Amor Towles' Lincoln Highway: A Captivating Novel Exploring the American Dream

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Germany on Oct 04, 2023

Mark Rasdall: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles left me feeling hugely uplifted, not just by the surprising and ultimately satiating story line but by the funny and fascinating characters we met along the way. The Lincoln Highway has all of these same page-turning attributes but I think the truisms of this story made me think more deeply and certainly moved me even more. The last couple of chapters were, in particular, simply outstanding.

Set in 1950s America the story centres on Emmett who returns to Nebraska from a state youth farm in Kansas where he has been serving time for ‘involuntary manslaughter.’ His young brother Billy is waiting for him under the watchful eye of their nearest neighbours. Their father who unsuccessfully chased his farming dream has died and this is a new start for them. Billy is keen to forge their new life together in San Francisco where he believes their mother, who could no longer handle small-town failure, is waiting for them.

Unknown to either of them, two of Emmett’s acquaintances from the same Kansas facility have stowed away in the boot of the car that brought him back. Duchess is on a twisted mission to right wrongs in a very different...

United Kingdom on Jul 28, 2023

Janie U: This book was chosen as my latest book club pick on a wave of enthusiasm prompted by several people having loved A Gentleman in Moscow. I had read that book as well and not enjoyed it at all so started this novel cautiously.
The 1950s in America was an optimistic time and opportunities were available to all, so I was curious to see what this author would do with youngsters trying to escape their lives and explore new worlds.
The book is 576 pages, split into 10 days of action with perspectives being included from many of the characters.
I thought the setting works well, with the age of the boys (men?) giving a balance of innocence and experience. They've all lived through tough times and have learnt to survive in different ways.
First and third person narratives are used, effecting how the reader engages. Emmet is our main protagonist and we observe him in the third person whereas Duchess (the baddie?) is in the first person, encouraging more empathy - Billy seems to go along with anyone around him and never has his own voice.
I love the pace of the book and read it really quickly which may have had a detrimental effect on my enjoyment of the lovely...

United Kingdom on Jan 21, 2023

Rocky Macy: The time was June of 1954, the place was a bankrupt farm in rural Nebraska, and the two central characters in this work of fiction were the Watson brothers, Emmett who was eighteen and his little brother Billy, who was eight. Emmett had been serving a sentence at a boy's reformatory for his part in the unintentional death of a local bully, but when his father died of cancer, a decision was made to release Emmett so that he could return home to care for his little brother.

Billy had been staying with neighbors awaiting his brother's return, while the bank had been preparing foreclosure documents on the family property. The neighbors were Sally, a nineteen-year-old friend of the Watson's, and her father. Sally was plainspoken to a fault and somewhat resentful of her lot in life - which seemed to be taking care of her father until some other man for her to take care of would come along, but she cared for Billy with the fierceness of a mother hen watching over her only chick.

As the story opened, Emmett, who had been serving his sentence on a work farm in Salina, Kansas, was being driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the reformatory. Emmett had plans to pick up his...

United States on Nov 08, 2022

MM Reviewer: It took a long time for me to make it to the ‘Lincoln Highway’ and what a long winding road / read it was, but what an adventure and what a touching exploration of human nature with this intricate character study from the master storyteller that is Amor Towles.

A mix of very ordinary and extraordinary events shape the lives of two brothers and two uninvited travelling companions, and with a hint of tragedy looming and a sense of the inevitable you know fate will play its part.

Once again, I find myself asking the same question about an Amor Towles book. Why do I love this so much and the answer is the same? I just do!! There is nothing sensational about the plot, the language, or its characters, but there is something sensational about the way the stories are perfectly nuanced, the characters are intimately observed, and the story is beautifully written.

The Plot (skip if you have read the book)

The year is 1954 when the story begins with a warden releasing 18 year old Emmett Watson from a detention centre for involuntary manslaughter. After serving 15 months, Emmett is released on compassionate grounds after the death of their father to care for...

United Kingdom on Sep 04, 2022

James Brydon: 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 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...

United Kingdom on Dec 10, 2021

CS: ’...for most people, it doesn’t matter where they live. When they get up in the morning, they’re not looking to change the world. They want to have a cup of coffee and a piece of toast, put in their eight hours, and wrap up the day with a bottle of beer in front of the TV set. More of less, it’s what they’d be doing whether they lived in Atlanta, Georgia, or Nome, Alaska. And if it doesn’t matter for most people where they live, it certainly doesn’t matter where they’re going.'

'That’s what gave the Lincoln Highway its charm.'

'When you see the highway on a map, it looks like that Fisher guy Billy was talking about took a ruler and drew a line straight across the country, mountains and rivers be damned. In so doing, he must have imagined it would provide a timely conduit for the movement of goods and ideas from sea to shining sea, in a final fulfillment of manifest destiny. But everyone we passed just seemed to have a satisfied sense of their own lack of purpose.Let the road rise up to meet you, say the Irish, and that’s what was happening to the intrepid travelers on the Lincoln Highway. It was rising up to meet each and every one of them,...

United States on Oct 09, 2021