertha Truitt, is just kooky and charming enough to work."--PureWow "Wildly entertaining... [A] wonderfully unpredictable multi-generational saga which revolves around a Massachusetts bowling alley.... Bowlaway celebrates the oddest of oddballs and the freakiest of freak accidents with wit and heart. To read McCracken's inimitably clever sentences and follow her quirky narrative twists is to be constantly delighted."--NPR "Whimsical, enchanting.... The sort of novel with which you fall in love.... Every page seems to provide the kind of writing that makes a reader stop cold, savoring the moment.... [Bowlaway] takes your hand and hurries you into an inviting, curious world, leaving you happily bereft at its end."--Seattle Times "Elizabeth McCracken marries the everyday with the otherworldly. Her electrifying voice brings to life a cast of bizarre characters who lean on, help and flee one another.... Heartbreaking and beautiful.... Bowlaway is an epic of the wins and losses that make up the average life."--Paste Magazine "It's impossible not to fall under McCracken's spell. Bowlaway is a rare treasure, a perfect and precious gift."--Nashville Scene

Elizabeth McCracken is the author of six books, including Bowlaway, Thunderstruck & Other Stories (winner of the 2014 Story Prize and long-listed for the National Book Award), and The Giant's House (a National Book Award finalist). Her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, won three Pushcart Prizes, a National Magazine Award, and an O. Henry Prize. She has served on the faculty at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and currently holds the James Michener Chair for Fiction at the University of Texas at Austin.