Karen’s Pick
December 2021
The Lincoln Highway
Amor Towles
Viking October 1, 2021
Spanning a period of just 10 days, Amor Towles’s new novel is a bit like a Shakespearian play, complete with tragic hero(s), actually several, the eternal conflict of good vs. evil, and a fated outcome. Set in Nebraska in the 1950’s,18-year-old Emmett, a farm boy who is recently released from a correctional facility and his 8-year-old boy-genius brother are determined to find a new life, and their mother who is believed to be in California, after the death of his father and the foreclosure of the family farm. They will do this by way of the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental road in the United States. Their route is not direct, nor without adventure.
Towles is an exceptional storyteller who has crafted a beautiful book. By using jargon and phrases, indicative of the1950’s, he creates a deep sense of time and place in a nostalgic America. He is a wordsmith that paints scenes so vivid and descriptive that the reader can easily visualize the story. His choice of characters is perfect. They are charming and contemptuous, thoughtful and inconsiderate, dreamers and delinquents. These memorable characters are unlikely heroes as well as being unexpected villains. Having the story told by the five main characters in alternating chapters provides the needed insight into their behaviors. The author makes the masterful choice of having young Billy read stories of real and mythical heroes from his favorite book, Compendium of Heroes, Adventures, and Other intrepid Travelers by Professor Abacus Abernathe that are aptly woven into the travel “encounters” of the group and moves the story along.
During one of the encounters, Billy is rescued by a wandering boxcar hobo named Ulyssess. Billy asks him, “Were you in a war? Did you sail across the sea? Did you leave a wife and son behind?” Yes, answers Ulyssess. Billy then opens his book and reads of the Great Ulysses’ long and perilous journeys on the sea as he attempts to find his way back home and to his family! After closing the book, Boxcar Ulyssess quietly wept.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this book is it is written by the same author who penned The Rules of Civility, and A Gentleman in Moscow. How could three same-authored books be so different? If you have read either of Towles previous books, do not expect the same formal writing style, or confuse this simple story as a liability on the part of the author.
The Lincoln Highway, albeit colloquial, is the work of a skilled and elegant writer.
I give this book 5 Stars!