The Lincoln Highway: A Novel

Amor Towles

Oct 2021 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

More than ONE MILLION copies sold

A TODAY Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick

A New York Times Notable Book, and Chosen by Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Bill Gates and Barack Obama as a Best Book of the Year

“Wise and wildly entertaining . . . permeated with light, wit, youth.” —The New York Times Book Review
 
“A classic that we will read for years to come.” —Jenna Bush Hager, Read with Jenna book club
 
“Fantastic. Set in 1954, Towles uses the story of two brothers to show that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope.” —Bill Gates

“A real joyride . . . elegantly constructed and compulsively readable.” —NPR

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. “Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes. Towles is not a one-trick pony. Like all the best storytellers, he has range. He takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys, including The Iliad, The Odyssey, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men. He seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as an interstate highway. But, he suggests, when something (or someone) tries to steer us off course, it is possible to take the wheel.” – Bill Gates

Ratings and reviews

I wanted this book to never end! When I read (and loved) A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW, I worried that I'd be disappointed in any future book from Amor Towles. But, not so! THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY is just as wonderful, though in a completely different way. The title of the book references one of the earliest transcontinental highway routes cars used to cross the United States, running from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, CA. But this Lincoln Highway is not actually the focus of the story. Instead, the book explores the exploits of three orphaned boys who originally meet in a reform school in Nebraska in the 1950s: • Emmett - a well-intentioned and responsible boy whose temper can sometimes trump his best intentions. • Duchess - the street-wise son of an itinerant actor with a deep sense of and commitment to justice. • Woolly - a child of wealth who experiences the world is his own naive and distinctive way. On their travels, these three are joined by Billy, Emmett's little brother, who adds to the story all the innocence, exuberance, blind devotion, and curiosity of a young child. Although there is plenty of action and the four boys certainly have unusual adventures and meet some strange characters, I don't see this as a plot driven novel. It's much more a coming-of-age story for the boys and, for us, coming to know and understand these four main characters, all of whom you will come to love. Author Amor Towles has created four complex, interesting, and fully fleshed out people. Not one is perfect. All are victims in some ways, but also masters of their own fates. If there's one theme they all end up exploring, it's heroism. Drawing on both legend and history, each in his own way ponders what actions make a hero, how is justice best served, and when is it right to enact vengeance? It's a page-turner but also a deep, rich, and thoughtful read that touches both intellect and emotion. And there's plenty of humor too. Don't miss it!

This book is similar to Frankenstein or Othello, in that, Emmett is Dr. Frankenstein and Duchess is, clearly, Frankenstein's monster. The resemblance to each other is uncanny. This is also a book about how greed is bad. Funnily enough, despite referring to a Highway tons of times, this book has almost nothing to do with travelling. This at first, seems like a disappointment. Then, by the end, it is clear that it is ironic that it is presumed to be about travelling and, yet it is about greed. Emmett and Billy and great heroic characters and Duchess and Wooly and foils to them, in that, they are similar yet a bit more villainous. Emmett is after Duchess and, by the end, their confrontation pays off in a comedic way. All in all, this book has nothing to do with what the cover of it says it does and has everything to do with two characters who represent two sides of the same coin and their conflict with each other.

what a great read and a surprisingly ingesting book with characters that proved to be deep and worth every word the author wrote. funny thing about the tosh trip on the Lincoln highway though. don't want to spoil it for anyone.

About the author

Amor Towles is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Lincoln Highway. The three novels have collectively sold millions of copies and have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. Towles lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.