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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
The wisdom on this book will fill your heart and soul❤️
Meh. I liked the relationship between Emmett and Billy, and the Ulysses subplot, but otherwise it kinda dragged.
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book took my forever to finish… and it’s not because I didn’t like it, it’s because I didn’t want it to end. Other reviewers said it doesn’t flow, and it’s because all of the characters have a voice and a story… just like life. We all may experience the same thing, but we each have our story. It is absolutely beautifully written. Each chapter you get little life lessons and tidbits on life. I will say this is the best book I have ever read. It helped me escape reality and engulf myself in this literary magic.
An Americana epic where our lives become the stories that we not only live, but tell, or what we choose to. There are finely chosen words, layered with meaning, but the story suffers from too many points of view and belabored asides and subplots whose significance end abruptly.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Amor Towles is one good storyteller and in this novel is a celebration of myths, stories, legends and books. As in his previous work, "A Gentleman in Moscow," his latest novel is multi layered, but unlike the previous that spanned several decades, this one spans a mere 10 days.
18 year old Emmett Watson is released from a juvenile work farm, having completed his sentence for a crime that the local sheriff described as Emmet being "on the bad side of luck." Emmett returns home to the just foreclosed farm in Nebraska to reunite with his 8 year old brother Billy; their father having recently died and their mother having abandoned them several years previously. Needing to make a "clean start" with their lives, they decide to set out on the transcontinental Lincoln Highway to San Francisco, where they believe their mother now lives. But before the brothers depart, their plan is thwarted by the unexpected arrival of 2 of Emmett's friends from the work farm that sends them on a journey in the opposite direction to New York.
This highly readable 10 day road novel is written in chapters that begin at Chapter 10 and end at Chapter 1, each told through a narrative by the main characters. With the exception of Billy, who is bright and virtuous, all others display their essential good and big hearts, while also out of necessity, act with cunning and questionable wits and decision making. Their road trip is full of adventures and misadventures and has a good mixture of the sentimental, danger and suspense. My anticipation was heightened by the sense of the "countdown" aspect of how the chapters were numbered. What would eventually happen to the brothers and would they ever realize their Lincoln Highway dream?
At the novel's conclusion, while mostly satisfying, also left me puzzled at the outcome for one of Emmett's work farm friends. Nevertheless and overall though, it was a worthwhile and very entertaining work.
18 year old Emmett Watson is released from a juvenile work farm, having completed his sentence for a crime that the local sheriff described as Emmet being "on the bad side of luck." Emmett returns home to the just foreclosed farm in Nebraska to reunite with his 8 year old brother Billy; their father having recently died and their mother having abandoned them several years previously. Needing to make a "clean start" with their lives, they decide to set out on the transcontinental Lincoln Highway to San Francisco, where they believe their mother now lives. But before the brothers depart, their plan is thwarted by the unexpected arrival of 2 of Emmett's friends from the work farm that sends them on a journey in the opposite direction to New York.
This highly readable 10 day road novel is written in chapters that begin at Chapter 10 and end at Chapter 1, each told through a narrative by the main characters. With the exception of Billy, who is bright and virtuous, all others display their essential good and big hearts, while also out of necessity, act with cunning and questionable wits and decision making. Their road trip is full of adventures and misadventures and has a good mixture of the sentimental, danger and suspense. My anticipation was heightened by the sense of the "countdown" aspect of how the chapters were numbered. What would eventually happen to the brothers and would they ever realize their Lincoln Highway dream?
At the novel's conclusion, while mostly satisfying, also left me puzzled at the outcome for one of Emmett's work farm friends. Nevertheless and overall though, it was a worthwhile and very entertaining work.