Bowling Across America
50 States in Rented Shoes
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Bowling Across America is the story of the author's unique road trip across America with a single-minded purpose: to bowl a round in each of the 50 states.
Inspired by his father's unexpected passing, Mike Walsh, a 27 year-old Chicago advertising executive, quits his job to embark on a one-of-a-kind quest. The destination: bowling alleys in each of the 50 states. Though dubbed "career suicide" by colleagues, the endeavor soon touches a nerve among many people--from frustrated middle managers to radio talk show hosts to a woman who merely identifies herself as "Bowling Spice" in an innuendo-laden email.
Conversations and adventures with the people he finds in bowling alleys at all hours of the day and night--retired Maine lobstermen, saucy European nannies, recovering addicts, former bowling champions, college students, World War II vets and lingerie saleswomen, to name a few--combine to form a picture of what America looks like while standing in a pair of rented shoes.
Hilarious, insightful and at times moving, Bowling Across America is an epic journey that will enthrall readers everywhere.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After Walsh's father dies in the middle of a handball game, the young advertising executive quits his job to follow a variant on one of the old man's dreams by bowling at least once in all 50 states. (Walsh tried to add the District of Columbia to the list, but the White House wasn't keen on letting him roll in its basement lanes.) Walsh's story has a string of amusing moments he loses a game against a blind man, has failed romantic encounters in three different states and almost misses his last game because of a stubborn car rental clerk but lacks dramatic tension. From the moment he sets out in the car his mother lends him, Walsh's ability to complete his mission is never in doubt; as soon as he mentions the possibility of a sponsorship from a beer company, readers can safely assume he'll close the deal which simply means he spends most of the trip drinking their beer. It's a clever enough story, but apart from some self-deprecating quips about how women (like his ex-girlfriend) don't really go for unemployed nomads, readers looking for a transformative life lesson will have to look elsewhere.
