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.
So glad you loved it! I do too!
ReplyDeleteGreat premise. Sounds interesting.
ReplyDelete