Reviews

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

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kimreadz's review against another edition

4.0

Wow! That ending....I need time to process this. For now, I'm rating it 4, but that may go up after I've had time to digest the book. Definitely worth reading, though.

hezaasan's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A marvelous read! I was completely immersed and many times enraged, but in that way that you want to be -- enraged on behalf of my favorite characters, and with a shared desire with such characters for the good to outweigh the misaligned, and for the joy to overwhelm any sorrows. Towles has quickly become one of my favorites.

kaseyfisher's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

pretentiousbreadcrumbs's review against another edition

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5.0

Finishing this book felt like returning to work after summer break; I wish I had just a bit more time to spend in this world, with these characters, before returning back to the familiar.

The Lincoln Highway follows four young men over 10 days as they roadtrip down The Lincoln Highway during 1950s USA. Attention is initially focused on Emmett Watson who is off to seek greener pastures in California after serving his time in juvenile detention, but his unexpected companions in the road trip fill the journey with captivating stories of their own.

This is the first book I've read from Amor Towles and I adored his writing style. Throughout the journey across the Lincoln Highway, we're frequently changing from one characters perspective to another. This style can be difficult to pull off without disrupting the flow of the plot, but Towles succeeded masterfully as each character enhanced the plot with their thoughts rather than disrupted it.

Despite this story being sold as a journey between destinations, it is very much a story of the growth of character when faced with adversity and how our ambitions can both shape and destroy us.

Each character is so uniquely vivid and that I was reminded of how I felt reading Hanya Yangihara's 'A Little Life' the first time (without the misery), I won't forget this story anytime soon.