The Lincoln Highway (2021) By Amor Towles

 

I loved this book. In my years of mini book reviews, I have said: I recommend it, It was excellent, It was great, but until now I have never said “I loved this book.”

My niece gave me this book, The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles. At first I set it aside thinking it would be a travelogue, a road trip. Route 30, known in most towns in the U.S. as the “Old Lincoln Highway” was the country’s first transcontinental roadway, running from Times Square to San Francisco Bay. It is not Route 66 classic The Grapes of Wrath, nor is it the beat generation’s On The Road Again. While the Highway is a re-occurring theme in the book, there is much more.

The novel begins as its central character, Emmett Watson, is being driven home by the warden to the family’s farm in Morgen, Nebraska having served his time in a juvenile detention school in Salina, Kansas. Emmett’s father had died several months back, his mother had left them many years back. The only family he has remaining is his ten years old brother Billy who has been in the care of a neighbor Sally, since their father died. The farm is being foreclosed on. The only item left to speak of was a Studebaker car that Emmett had purchased in his own name from working odd jobs.

After the bank officer, and a neighbor, have left Emmett and Billy, the brothers discover two guys in the barn. And that is where the story begins. The guys are Emmett’s bunk mates, Duchess, and Wooly, from the detention center back in Salina. They had stowed away in the Warden’s trunk unnoticed, escaping before their time was up.

The main characters, in addition to Emmett are:

Billy: His younger brother, a well-mannered and precocious kid who could be the incarnation of Young Sheldon of television fame.

Sally: A neighbor back in Nebraska who is disallusioned with life.

Duchess: A thespian whose performances have ranged from Shakesperean to circus, and whose father was a vaudeville great.

Wooly: A teenager with the spirit of a six-year-old, and a trust account.

Ulysses: A World War II vet, who has become a railroad “hobo.”

Professor Abernathe: An author whose book Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers plays a significant role in the book.

Forgive me for being stingy with details, but I am trying to not provide a spoiler here, because I want you to read the book.

AmorTowles is the author of the New York Times bestselling book A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility.

Recommendation: You bet.