We first met Shannon Olson --- our semifictional heroine --- in Welcome To My Planet. Now, in Children Of God Go Bowling, we find Shannon in her midthirties and still besieged by reminders that her life is anything but normal. Her friends are blossoming in marital bliss, everyone seems to own a home, and even her baby sister is having a baby. Why, in the march to adulthood, has she been left behind?

In an effort to be proactive, Shannon embarks upon a feng shui-inspired campaign to make room in her life for a future --- or at least the hope of one. She joins group therapy (to meet new people), accepts blind dates (hey, you never know), and even gives organized religion a go (with mixed results). Of course, surprises await her in the struggle against anxiety --- and from some unlikely sources.

With encore performances by Shannon's mother, Flo (called "one of the great moms of American fiction" by Garrison Keillor), and other indelible characters from Welcome To My Planet, Children Of God Go Bowling is the heroic, heartbreaking, hilarious story of a woman making her life happen when it doesn't quite happen for her.

This book will be going to the used book store to make room on Mount TBR. Though this book will be long gone, I was able to acquire an electronic copy of this book to read on my Kindle. I will update this space with my review after I've read it.