The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles left me feeling hugely uplifted, not just by the surprising and ultimately satiating story line but by the funny and fascinating characters we met along the way. The Lincoln Highway has all of these same page-turning attributes but I think the truisms of this story made me think more deeply and certainly moved me even more. The last couple of chapters were, in particular, simply outstanding.

Set in 1950s America the story centres on Emmett who returns to Nebraska from a state youth farm in Kansas where he has been serving time for ‘involuntary manslaughter.’ His young brother Billy is waiting for him under the watchful eye of their nearest neighbours. Their father who unsuccessfully chased his farming dream has died and this is a new start for them. Billy is keen to forge their new life together in San Francisco where he believes their mother, who could no longer handle small-town failure, is waiting for them.

Unknown to either of them, two of Emmett’s acquaintances from the same Kansas facility have stowed away in the boot of the car that brought him back. Duchess is on a twisted mission to right wrongs in a very different way to Emmett. Woolly, an endearing but equally damaged individual, is seeking salvation of his own. The upshot is that they travel east instead of west towards New York as part of an unlikely shortcut to happiness.

I had always thought that Route 66 crossed the United States but in fact, only runs from Chicago to Santa Monica. The original coast-to-coast highway was The Lincoln Highway, which opened in 1913, beginning in Times Square, New York and ending in Lincoln Park, San Francisco. The route is a homage to that great President, though much of the story concerns good (even great) aspirations that falter through taking the wrong turnings or simply being in the wrong places at the wrong times.

The use throughout of different voices and points of view works really well as a device and gives us a more rounded sense of completeness while also calling out the foolhardiness of accepting people and places and ensuing events as they first appear.
​
There were many points in this beautifully written story when I could have looked around me and seen what Steinbeck saw. It is honestly that good. Billy carries with him a book of adventure stories: tales of those heroes who went out into the world – real or mystical – and we are reminded that heroic deeds are accessible to all of us. No matter the obstacles continually placed in the way of these pilgrims who would have found The Mayflower as far away in years as the miles that separate them from their origins, we will them to find happiness, but not so quickly as to break the spells Towles has cast over all of us by his wonderful storytelling.

---