The Lincoln Highway in Book of The Month

Dec 14, 2022 Lindsey Gandhi rated it liked it

Shelves: botm, books-i-own, 2022-ng-reading-challenge, read-with-jenna

I really wanted this book to be more likeable based on the reviews. But I struggled to get through it. I did like some of the characters... well, really all of them except Duchess. The story just dragged on for me. I live historical fiction, this just didn't do it for me. It held enough attention for me to finish the book which is why I gave it 3 stars versus 2. And I loved Billy. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Dec 05, 2021 Jenn S. (Book Buzz) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2021, botm, gr-choice-awards-2021, read-with-jenna

I enjoyed this read! A little long...I didn't see that the storyline needed the Professor Abernathe character or side story. It was similar to Water for Elephants and West with Giraffes and I loved both of those books! Solid read, my first by this author. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 07, 2022 Janis rated it it was amazing

I do not understand the somewhat negative reviews that this novel has received on several websites. Were the readers expecting the characters living both inside and as onlookers to the glamorous life of the high society of the late 1930s as in Rules of Civility or the reduced life, yet pretentious life, of Count Alexander Rostov who has never worked a day in his life and has been sentenced by the Bolsheviks to live in the attic of the grandeur of the luxurious Metropol Hotel when the Bolsheviks I do not understand the somewhat negative reviews that this novel has received on several websites. Were the readers expecting the characters living both inside and as onlookers to the glamorous life of the high society of the late 1930s as in Rules of Civility or the reduced life, yet pretentious life, of Count Alexander Rostov who has never worked a day in his life and has been sentenced by the Bolsheviks to live in the attic of the grandeur of the luxurious Metropol Hotel when the Bolsheviks ruled Russia? The Lincoln Highway is different, but Towles brings to life the same kind of unique characters in Homeric fashion in The Lincoln Highway. The highway itself does not play a role in the story except that it is a way for eight year old Billy Watson to dream that he will find his absentee mother whom he believes lives in San Francisco. Similar to George Washington’s Rules of Civility on which Tinker Grey tries to model his life, Towles uses the motif of Abraham Lincoln’s ideal of hope and healing for the country to motivate Billy’s journey and his older brother Emmett’s fight with himself to control his fatal flaw of anger. Emmett’s anger has caused the death of a town bully and his incarceration in a juvenile reformatory in Salina. When released for good behavior and the sudden death of his father, two other incarcerated boys hide in the warden’s trunk of his car in which he is driving Emmett home. The appearance of Duchess and Wooly complicates both Billy’s and Emmett’s plans to begin a new life. Duchess wants to drive east to access illegally Wooly’s $150,000 inheritance and Emmett wants to head south to Texas where he believes he can get a good job in construction. I couldn’t help but thinking of the great Ulysses of Homer whom the Greek Gods threw one adversity after another in his way home to find his beloved Penelope after the Trojan War. Towles creates a wonderful cast of characters which Emmett’s and Billy encounter on their journey in a train’s boxcar to find Duchess who has stolen Emmett’s car to get to New York. Duchess believes he is getting revenge for Emmett by clobbering the friend of the town bully who is dead. He believes he is getting revenge for all the boys at the reformatory by stealthily entering the home of Mr. Ackerly, the reformatory’s disciplinarian, attacking him while he slept, and putting him into a coma. This book takes the reader through scary as well as philosophical, humorous, and sad experiences and concludes with a whopping climax and the perfect ending, which has caused some readers to pause with confusion while others praise it for a well written and authentic life story. ...more

Like · see review