From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Lincoln Highway

Amor Towles

Start date: November 15, 2022

Finish date: December 15, 2022

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Carol

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Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
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What Members Thought

Apr 18, 2022 Sheila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is the third piece by Towles that I have read, they are all different, they are all well written. In The Lincoln Highway the storyline itself is quite thin but it is a storyline packed with tales, a story made up of stories. I loved the way Towles used the device of Prof Abernathy’s Compendium to give voice to Billy, to explore the characters, and to scaffold the whole storyline. So how does one end such a necklace of stories, why with a clasp of course. A completion of the circle with all ...more

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Oct 23, 2021 Linda Aull rated it it was amazing

Shelves: thanksgivingdinnerfiction

Literally everything you'd want in a book. Amor Towles is my favorite writer, in much the same way John Irving was my favorite writer in the 80's. I will read anything he writes!

This book has it all - lots of character development, philosophical standpoint, exciting plot. Just a great read. ...more

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Nov 10, 2021 Rosana rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-books, 2021

This book did not live up to my expectations. I don't want to stop anyone from reading it, but if you never read Amor Towles before, go for Rules of Civility ...more

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Apr 01, 2023 Laurel Bradshaw rated it it was amazing

Shelves: chunky-450, audiobook, new-york, daytimers-book-club, 1950s, travel, nebraska, themes-mark-twain, themes-odyssey, color-rating-purple

A Homeric journey of a book, beautifully told. It invites comparisons with The Odyssey and Huckleberry Finn. I won't elaborate on the plot, since plenty of reviews have already done that. I loved it. My favorite characters were Billy and Ulysses. To all the critics who complained of the improbable plot, I will just say this is modern-day mythology -- a Hero's tale. The ending got dragged out a little unnecessarily perhaps - telling the same events from three different points of view. My book clu A Homeric journey of a book, beautifully told. It invites comparisons with The Odyssey and Huckleberry Finn. I won't elaborate on the plot, since plenty of reviews have already done that. I loved it. My favorite characters were Billy and Ulysses. To all the critics who complained of the improbable plot, I will just say this is modern-day mythology -- a Hero's tale. The ending got dragged out a little unnecessarily perhaps - telling the same events from three different points of view. My book club loved this one, too, and we enjoyed the discussion questions from the author. So much symbolism to uncover, I'm sure I would see much more reading this a second or third time. Hard to let go of the characters - it's going to be a difficult task to choose my next book!

Description: 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 ...more

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Aug 29, 2022 Jane rated it did not like it

Shelves: family-story, geographical, coming-of-age-novel, man-s-story

Loved the first couple chapters; then the story became one about children who are destroyed by government systems that don't function for healing...prisons and orphanages. The book is set up as a cross country adventure, with villains and heroes whose personalities seem pretty much fixed at the beginning of the book. One character, Duchess, pretty much controls the twists the story takes, until he doesn't. Wanted to read this for book club...but really didn't like the characters, the road trip ( ...more

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