The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles - Review by Angi Harvey Williams
A couple of years ago I read “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles. It was well written and enjoyable, so I began reading his latest novel, “The Lincoln Highway”, with high hopes. It is about a road trip and it is also very much a coming-of-age story, which is one of my favourite genres when done well.
“The Lincoln Highway” did not disappoint. Set in 1954, it tells the tale of 18-year-old Emmett – newly released from serving a 15-month sentence for accidental manslaughter - and his 8-year-old brother Billy as they decide to embark on a road trip to find their mother. She disappeared when Billy was a baby and the only clue they have to her whereabouts are a set of postcards sent from towns along the Lincoln Highway, America’s first transcontinental road that runs from Time Square in New York to San Francisco. They decide to head to San Francisco to try to find her. Emmett also has a plan to use the money left by his father (who died while he was in prison) to start a new life.
However, before Emmett can put his plan into action, they are joined by two of his fellow inmates, Duchess and Woolly who, for reasons of their own, want to travel east to New York. Both Duchess and Woolly are damaged souls for different reasons, but this manifests in very different ways. The novel centres on the interplay between these four central characters and various others they meet along the way. Towles draws parallels with other historic or fictional travellers, such as Ulysses, and how they can get diverted from their purpose or their path by people may seek to help or hinder them. I won’t say any more about the plot because I want to avoid spoilers, except that it twists and turns in a satisfactory way whilst embracing comedy and tragedy, sin and redemption, kindness and cruelty.
I hate books where most of the characters are unlikeable or too stereotyped. Amor Towles is a fantastic writer and can portray nuanced people with both faults and virtues that make them all the more human. The quality of writing throughout this novel is superb and it has warmth, charm and humour whilst never shying away from avarice and evil. I found it a hugely satisfying read and have now bought Towles’ first novel to add to my ‘waiting to be read’ pile. Thoroughly recommended.