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  • The Lincoln Highway: A New York Times Number One Bestseller
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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
37,168 global ratings
5 star
56%
4 star
29%
3 star
11%
2 star
3%
1 star
2%
The Lincoln Highway: A New York Times Number One Bestseller

The Lincoln Highway: A New York Times Number One Bestseller

byAmor Towles
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Top positive review

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Gadgetgirl
5.0 out of 5 starsA wonderful read
Reviewed in Australia on 13 January 2022
Such an “escapade” is the Lincoln Highway! Beautifully drawn characters are the young men and boy whose tales are intertwined. With the intention of travelling the highway to San Francisco as envisioned by young Billy, in search of the mother of him and Emmet, the pair are sidetracked through the actions of the other young men and find themselves heading for New York. The journey with them is full of action and snippets of homespun wisdom. Do take the journey with them.
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Top critical review

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Morgan
3.0 out of 5 starsAn American Tradition - The Road
Reviewed in Australia on 15 October 2021
The road has mythic status in American literature beginning with the Oregon Trail and moving through each generation's incarnations. Towles' book leans heavily on the tradition and has Towles' trademark fascination with style which gives the book both its strengths and weaknesses. Strength - nothing can dent the ease of the prose and the movement of the narrative but its weaknesses are its obvious indebtedness to Steinbeck, Charles Portis and the Coen brothers. The picaresque form demands a virtuous protagonist but Emmet is perhaps a little too good. I found it didn't reach the heights of A Gentleman in Moscow and Duchess began to irritate long before the end. Perhaps that's intentional. Even so it irked this reader and the holy innocent Wooly just made me want to slap him.

Aside from the preciousness of some characters one minor fault began to grate on me like sand in a sneaker - the author's reliance of a blow to the head "'.. and then everything went dark.... when he awoke...' to advance the narrative. I don't care if it's meant to be a trope or simply lazy writing but the amateur neurologist in me began counting the blows and wondering why at least one of the bodies slumping to the ground wasn't permanently brain damaged or dead. Hitting somebody on the head with a shovel doesn't give a convenient brief coma. It kills them and leaves them looking like a frog.

Aside from these caveats I enjoyed the book but my heart belongs back in Moscow.
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From Australia

Rebecca Davies
4.0 out of 5 stars worth persevering
Reviewed in Australia on 10 May 2022
Verified Purchase
Many of my friends weren’t able to complete this novel, but I found it repaid keeping going. A complex story, where the back story of each character unfolds in a disjointed way. But each story is worth knowing about- childhood trauma and economic fortunes and misfortunes play key roles.
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Simpson from Oz
4.0 out of 5 stars A great road story tipping its hat to Homer.
Reviewed in Australia on 17 November 2021
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Towles can really tell a story!
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Laurie JJ
4.0 out of 5 stars The Road Goes...???
Reviewed in Australia on 10 April 2022
This is the first book by Amor Towles that I have read. No surprise it is a road story and like all of the best raod stories it is less about the end of the journey but more of the meanderings, the wrong turns, the characters met and the events that lead to it all. A richly drawn tapestry of post war America with it's celebrations and sorrows. I'd tend towards a 4.5 if I could give that rating.
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From other countries

Mr. John Frank Herbert
4.0 out of 5 stars A Little On The Cheated Side
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 February 2022
Verified Purchase
The front cover of the hardback drew me in – young guys travelling across America
on the Lincoln Highway.
Here, I thought, was a saga, an adventure to savour, young guys full of mischief.
And so it was.
The characters were well defined, each one with a different destination in mind, and the
dialogue was fun and snappy.

The book is told through each of the respective characters.
But at 576 pages this book was considerably overlong, mostly by virtue of two of the characters going over the same ground, repeating what we’d already learned.

SPOILER ALERT

But my biggest beef is the way the book ends.
Right from the start Emmett and Billy were aiming to get to California to find their
mother, who’d disappeared some years before, but who’d left a postcard trail leading to
San Francisco.
But as events unfold they have to detour to the opposite end of the country, to New
York.
But at 576 pages wouldn’t you think the obvious finale is for the two brothers to go
find their mother?
As I ploughed through this beefy hardback I kept telling myself that the best was yet to
come, that they would find their mother, then find out the reason for their mother absconding.
No such luck.
Story ends in Manhattan, as they set off on their journey to California.
Did I feel cheated?
You betcha!
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Fairlyrecently
4.0 out of 5 stars A carefully crafted story that would make great TV
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 February 2022
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This is the third novel that I have read by this confident author. It has great charm and the plotting is deft. It may be intended as a story to be appreciated by teenagers but it does not condescend in the way that so many young adult titles do. How unnecessary that category surely is. This is also a novel about how badly damaged two children are by their upbringings: for balance, one is from a privileged background and the other from poverty.
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Jane Evans
4.0 out of 5 stars In pursuit of the American Dream
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 December 2021
Verified Purchase
There's a hint of the Wizard of Oz in this American road trip novel as a disparate trio, or maybe quartet, of boys individually and together set off to subvert the American dream. And the Lincoln Highway? You'll have to read on to discover more
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Good fun
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 November 2021
Verified Purchase
A very enjoyable romp, full of improbable twists and turns and an unlikely wise child...but nonetheless a compelling yarn. Give it a go!
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David B
4.0 out of 5 stars Read it.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 November 2021
Verified Purchase
There must be a follow up. Great story with engaging characters. All have their own stories giving their view of the events that unfold. They link and overlap superbly throughout the journey. There is a little bit of each of us in every character, the good and the bad. I hope to read the next phase of this endless story. Read it.
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GUdrun WOChinger
4.0 out of 5 stars It turned out to be the most different book I ever read.....
Reviewed in Canada on 22 March 2022
Verified Purchase
While reading, it turned out to be a really good book, dispite it's rather slow start. I was not exited at first and couldn't believe how naive Emmet turned out to be!!! However, as I read on, it was certainly a different and interesting Book. What was remarkable in my mind was the Author's description of everything as one could almost see it in one's mind just being there observing. I did enjoy it a lot after all and can really recommend it!
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Much More Than A Journey Across America
Reviewed in Italy on 6 May 2022
Verified Purchase
A great American novel with unforgettable characters, great writing and a vivid sense of setting. I was hooked from page one by Towles’ narrative voice that hops from one character to another in telling the story of four faulted characters who set out on an improbable journey. It sometimes reminded me of Steinbeck, sometimes of Beckett’s novels, but undoubtedly the book succeeds in lifting the small history of its characters to level of the heroes and anti-heroes of the book of classic stories that BIlly carries with him all the way. Profound and entertaining. Absolutely recommended.
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