Angela M is taking a break.'s Reviews > The Lincoln Highway

I’ve been writing short reviews these last couple of months, but I knew at some point a book would come along and I’d be compelled to say more about it than just a few sentences.
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I thought I was going on an adventure across the country on the Lincoln Highway, but I found myself on a journey of the heart with these characters, looking for “fresh starts “, each of them discovering who they are, how they fit into this world, each one having been abandoned in one way or another, each one rising up to meet their fate, trying to make amends. They don’t actually cross the country from New York to California in 1954, but take a detour from farm country in Nebraska to New York City (and what an ode to New York City ! ). Three teenage boys, one just released from a juvenile work farm, two who have escaped, are flawed and well meaning, trying to do the right thing. And oh my heart, the eight year old brother of the first boy, who is precocious, yet sweet in his naïveté and belief in heroes.

It’s about heroes, too, not just the ones in the book that Billy carries with him, but these unforgettable characters who are heroes in their own right to each other in some way, along with some other characters who I was touched by. I loved everything about this novel - the seamless way that Towles takes his readers to a time and place, the way he bridges that connection between fiction and life. He’s an extraordinary storyteller. Despite its length, I didn’t want it to end, didn’t want to leave these characters whose journeys reflect love and friendship, sadness and joy and are filled with the stuff that life is made of.


As always a pleasure to read with Diane and Esil.