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.

The characters were so endearing to me! This is my first read by Amor Towels so want to read his other best sellers soon. I appreciated the writing of the story in medias res, and then explaining what that is. Disappointed that one character has an unhappy ending, with one finished business as well. What an adventure!

Different writing style but once you get used to it, it's so captivating

3.5 / 5, rounded down for GR

I thought this book was a good tale, and a well told story, but I finished it and didn't feel like there was REALLY much of a point / plot. So many things were left unresolved that although I loved the characters and the adventure, I felt like it just ended without much ado