Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - The Lincoln Highway

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

17 reviews

beccaj11's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Great story with lots of unexpected twists and turns. I loved the characters although there isn’t a lot of character development except for maybe one or two of them. The plot really drives the book and it’s a great, original plot.

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kimveach's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

For every book that most people think is great, or in Amazon's opinion "the best book of the year", there has to be someone that didn't like it. I'm that person. I can understand why people enjoyed it. It's easy to read and parts of it are very entertaining. However, the undercurrent of violence that runs through it didn't work for me. For me, it felt more like a Quentin Tarantino ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood") or Coen Brothers ("Fargo") movie. I can enjoy those sorts of movies since they are only a couple of hours, but this book took up too much of my time and left me unhappily unsettled.

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c_dmckinney's review against another edition

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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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cassidy's review against another edition

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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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keatynbergsten's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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agnesg's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional slow-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? Yes

4.5

Why I Chose to Read It: Although I disliked Rules of Civility, I thoroughly enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow, so I picked The Lincoln Highway for my October Book of the Month.

Plot:

Since The Lincoln Highway constantly jumps between at least 6 points of view and various locations across the country, the plot is correspondingly erratic. Erratic seems an insufficient descriptor—more like dizzying. I had to put the book down several times just to remark how bonkers the plot was. Like a leisurely road trip, The Lincoln Highway takes whatever turns it pleases while at the same time moving towards its destination. However, the characters and writing are so fascinating that I could not be annoyed it. I decided to enjoy the ride, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the seemingly pointless plot excursions reached toward a cohesive and impactful ending. It is brilliant.

Characters:

This story would not be half as compelling without its quirky, complicated, fascinating, and lovable characters. Just like the plot, the characters require a certain amount of suspended disbelief. Despite the large cast of characters, Towles is good at fleshing them all out and gives them all surprisingly in-depth backstories. Few if any are all good or all bad, but each exists on a spectrum between the two extremes.

Setting:

Despite the book’s title, very little of the story takes place on the Lincoln highway. Most of the story takes place in a small town in Nebraska and New York City. Towles never spends too much time describing his settings, but he gives enough to service the story.

Themes:

The Lincoln Highway covers a wide range of themes, but mainly focuses on the themes of justice/retribution and morality. Most of the characters have backstories in which they wrong others and are wronged by others, and the story explores these backstories shape their motivations and actions. Its three main characters, Emmet, Woolly, and Duchess were each sent to a juvenile prison labor camp for crimes they did not intend to commit or crimes they did not commit. It is fascinating to see how each character deals with the fairness (or unfairness) of their situation and the ending provides a satisfying conclusion to the thematic questions the book raises.

Writing Style:

Towles’ writing is a breeze to read. He’s good at capturing individual character voice. Despite the unwieldy plot, it was never too difficult to figure out what was happening and why.

Conclusion:

This book was not what I expected it to be, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. It requires patience and suspension of disbelief, but the journey and the destination are worth it. It is certainly better than Rules of Civility, and in my opinion, a step above A Gentleman in Moscow. Definitely worth the read.

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