The Lincoln Highway Summary, it is a 2021 novel by American author Amor Towles. Set in 1954, it tells the story of four young men on a roadtrip from Nebraska to New York City over ten days. It was a New York Times Best Seller.
Heller McAlpin in a review for NPR called it "elegantly constructed and endlessly readable". Alex Preston praised "Towles’s near-magical gift for storytelling [and] ability to construct a cast of characters at once flawed, lovable and fascinating." Chris Bachelder commented on the novel being "remarkably brisk, remarkably buoyant" and possessing an "episodic, exuberant narrative haywire found in myth or Homeric epic".
 |
| The Lincoln Highway Summary |
The Lincoln Highway Summary
The story revolves around Emmett Watson, an eighteen-year-old who has just completed a fifteen-month sentence at a juvenile work farm for involuntary manslaughter. With his mother gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed by the bank, Emmett’s main goal is to return home to Nebraska, collect his younger brother Billy, and start anew in California.
However, Emmett’s plans are thrown into disarray when he discovers that two friends from the work farm, Duchess and Woolly, have stowed away in the trunk of the warden’s car. The duo has a different future in mind for Emmett, one that involves a journey to New York City. Despite his initial reluctance, Emmett gets entangled in their plans, and the four embark on a thrilling adventure that takes them across the United States.
The novel spans just ten days and is told through multiple points of view, providing readers with a rich and immersive experience. Each character is complex and multifaceted, revealing different aspects of themselves as the story unfolds. The tale not only explores themes of friendship, family, and loyalty, but also delves into the complexities of human nature, choices, and consequences.
As they traverse the Lincoln Highway, the group encounters various colorful characters and experiences, each contributing to the novel’s vivid tapestry. The different settings and landscapes they encounter throughout the journey are skillfully rendered, creating a palpable sense of place and time.
Fans of Amor Towles will appreciate his multi-layered literary style, which is present throughout The Lincoln Highway. The novel is a departure from his previous work, A Gentleman in Moscow, showcasing Towles’s versatility and mastery of diverse settings, plots, and themes. His exceptional writing and storytelling abilities ensure that The Lincoln Highway is a compelling and thought-provoking read.
You may also like to read: The Time Machine Book Summary
Questions about The Lincoln Highway Plot
What is the message of Lincoln Highway? As young adults go off to college, enter careers, and get married, their focus shifts away from the household in which they were raised toward a world that they must shape for themselves. The Lincoln Highway is certainly about this transition—in a concentrated fashion.
What is the plot of The Lincoln Highway? The Lincoln Highway is a 2021 novel by American author Amor Towles. Set in 1954, it tells the story of four young men on a roadtrip from Nebraska to New York City over ten days. It was a New York Times Best Seller.
What is the best summary of The Lincoln Highway? The Lincoln Highway is a fast paced and reflective adventure story centered on three young men from disparate backgrounds, whose incarceration together in a juvenile detention center brings them together on the outside where conflicting motives and moralities set them on a course for collision across the United States.
What is the main theme of The Lincoln Highway? Through these comparisons, it is gradually revealed that The Lincoln Highway is itself a hero's story of redemption and self-discovery.
Is the Lincoln Highway a metaphor? I see the Lincoln Highway as a metaphorical journey for each of us to travel as we work towards our ambitions or our dreams.
Why is Lincoln Highway important? Within a matter of years, it was the most famous road in America. Before the Lincoln Highway was created, a transcontinental crossing would take about sixty days. As there were few services in between towns, those who sought to cross the country needed to carry fuel, tools, tents, food and water.
Who is the hero in The Lincoln Highway? Heroes are an important recurring theme in The Lincoln Highway. Billy sees his older brother, Emmett, as a hero. Billy is also enamored with Professor Abercrombe's Compendium of Heroes, a book that he has memorized from constant reading. The book influences Billy's view of life and his belief in people.
What does The Lincoln Highway symbolize in the novel? The notion of San Francisco and the concept of the Lincoln Highway as introduced by Billy represents a novel future that Emmett had not considered, a complete change in their lives' geographic trajectory as he had imagined it while in Salina.
Is it worth reading The Lincoln Highway? It's a novel that is as much about the literary history of the American road as it is about the journey itself, and deserves a place alongside Kerouac, Steinbeck and Wolfe as the very best of the genre.
Who's telling the story in the Lincoln Highway? Each chapter is told from a different point of view, and Edoardo Ballerini narrates as all but two of the characters. He brings nuance to each voice, but his reading of Billy's perspective is especially convincing.