Books › The Lincoln Highway
The Lincoln Highway
592 pages
A sprawling, sun-drenched American road trip that balances youthful optimism with the sobering realities of fate and consequence.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like unfolding a vintage map on the hood of a classic car, tracing routes filled with both boundless promise and inevitable detours. It is a sprawling, big-hearted American epic that balances the golden-hued optimism of youth with the sobering weight of consequence. The narrative moves at a brisk, engaging clip, driven by a cast of charming rogues, earnest dreamers, and unpredictable wanderers whose intersecting paths create a rich tapestry of mid-century life. The prose is elegant and theatrical, wrapping the reader in a warm, nostalgic atmosphere that never shies away from the darker edges of the American Dream. It will thoroughly delight fans of character-driven historical fiction who savor multi-layered storytelling, philosophical musings, and the bittersweet ache of growing up on the open road.
- Mood
- sun-drenched
- adventurous
- bittersweet
- expansive
- Tone
- wry
- nostalgic
- earnest
- warm
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the American Dream · brotherhood and loyalty · self-determination vs fate · loss of innocence
- The writing
- Elegant, multi-layered, and richly observant, with a classic, slightly theatrical cadence.
- The arc
- Begins with hopeful determination, detours into chaotic misadventure, and culminates in a bittersweet, sobering realization of adulthood.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love sprawling, character-driven American epics filled with charming rogues, historical texture, and philosophical detours.
Content notes
- parental abandonment
- death of a parent
- juvenile incarceration
- violence
About the book
"The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America 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"--
Description from Open Library.
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