The Lincoln Highway: A Novel

by Amor Towles

Hardcover, 2021

Call number

FIC TOW

Collection

Publication

Viking (2021), Edition: 1st Edition, 592 pages

Description

"The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction-to the City of New York. Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles's third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member weird_O
The title says it—The Lincoln Highway. It was the first coast-to-coast route in America, named for the president who led the fight to keep the nation united, stretching from New York's Times Square to San Francisco's Lincoln Park. Driving across the country was an epic adventure when the highway
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was built in the teens and twenties. By the early 1950s, the time of Amor Towles' book titled for the route, the tour was not as epic, but nevertheless it was an adventure.

The Lincoln Highway, the book, is a "road novel", a quintessentially 20th-century American form, the essence of which is exploration and adventure. The youngest of Towles' adventurers totes the guidebook, refers to it often, and shares its information with anyone who'll listen. Professor Abacus Abernathe' Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers has 26 chapters extolling the accomplishments of 25 adventurous travelers, real and imagined. Among its exemplars are Achilles, Galileo, Hercules, Ishmael, Jason, Lincoln, Sinbad, and Ulysses. (The 26th chapter, titled You, is for the reader to write his or her own story.)

The journey on the Lincoln Highway will begin in Morgen, Nebraska, and carry two brothers west to either Texas or California. The pair, 18-year-old Emmett Watson and 8-year-old Billy, are leaving their home following their father's death and the bank's foreclosure on the house and farm. (Their mother abandoned the family years earlier, fleeing west along the same route, all the way to San Francisco.) Their transport will be Emmett's blue 1948 Studebaker Land Cruiser, which was stored in the barn while it's owner was serving time in a juvenile detention facility in Kansas. Emmett, taunted by a bully, punched him out, and when the bully fell, he hit his head on a cement block and died. Charged with involuntary manslaughter, Emmett ended up incarcerated, but has been released early, driven across two states by the warden to his home.

As the brothers check out the Studie one last time, two figures greet them from the Barn doorway. Uh oh. The two are fellow inmates who stowed away in the trunk of the warden's car. They—Duchess and Woolly— are looking for transportation to New York, and they can see Emmett has got it. Duchess and Woolly are hopeful, optimistic. Emmett is infuriated. He does agree to shuttle them east to Omaha's train station. Then…

—You mean the Studebacker?
 Emmett was standing alone in Sister Agnes's office talking to Sally on the phone.
—Yes, he said. The Studebaker.
—And Duchess took it?
—Yes.
 There was silence on the other end of the line.
—I don't understand, she said. Took it where?
—To New York.
—New York, New York?
—Yes. New York, New York.
—And you're in Lewis.
—Nearly.
—I thought you were going to California. Why are you nearly in Lewis? And why is Duchess on his way to New York?

Here's why. Woolly's given name is Wallace Wolcott Martin. He's the scion of an old-money family with a home on the upper east side of Manhattan as well as a property in the Adirondacks, to which they retire in the summer months. They call it a "camp" though it isn't a clearing in a forest with a campfire site surrounded by spots where tents are set up. Rather, it is a mansion with "rustic"—wink wink—decor. Great-grandfather's office there has a sturdy wall safe, wherein $150,000 in cash is stacked, and Woolly perceives it to be his inheritance. He plans to split the cash evenly amongst himself, his friend Duchess, and the guy with the car who'll drive them to the camp (from Nebraska), Emmett.

With the appearance of Duchess, the story's rich seam of the picaresque is exposed. Duchess is a rogue, but appealing adventurer if ever there was one in a novel. He checks most of the boxes on the list of a picaresque character's traits.
  • He's of low social class, but can be very charming and gets by on his wits.
  • He narrates "his" chapters.
  • To him, the trip is just a series of adventures.
  • His character isn't altered in the narrative's course; he ends as he began.
  • As he sees himself, criminality isn't in him. Yes, he's a rascal, but a carefree, sympathetic rascal.

Read this book. It is long and rambling and tangled with digressions. The characters are many: endearing, inspiring, annoying, self-centered, provoking, duplicitous. Most have stories to tell, and they tell them. It's a road trip, gosh darn it.
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LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
I was enchanted by this novel, not least by the way it so comprehensively dodges any attempt to consign it to a particular genre. Set in June 1954 it follows brothers Emmett and Billy Watson who plan to leave their home in Nebraska, and travel along the Lincoln Highway, America’s first
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transcontinental highway, to San Francisco, where they hope to start a new life.

Their old life has certainly featured many tribulations. As the novel opens, eighteen-year-old Emmett is being driven home by the Warder of Salinas, a juvenile detention centre, where he had served a short sentence for accidentally causing the death of a young man (not without provocation, Emmett had punched him, causing him to fall and hit his head). He is welcomed back to the family farm by the father and daughter from a neighbouring farm. During his sentence, Emmett’s father (who had always struggled to manage the farm) had died, and eight-year-old Billy had been looked after by Sally. She will emerge as a powerful character in the book, driven by a fierce righteousness that has been provoked by finding herself constantly expected to look after men who scarcely even acknowledge her. Immediately upon his return Emmett also learns that the bank is about to foreclose the various loans that his father had taken, and on which massive arrears have accrued.

I am conscious of how much I enjoyed the book, so am anxious not to strew any inadvertent spoilers, so won’t say much more about the basic background scenario, beyond saying that, after having planned to head to the west coast, for various reasons they actually end up travelling east. Their journey will be far from smooth, with a succession of mishaps and pitfalls, but also some extraordinary encounters, and some delightful characters.

Emmett is a finely drawn character, and his attitude to life and his obligations is far from what one might anticipate from a character just released from a custodial sentence. He has a strong moral code, and is determined never again to place himself under a debt or obligation to anyone else. Billy is earnest and erudite beyond his years, but with a very literal approach to life. His understanding of the world is largely formed from his enthusiastic study of a book drawing together a series of stories about exalted traveller, both real and fictional.

Emmett and Billy are joined in their travels by Duchess and Woolly, two of Emmett’s fellow inmates at Salinas. Woolly is from a privilieged background, but has not found it easy to engage with life. Duchess has had a far harder upbring, and while he has his own moral code, it is markedly different in scope, and implementation, from that of Emmett.

Towles delivers the story through sections focusing in turns on different characters, with some first person observations from Duchess thrown in along the way. I have found that this narrative form can detract from a story’s impact, but that is not the case here. The author keeps the story moving smoothly forward, despite the various tangents on which the action frequently departs.

All in all, this is a great story peopled by marvellous characters, and I had enjoyed reading it so much that I felt sad when I finished it.
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LibraryThing member shelf-employed
Not since the time of Abraham Lincoln has the country found itself amid such profound tension and upheaval. And so it is with perfect timing that Amor Towles has gifted us his latest novel. The Lincoln Highway begins in the middle of the country, in the middle of the twentieth century, in the
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middle of the story—or as Emmett’s younger brother, Billy, is fond of saying, in media res. Emmett Watson has just returned home to Nebraska following completion of his sentence at a Kansas work camp. His father recently died, his mother has been long gone, and his family’s farm has been sold. It is time, Emmett thinks, to take Billy and start a new life in Texas. Emmett is stoic and thoughtful; the reader wants him to succeed. It is because of this, that the reader will worry over the arrival of his former workhouse bunkmates, Woolly and Duchess. Their unexpected appearance threatens to thwart Emmett’s precisely plotted path. In keeping with the in media res storytelling style of Billy’s favorite book, Professor Abernathe’s Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers, book sections begin with the number ten and work backwards. Chapters are written from the viewpoint of one of the book’s expanding cast of characters, with every new addition threatening disruption to Emmett’s plans. Chapter titles are the characters’ names and exude their personalities. Woolly is kindly, but naïve due to his upbringing in wealth and privilege; Duchess is loyal and entertaining but recklessly impulsive; Sally is plainspoken but an astute observer of human nature. There are other characters met along the way, and of course, there is the quiet and contemplative Emmett. Chapters end at decisive moments, but the reader must learn the fate of others before picking up the thread again. Often the same event is recounted twice. While Emmett frequently views the rash and seemingly careless actions of Duchess with frustration and annoyance, those same actions when seen through the eyes of Duchess, show that he, too, is a thoughtful follower of a deliberate plan. Even the seemingly witless Woolly acts with purpose. All are moving on the same path towards different destinations and young Billy is their compass, literally and figuratively. Billy’s love of maps and books, his attention to detail and his simplistic sincerity keep the travelers on track as they search for their desires. They seek peace, family, justice, adventure, independence. What better place to search than The Lincoln Highway, the cross-country road named for America’s sixteenth President?
As in earlier historical fiction novels by Amor Towles, fate and fairness are central themes that are relevant in any era. His characters have profound ideas that they acquire through unique social circumstances and often mundane life experiences. Each to our own ability, we are all capable of deep and worldly thoughts about the human condition. We are often at the mercy of circumstances we cannot control; but we are our own drivers; it is up to us how we handle the detours. The Lincoln Highway is a deftly plotted, deeply satisfying drive into the minds and hearts of average Americans.
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LibraryThing member Micareads
After being released from a youth detention center and suffering the death of his father, Emmett decides that what he and his younger brother, Billy need is a fresh start. He dreams of jumping in his car and heading west where he can restore and sell homes. What he didn't count on were the two
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stowaways that came home with him.

Dutchess and Wooly are two of Emmett's friends from the detention center in Salinas who intend to cash in on Wooly's inheritance and start their lives over. After "borrowing" Emmett's car to head to New York the pair find themselves the mice in a game of cat and mouse with Emmett.

Anything that could go wrong with this road trip does, traveling in boxcars, fistfights, breaking and entering, and hard life lessons. Each character in this story learns a little about life and how to deal with the hardships that are placed in front of them. It took some time for me to get used to the four different perspectives but when I did it made the story flow smoothly and I appreciated Towle's ability to tell the backstory of each character so that there was a better understanding of what made them who they are. This is my first Amor Towles' book but it will not be my last.

An important item to note is that the last two chapters or so should come with a trigger warning. There are deaths that I was not ready for and did not see coming. Please take this as a warning to prepare yourselves as you see fit.
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LibraryThing member datrappert
Towles is a wonderful writer. He creates characters that you want to know better and whose emotions you share. His books are filled with dozens of moments of the pure pleasure that most writers manage to achieve only a few times in their careers--much less in a single book. He is also full of
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wisdom and tidbits of esoteric knowledge that serve to give his books a nostalgic feel that makes you prefer their worlds to your own. The Lincoln Highway is full of such moments, wisdom, and knowledge, but it still falls short of his debut novel, The Rules of Civility, and his masterpiece second novel, A Gentleman in Moscow. In both of those books, there is a narrative flow and a sense of suspense at what will happen next, and both books come to very satisfying conclusions--in the case of A Gentleman in Moscow, perhaps the best conclusion of any book I have ever read in my life. So, obviously, I came to this book with very high expectations. It is a bit of a bait and switch, however. Rather than a novel about a young man just released from a reformatory and his 8-year-old brother journeying on the Lincoln Highway to find their mother, who ran away to San Francisco six years before, we get a story about a very different and more perilous journey by train to New York City. And it is a very interesting trip, certainly, and the multiple narrative points of view are well done. But despite all the interesting goings-on and the memorable characters and moments of human kindness and perfidy, the book still seems like a series of episodes rather than a compulsive single narrative. I also found the ending unsatisfying, since it seems out of character for Emmett and Billy, the two brothers, and it also leaves lots of loose ends untied. No spoilers here, but I'm sure you'll have some of the same questions I had at the end. There simply must be consequences to what has happened.

Mr. Towles has written three novels that are all very different in setting--but this one leaves me wanting a sequel to see what happens to Emmett and Billy when they actually take their intended journey to San Francisco. If he writes it, I'll be there for the journey, because despite my criticism here, Towles is probably the most engaging writer working today, and his books are a sheer pleasure to read.
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LibraryThing member Beamis12
A madcap adventure story, a fantastical story set in the fifties, a story about retribution, forgiveness missed connections, and peopled with some outstanding characters. An ode to reading, travel and the family we have, the family we make.

Towels has the talent to entertain with his scenarios, to
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pull a reader into a time period, a situation, to make the unbelievable, believable and to entertain so well that almost 600 pages just flyby. These are characters that one doesn't easily forget, even what one would call minor characters are central to the plot. One in particular is very young, Billy, but at times it seems he has more belief and wisdom than his elders.

I'm not quite sure I understand the ending but I intend soon to go back and re-read, and discussing with Angela and Esil will I'm sure aid in my endeavor. Another unforgettable story from Towles.
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LibraryThing member diana.hauser
The Lincoln Highway is written by Amor Towles.
I am ‘supposed’ to love this book. It is so highly acclaimed. And, yes, I found the writing to be brilliant - so quiet, so measured, so hypnotic.
I learned that there is, indeed, a ‘Lincoln Highway’. Very interesting. I love actual locations and
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historical ‘tid-bits’ in books.
I think Sally is my favorite character, possibly a forgotten or over-looked character to some, but my favorite. She is very special, along with Professor Abacus Abernathe and his Compendium of Heroes.
A book within a book - an absolutely stunning idea - and this book, this Compendium of Heroes, is an important (perhaps the most important) character in The Lincoln Highway.
But, and this is a huge but, I found the plot to be so cruel, so utterly soulless and heartbreaking; so sad and melancholy. The book depressed me to my very core.
I am unsure how ‘to rate’ this book. It is five star writing - I just didn’t care for its depressing spirit. *****
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LibraryThing member BookConcierge
Book on CD performed by Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland, and Dion Graham.

This is a quest and a road trip, a saga of family and friendship, an exploration of morals and principles against temptations which are seemingly impossible to resist.

Emmett Watson is an 18-year-old who’s been released
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from his term at a youth correctional institution. But his father has died and during his long illness he’d lost the family farm. So now Emmett and his younger brother Billy decide to set out for California and a new start in life. But their plan gets derailed when two friends from the juvenile center show up and suggest that they first go to New York, where they can collect a large inheritance. The result is an odyssey worthy of Homer, but rather than ten years, THIS odyssey takes only ten days.

Towles structures the book with alternating points of view, so we hear from Emmett, Billy, Duchess, Woolly, Sally and Ulysses (and a few other minor characters) in sequence. Frequently the same scenario is related by different characters, switching points of view at a critical juncture and sometimes going back in time to explain how we got to this point.

I loved these characters, though I was wary of Duchess from the outset. What a snake oil salesman! But I have to admit he’s a charming bandit. I couldn’t figure out why Emmett didn’t just say “No,” but of course, he had to think of eight-year-old Billy who was beguiled by Duchess and Woolly and excited by the possibility of starting the Lincoln Highway from its beginning in NYC. And Billy, with his beloved Professor Abacus Abernathe’s Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travels has the naïve trust of a child, but wisdom far beyond his years. He’s a keen observer and an astute judge of character.

Towles ends the book with a bit of a puzzle. Leaving the reader to imagine what will happen next, and hungry for more details of future adventures. I’m not sure I liked the ending; I’m left with a huge question about how Emmett can possibly get away from the law now that there is no one left to actually explain that he wasn’t involved. But it’s a fable, after all, and I guess I just have to take it on faith.

Edoardo Bellarini does the lion’s share of the narration on the audiobook, with Marin Ireland taking on the role of Sally and Dion Graham bringing Ulysses to life. It’s a marvelous, 5-star performance by all three!
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LibraryThing member bell7
Emmett Watson returns from a juvenile detention center in Salina home to Nebraska after the death of his father. It's just him, his little brother Billy, and a pile of bills, so Emmett's plan is to pick up stakes and move. Billy wants to drive the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco in their mother's
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footsteps, but then two of Emmett's buddies from Salina show up with plans of their own, kicking off a road trip of epic proportions.

I am trying to wrap my hands around my sprawling thoughts after finishing this book to mold them into a semblance of a review that both does the book justice and doesn't give spoilers. The storyline is a cross between an epic and a tall tale. The narrative follows several different characters - primarily Emmett and Duchess and Woolly, the two friends who turn up on his doorstep with grand plans, but also of Billy, their neighbor Sally, and a few characters that the boys come across in the course of their travels. Duchess is a fast-talking son of an alcoholic actor who could have annoyed me but was really a rather lovable scamp that reminded me of Huck Finn. His buddy Woolly has some troubles and an addiction of his own, but is a generally kind and thoughtful young man. And Emmett, our hero, is setting off trying to make his way in the world. Billy was honestly my favorite. I loved his perspective and his innocence. Towles shows his skill in keeping such a complex narrative readable, creating unique voices for each character, and crafting a book so different from his last. I can see why it made so many best lists in 2021.
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LibraryThing member Beth.Clarke
I love a good coming-of-age story and small adventures that add up to a complete novel. I found each character well developed and naturally loved Billy, the precocious 8-yr-old. Two other things that made this novel special: it's set in Nebraska (my home) and lots of references to The Odyssey
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(which I teach to 9th graders). Oddly, it reminded me of Breathing Lessons with the references to small town American and a road trip.
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LibraryThing member Tytania
Much like A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW; a more ridiculous story, but otherwise, incredibly similar - what is it with this guy and annoying little kid characters?

The protagonists are stoical Emmet, annoying little brother Billy, strangely mentally incompetent Woolly, and pants-charming scamp Duchess.
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Normally a character like Duchess tends to be my least favorite of an ensemble - constantly screwing up plans with his irresponsibility and mayhem. But here he ended up being my favorite, because the competition was so low, and because he was the only one to actually call out Billy as the little "know-it-all" that he was, rather than fawning all over him like every single other person.

And man, I thought this story would never end. Indeed I bet left to his own devices Towles could literally go on forever with digressions and whoopsies and now let's go off in this direction and who stole the car now?

I only read it because it was a gift.
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LibraryThing member brangwinn
I didn’t think I could like any book more than Amor Towles A Gentleman in Moscow, but I like this book a tad bit more. In 1954, three 18-year-olds who met in a Kansas reformatory plan a trip from Nebraska to California, with a joy ride to New York on the way. Emmett Watson, who accidently killed
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a boy who was harassing him. Leaving behind his brother and father, he serves his time. His father has died, and his brother Billy is being raised by a neighbor. The farm is being foreclosed so Emmett and Billy plan to take Emmett’s Studebaker to California and find their mother. Two of his friends from the reformatory have hidden in the trunk of the Warden’s car when he brought Emmett home. These two, Duchess and Woolly, are quite the pair and insist they go with Emmett and Billy. 8-year-old Billy is bright. He loves the idea of following the Lincoln Highway. In fact, at times he’s the most intelligent person on this road trip, which involves the theft of the Studebaker, learning the ways of being a hobo. Storytelling at it best is in this book, but its more than a story it’s also a lesson about life, and librarian that I am, I also see it as telling the importance of listening and books. At first, disappointed in how the book was ending, by the time I reached the last sentence, I knew the ending was the perfect finale for one of my favorite books of the year.
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LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35
This novel is a combination of humor and malice - three men are on the road, each with their own story and baggage. At times, they are friends and at others, they work against each other. All of which comes to a conclusion that left me feeling edgy and uncomfortable.
LibraryThing member kimkimkim
A half star rates it for me - Not quite 4 stars but better than a mediocre 3. There was so much hype surrounding a new Amor Towles book that I stood in line, as so many others, waiting for a copy. Wondering if I would have missed anything by not reading the Lincoln Highway - probably. This book
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took much longer to read than most and I admit to feeling some anxiety each time I picked it up - concerned how Towles was going to turn the story. Now that I have finished it I am not sure whether I would recommend it but again - probably.
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LibraryThing member Narshkite
I am between a 4 and a 5 on this, and the star rating may change. What won't change is my heartfelt opinion that this is a truly delightful (though not always happy) affecting romp. People will, I am sure, compare this to all sorts of American road trip books, and I suppose rightly so. The source
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material for this though is as firmly routed in Greek mythology as in the American myth. This is not guess, Towles is not subtle about his influences. Achilles and Patroclus are there as Duchess and Wooly (with a little less implied homosexuality), two of the most entertaining escaped prisoners since since Raising Arizona. We have Odysseus (here actually named Ulysses) and Penelope (but a better Penelope who doesn't sit around and wait.) Their part in the story is not central, but rather one of the delightful detours Towles takes us on. Sometimes with long books (this is nearly 600 pages) I get frustrated with detours, but not here. These detours are fun and edifying, and help to create a sense of time and place, and to reinforce the moral(s) of the story. Maybe even more important these side characters all suggest their own larger stories, and my mind went there, thinking about their lives before we met them, and wondering about where they next went.

I often like stories where the "main" characters are the least interesting characters (think Seinfeld) and that is very much the case here. Emmett is honorable, star-crossed, decent, but nonetheless bland, if in an occasionally heroic way. Bland though he is, Emmett is a good offset for Duchess. No blandness there, Duchess is a huge scenery chewing personality, and he is to my mind the star of this show.

My one significant problem was with Billy, Emmett's eight year=old brother, and the one character who influences the behavior of every other character. He had a christ-like thing going on (at least for most of the book) that irritated me. His innocence and impossible intelligence touches all who encounter him other than one truly evil character who flits in briefly. The way Billy was drawn grated on me. I am not entirely sure why. I like plenty of books with the "and a child shall lead them" narrative -- A Prayer for Owen Meany and A Children's Bible spring to mind -- but Billy's aw shucks wisdom didn't work for me. Maybe it was this eight year old midwestern kid's PhD level understanding of myth and honor. Its not like the characters are supposed to be realistic so I am not sure exactly why that unreality bugged me in Billy, but I suspect it is due to my antipathy for entertainment featuring wise precocious children who know more than the adults around them. Don't blame me, blame the little brother in Sixteen Candles. He broke me. I also think I have an issue with giving this the 5-star because I loved A Gentleman in Moscow so much. This was good, but not as good as that. Towles is sort of a victim of his own success here. Anyway, read the book. It's fun.
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LibraryThing member froxgirl
This sweet cross-country journey that almost wasn't takes place in 1952, where a road trip from Nebraska to California is waylaid by a New York City detour. It's told in a Damon Runyonesque voice by the road denizens: Emmett and Billy, older and younger brothers; Woolly, a screwed-up scion of the
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New York 500 social sphere, and Duchess, son of a conman Shakespearean itinerant and drunk. The three eldest have landed in a reform school, and when Emmett's term is up, the other two stow away in the trunk of the warden's car when he drives Emmett home to Billy. His two juvvie friends convince Emmett to take a side trip to New York, where Duchess wants to meet up with his wastrel father and help Woolly to recover a large inheritance. Billy, eight and very wise beyond anyone’s years, wants to travel the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco, where he's convinced he'll find the mother who’d left them years before. But nothing goes according to plan, and the travels by road and rail to the big city are full of detours but also paved with heroic and damaging deeds, doom and glory. It's too long at 575 pages, but pure delight abounds, and the folky wisdom throughout is rarely corny and mostly gratifying. It's light on female characters but the two, Woolly's sister and Emmett's friend, are memorable additions to the cast.

Quote: "Why is it, I wondered, that people born with money are always the ones who say the word like it's in a foreign language?"
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LibraryThing member Doondeck
Seemed a bit YA to start but then the character development kicked in. Reminded me a bit of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. Coming of age with three morally grounded characters and one scoundrel.
LibraryThing member mzonderm
When an author's first book is good, a reader has high hopes for the 2nd, which, unfortunately, often disappoints. Not so with Amor Towles, whose second book (A Gentleman in Moscow) was, in my opinion, even better than the first (Rules of Civility). But one could be forgiven for being even more
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nervous about his third book. He can't possibly keep this up, right? But one should have more faith. The Lincoln Highway will not disappoint.

Towles is very upfront in telling readers that he wants each of his books to be different from the others. Once again, he has succeeded, at least as far as subject matter and character go. But he can't disguise his writing, so fans will still know it's a Towles book, and I think all will agree that it's a worthy addition to his card catalog entry. I'm excited to see what "something different" he comes up with next.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.
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LibraryThing member grandpahobo
The story is good and well told, with lots of depth emotion. My main criticism is that almost every character behaves as if they walked out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Even the ostensible bad guys have a good heart and pure motivations. I was waiting for some significant conflict or issues to
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arise, and they never did.
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LibraryThing member waldhaus1
The reader is left to figure out which classic and to enjoy the telling in all it's delightfulness. It is said the are really only a few plots with all stories and all literature being variants, retellings. Towels is telling us that by making professor Abernathy's book a main character.
Reading
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this was rewarding and I suspect rereading will be even more rewarding,
The characters all come to life for me. In my mind that is the Mark of a well written book. Each character follows the trajectory of their destination. The ending is fulfilling as the characters have followed their personal roads to their destiny.
At first I think they don't all live happily ever after but then I realized they do.. Each characters ever after is his or her place in the story, in the tellers mind and the lenders imagination. The characters of the great myths come back to life in each retelling. They are a form living in our imagination waiting to be recalled.
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LibraryThing member Cariola
I loved A Gentleman in Moscow, so after finishing it, I downloaded a kindle copy of his other book, Rules of Civility. Blah. It ended up being a DNF for me. Nevertheless, I thought I'd give this author another go with his new book, The Lincoln Highway. I finished it, but not without a struggle.

The
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story revolves around Emmett Watson, a young man who killed another by throwing an impulsive punch and who has just been released from several years in a juvenile prison. In the meantime, his father, an idealistic farmer with no talent for farming, has died, leaving his younger brother Billy to be cared for by a neighbor. The novel opens with the warden dropping off Emmett, who has served his time, at home. Unbeknownst to him, two "friends" from Salinas (the prison), Duchess and Wooly, have hitched a ride in the warden's trunk.

Emmett takes his neighbor's advice and decides that he and Billy should move out of town. The bank is foreclosing on the farm, and many of the residents of Morgen, Nebraska still want payback for his mistake. Emmett's inclination is to move to Texas, but he agrees to follow Billy's suggestion of driving his beloved Studebacker to California instead, although he doesn't share his brother's belief that their mother will be waiting for them in San Francisco (based on a series of seven post cards she sent right after abandoning the family). But when Duchess and Wooly show up, they have other plans . . .

The narration shifts among the characters--not only Emmett, Duchess and Wooly but also Sally Ransom, the neighbor who has taken care of Billy and the house; Ulysses and the Parson, two drifters they encounter on the way; Abacus Abernathe, the author of a book of heroes' stories that is Billy's guiding light; and several other secondary figures.

All this may sound fascinating, but [The Lincoln Highway] just didn't click with me. For some reason, I just didn't care about any of the characters, several of which seemed like stereotypes. There were parts that I enjoyed, but long stretches that had me so bored that I almost sent the book back to the library unfinished. Let's just say that, in the end, it was hardly an engaging page-turner or original story like A Gentleman in Moscow.
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LibraryThing member maryreinert
Loved this book, but it was just a tad too long. The characters are memorable and interesting. Emmett Watson has just gotten out of juvenile jail due to the death of his father, an unsuccessful farmer in Nebraska. Emmett's crime was one of temper more than malevolence when he hits a boy who falls,
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strikes his head, and dies. After arriving home and being reunited with his eight-year old brother, Billy, he soon finds that the farm is being foreclosed by the bank. Billy, having kept postcards from scenes along the Lincoln Highway, and Emmett decide to take what money they have and head on the Lincoln Highway for San Francisco to search for their mother who left the family earlier.

Before they can leave, two former inmates from the detention center show up: Duchess and Woolly. Duchess is probably the most interesting character in the book being the abandoned son of a less than successful vaudeville "actor." Woolly, on the other hand, is a disturbed, son, grandson, and great grandson of a very wealthy family in upstate New York who has also found himself in the detention center (the reason comes much later in the book). Duchess convinces Emmett to take him and Woolly back east a bit before heading to California. Here they steal Emmett's car and head for New York City in search of Duchess' farther. Emmett and Billy wind up hopping a train to take them east to find the two boys and their car.

The story is one crazy incident after another first as Emmett and Billy head back east. There are encounters with "bad guys" and "good guys" on the train ride. There are great scenes in New York City not only as they search for Duchess but also as Billy searches for the author of his book about great adventurers and travelers of the world: Ulysses, Jason, Fogg, etc. Meanwhile Duchess continues to get into one scrape after another often just saving his own skin.

The book is an adventure tale, a "road-trip" tale, and a retelling of the adventures of many of the heroes in Billy's book and Huckleberry Finn also comes to mind as I was reading.

The writing is just the best! Clever, never "over-worded", clear, and witty. There's food for thought and laugh out loud events and great lines: "I was the one that baked the lasagna and he was the one who cleaned the kitchen" and "the thumb of reality beginning to press down on that spot in the soul from which youthful enthusiasm springs." This is a great read; the ending was not what I expected and maybe was a bit of a stretch - thus the lack of a half star.
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LibraryThing member hemlokgang
An absolutely charming, poignant story which parallels "The Odyssey". Four boys, brought together by genetics and life circumstances, embark on a journey which takes them from Nebraska to NYC and beyond. The four boys and the cast of characters they spend time with are fabulous. Ulysses, a gentle
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giant whose life parallels that of the epic namesake, and Professor Abernathy, author of a compendium of adventures, are two of my favorites. The plot ranges from tragic, to comic, to poignant, to charming. The story is full of fascinating food for thought, social truths, and so much more. Themes which emerge include love, loss, social status and its absurdity, loyalty, trust and more. Just settle in and enjoy!
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LibraryThing member kayanelson
For me, this book was close to perfection. I loved the story of Emmett, Billy, Duchess, Wooly and all the rest. I felt like I was transported to the 1950’s. Human nature presented itself often and worthwhile musings about people are spread throughout the book.

I over this book because it had a
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great yet simple and straightforward plot, wonderful character development and then the “lessons”, thoughts and ideas.

I have written down and posted on my bulletin board, “Kindness begins where necessity ends.” Indeed these are words to live by.
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LibraryThing member KatherineGregg
In 1954, 18 year old Emmett Watson is released early from a juvenile detention center, and returns to his home town in Nebraska where he meets up with his younger brother Billy. Their father has recently passed away, and the family farm has been sold. Emmett and Billy plan to reunite with their
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mother who left them years earlier and start life anew. The plan (following the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco) is sidetracked when Emmet and Billy discover that two of Emmett's pals from the juvenile center had secretly hitched a ride with the warden and show up at their house. Duchess, charming but dishonest, and Wooly, a naive, kind teen from a wealthy family, derail their plans. A road trip that takes them to New York involves pit stops at former residences, train rides, encounters with a Black war vet, a villainous preacher, and an author of a book on heros and adventures, to name just a few.

The book reminded me a lot of This Tender Land which I absolutely loved. Billy and Wooly are heartwarming characters and the road trip story line make the book hard to put down.
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Awards

Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2023)
Audie Award (Finalist — Fiction — 2022)
Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize (Longlist — Fiction — 2022)
BookTube Prize (Finalist — Fiction — 2022)
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Historical Fiction — 2021)
Read with Jenna (2021-10 — 2021)
LibraryReads (Annual Voter Favorite — October 2021)

Pages

592

ISBN

0735222355 / 9780735222359
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