The Lincoln Highway

I read this book with an open mind. It generously brought to mind William Golding’s Lord Of The Flies. I thoroughly enjoyed how Mr. Towles built his characters. At times, I was frustrated with how some of these characters behaved, but then, that’s how it plays out in real life too. (At times, there is a disconnect between my established persona and the things I do including my speech.) There were parts in the book where I felt Mr. Towles had hastily squeezed in twists and turns to make the situation more complete, but again, these are quite the nuances of storytelling, aren’t they! Detours apart, the story kept me glued to the book till I finished it. This book is truly a classic. I’m sure it will carve a niche for itself in the world of great books. I had intuitively felt this and nominated the book for the Goodreads awards. I was not at all surprised when <i>The Lincoln Highway</i> made it to the finals.

The book had a very promising start. One became invested in the characters and the storyline that was developing. Then somewhere half way through the book, it completely lost the plot. Once the entourage reaches NYC, it became a drag with unnecessary details on the peripheral characters with the addition of a few more. Some of the situations that developed also just seemed to add weight not value to the story. I skimmed through to get through to the end which made one wonder - what was point of it all? Sorely disappointed!

What an absolute delight this book was. I struggled between not wanting to put it down and worrying that it would get over too soon. The characters are beautifully designed and so well connected to their backgrounds. You can understand who they are and why they are that way. You empathise with each even when you find them on morally shaky ground. I found myself cheering for each of them and wishing them success.The end was a bit low for me. Perhaps I wanted a happily ever after for each of them. Perhaps they each got what they deserved. But it did leave me a bit sad.

The story of life is usually the story of a chasing after a dream or running away from a nightmare. In this beautiful story the hero is putting miles from a failure of a family and being met with all the good and bad characters of the world. Lot of history too. Wooly resembles The Idiot in some ways. Like great authors there a brilliance in many places. A reasonable quality book with philosophy flowing like poetry.

A brilliantly assembled cast of characters, fascinating insights into human behaviour, a plot steeped in surprises, a compendium of historical heroes that holds the story together in a unique manner... that's what The Lincoln Highway is.Amor Towles' latest novel measures up to the high standards set in his earlier books.

Interesting read

I got the book thinking it would be a story of the long trek from coast to coast. It turned out to be a story about four ne'er do wells and a lot of inward-looking lectures. A bit meandering, it comes to a conclusion where quite a few bits are left hanging. Instead of the promised San Francisco ending, we are still at New Jersey at the end of the story, Perhaps to allow a sequel.Just OK to read.....

The book is having virtually no main story!Story begins..and it stops!Many unlelated stories emerge.It seems writer had no idea what did he wanted his story to be.Just filling pages after pages.You can start the book..put it down and start again after few minutes..few hours..few days or few months....or not at all....all the very same.The tales in the book are random with no connection to one another.Supposedly main story stays firmly at its place even after 400 pages!I am amazed that some people found it so interesting! I sincerely hope that they actually read it.Waste of time and money.Don't buy it.

Hardcover for $16 delivered to your door, great value!

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 brother, spend a final day or two in the farmhouse, and then head out to Texas with Billy where he would make his fortune buying, remodeling, and selling houses, all financed by the secret nest-egg of three thousand dollars that their father had managed to hide from his creditors at the bank.But Billy had a different plan. He had found a cache of postcards written by their mother just after she abandoned the family several years before - postcards that their father kept secret from the boys. The postmarks and notes on the cards indicated that after their mother left the family she had traveled along the Lincoln Highway, the nation's first transnational paved thoroughfare, headed for California. (The Lincoln Highway ran from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. The Watson's farm was close to the halfway point on the highway.) Emmett had no interest in reconnecting with their mother, but Billy, who was little more than in infant when she left, did. He eventually managed to convince Emmett that California was growing faster than Texas and would be a better prospect for his home renovation plans.All of their plans, however, were thrown into a cocked hat when Duchess and Woolly, two other young men who were serving time at the facility in Salina with Emmett, turned up at the Watson's farm after having stowed away in the trunk of the warden's car just as the warden and Emmett were preparing to leave Salina and head for Nebraska. Duchess was the son of an itinerate vaudeville actor and spent a lot of time growing up on the road and in and around New York City. Woolly was the son of a socially prominent New York family. Duchess, a charming plotter and manipulator, wanted Emmett - who had his own car - to drive them to New York where Woolly would access a pile of cash ($150,000) which his grandfather had set aside for him in the family safe as a "trust fund." If Emmett would drive them, they would split the trust three ways and Emmett would be set for set up to be a major homebuilder in California.Emmett, who regarded himself as far more sensible than the other two former reformatory inmates, declined, but he eventually agreed to go out of his way and take them to the train station in Omaha where the escapees could board a train for New York City. However, while they were enroute to Omaha, Emmett managed to get distracted by another of Duchess's misadventures long enough for Duchess to "borrow" his car - and Duchess and Woolly headed off to New York leaving the Watson brothers stranded in rural Nebraska.Emmett called Sally who came and transported them to the train station in Omaha where Emmett intended to board a train and head to New York City to get his car back, But after Sally left them at the train station, Emmett realized that his money, the nest-egg of $3,000, was still in the trunk of his car under the spare tire. After some careful research, he found an express freight train that was headed to New York City, and he and Billy secreted themselves in a boxcar.And from there Emmett and Billy Watson began a journey which was marked by personal adventures and encounters with characters very reminiscent those experienced by Huck and Jim as they floated down the Mississippi on their raft in a bygone era.The Lincoln Highway is a character-driven tale that is and pulled along through narratives of each major individual in the story. The manner in which it is presented, through the varying viewpoints, enables readers to gain a fuller perspective of what is actually happening, and it adds to the compelling nature of story. The pages, nearly six hundred of them, turn quickly.While The Lincoln Highway, is a very satisfying reading experience, the plotting is far from predictable and it keeps the reader's attention with unexpected twists and turns, much like any drive along an unfamiliar road. It's a book that is hard to put down, and a story that is difficult to quit. While The Lincoln Highway almost begs a sequel, I hope that does not happen because a furtherance of this tale would only serve to dilute its magnificent impact.This is a wonderful story, Mr. Towles. Your countless accolades are well deserved!

This book was chosen for my Book Group. I hadn't heard anything about the book or author and I really enjoyed the book. The characters were well developed, the plot was interesting and engaging without being overstretched and the writing style was just lovely in places.I didn't like the decision not to use speech marks as I think new/young readers absorb the punctuation just by reading and enjoying the story. That apart, I really enjoyed this book and it got a good deal of discussion in group which isn't always the case in our group.All members actually read the book which is another point in its favour.I am very glad that someone picked this for our group as I really enjoyed it. I am considering reading it through again just because I was interested in the plot but also the style of writing - apart from missing punctuation!

A wonderful saga, well written as always. Highly recommended.

Alles Gut.