Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

37 reviews

em_gordon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Death

Minor: Death of parent

book_annelid's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Disappointed! I love Amor Towles other books but this was not it. I found the dispensing of life advice from 18 year old convicts and an 8 year old who’s never left his home town to be trite. The writing was beautiful but the plot seemed to have no direction whatsoever. Characters seemed at once flat and also to be acting out of character. Sally’s character was so cliche. Reading it she seemed like a woman written by an out of touch man. She really bugged me. Does this book even pass the Bechtel test? Also a bit overly “ra ra America”. While Amors other books give you a feeling (the way true art does) and hide universal truths in a beautiful, enjoyable storyline, this book felt like a was being bludgeoned over the head with a message, characters and plot be damned. 

Wtf was that ending! It was such a cliche “twist”, the everyone-dies-at-the-end has been done a million times. I found other musings to be cliche as well. For example, Maurice being not white enough and not black enough. The ending was just so unnecessary and pointless. It would’ve been less annoying had Dutches been left in the boat when it ended. Either way an unsatisfactory ending. Terrible! It was fine for the first 3/4 but after that it just went downhill. If the first 3/4 had continued could’ve been a 3.5 or 3.75 and with a good ending maybe a 4. But the bad rushed ending made me annoyed with the whole rest of the book and confused what all that setup was even for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Murder, Bullying, Death, Suicide, and Abandonment

Moderate: Racism

kennyrae89's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I did not enjoy this book. The formatting was weird. I did not like the plot and a couple of the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Death, and Death of parent

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, Toxic friendship, and Murder

Despite the title the boys do not spend much time at all in the Lincoln highway. That would probably have been a more enjoyable story, honestly.

mondovertigo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Death of parent, Death, Animal death, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Minor: War

justamy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

The main character is very likable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Drug use, and Suicide

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, Racism, Sexual harassment, Violence, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Minor: War

cassidy's review against another edition

adventurous sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The book was due :( so I’ll probably come back. Don’t necessarily love only male characters and one of the protagonists reminded me of Neal Cassady (this is not a good thing), tbd when it’s next available at the lib 

Edit after finishing:
I ended up liking this a lot. I love the way towles is able to create such full characters and gives us access to their inner monologues 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Suicide, Mental illness, and Death of parent

nataliebootlah's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

After serving time in a juvenile detention center for involuntary manslaughter, Emmett is sent back home to Nebraska where his younger brother Billy awaits him. Eager to start afresh, Emmett’s plan is pack up the farm, pay off his father’s debts, and get the hell out of dodge. His plan goes sideways when two of his fellow detention center buddies show up after secretly hitching a ride in the warden’s trunk when Emmett was dropped off. 

And so the four boys — Emmett, Billy, Duchess, and Woolly — set off on a roadtrip across the country. Emmett is keen on dropping Duchess and Woolly off at the train station so they can head to NYC in search of Woolly’s inheritance while himself and Billy head to California. And of course everything that can go bad, does go bad for Emmett. 

Told from many different characters, The Lincoln Highway is the tale of four boys and the trouble they get into. While I didn’t connect with the story, the writing was still enjoyable and the ending was a surprise. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Death, and Alcoholism

debimorton's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Emmett, Billy, Duchess, Woolly. Salina, KS boys prison. Mostly, NY. Ending not great. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Death, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, and Suicide

alid73's review against another edition

Unlikeable characters, unnecessary characters, childish characters, meandering storyline, poorly written 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Abandonment, and Death