The Lincoln Highway: A Novel

Life is a Highway I very much enjoyed this book club read about four young adults traversing the American countryside in search of redemption from the past and hope for the future. However, I felt largely dissatisfied by endings in the novel, knocking my rating down one star. One character's end shocked me and invoked tears. Another's ending angered me, seeming pointless and mean. And there were multiple storylines that felt unfinished--puzzling in a 16-hour audiobook. Emmett is an 18-year-old Kansas farm boy recently released from a work camp after pleading guilty to a manslaughter charge. Duchess and Woolly are fellow prisoners who escaped, complicating Emmett's plan to escort his younger brother, Billy, toward a better future. Their madcap travels hearken back to American classics like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Of Mice and Men. I had the most fun with the character of Duchess, who got his nickname from his father's Shakespearean introductions. Duchess is naughty, unpredictable, and honorable all at once. It seemed like the author enjoyed writing his character so much that he gave up and rushed the ending once he decided Duchess's fate. In addition to several memorable quotes, this insight that forms the basis of interpersonal theory of psychology rings very true for me: "Because young children don't know how things are supposed to be done, they will come to imagine that the habits of their household are the habits of the world. If a child grows up in a family where angry words are exchanged over supper, he will assume that angry words are exchanged at every kitchen table. But if a child grows up in a family where no words are exchanged over supper at all, he will assume that all families eat in silence." The main audiobook narrator, Edoardo Ballerini, was excellent. A great book club pick!

Billy captured my heart. The ending surprised me, but it’s making more and more sense as I ponder.

A delightful journey through the eyes of wonderful characters

I anticipated a long and difficult read, based upon what other members of my book club had told me. But what I found instead was a story so rich and purposeful, I didn't want a single chapter to end!

Like another of my favorite books, The Shadow of the Wind, paragraphs in The Lincoln Highway do not meander along to the next point in the next paragraph. Instead, the point of the paragraph has been lovingly created such that skimming through the paragraphs would be an insult to the author, who gives intent and purpose to each carefully crafted and delightful to read sentences.

If you haven't taken a journey to or on the Lincoln Highway with Mr. Towles' complex and compelling cast of characters, head back several decades ago, and enjoy a ride you won't soon forget as I'm sure you'll come to love as I did, Emmett and his brother Billy, and everyone involved in their travels!

Not super exciting - took me a bit to get into. Not terrible.

Another terrific novel

He's done it again. Towels has written a complex, insightful novel in his incomparable style. Great from beginning go end!