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dreaminthepages's review against another edition
5.0
What a storytelling masterpiece of a ride this was! The perfect summer adventure told by one of the best writers/storytellers out there! I could not put this book down and loved the chaos and all the characters and their depth.
This book gave me soo many vibes amd it made me think of so many adventure classics that I have encountered - Stand By Me, Off Mice and Men, The Goonies, Ferris Buellers Day Off - to name just a few. It even made me ponder back to watching and loving The Hangover and even Holes for the first time. These may seem strange to compare this book to because they are all so different between themselves as well but trust me if you like any of the above then you'll love this book. You could probably add more to this list such as The 3 Muskateers but these are just the ones i've read/seen.
Amor Towles has such an amazing imagination and all the while reading this I had a cinematic experience going on in my head and I would absolutely love it if this was turned into a movie. The character building was done well, they all pretty much had back stories and I do love that as it adds really good depth to them.
This was my 2nd Amor Towles book and definitely would love to check out more of his books!
This book gave me soo many vibes amd it made me think of so many adventure classics that I have encountered - Stand By Me, Off Mice and Men, The Goonies, Ferris Buellers Day Off - to name just a few. It even made me ponder back to watching and loving The Hangover and even Holes for the first time. These may seem strange to compare this book to because they are all so different between themselves as well but trust me if you like any of the above then you'll love this book. You could probably add more to this list such as The 3 Muskateers but these are just the ones i've read/seen.
Amor Towles has such an amazing imagination and all the while reading this I had a cinematic experience going on in my head and I would absolutely love it if this was turned into a movie. The character building was done well, they all pretty much had back stories and I do love that as it adds really good depth to them.
This was my 2nd Amor Towles book and definitely would love to check out more of his books!
jsparks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-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
4.25
andalucia's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
todayitsthis's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jansbookcorner's review against another edition
5.0
What a journey! I will remember these characters and this story for a long time. A great journey into friendship.
amyleigh22's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
mtzbookworm64's review against another edition
5.0
Loved the story telling! I couldn’t put the book down. Emmett Watson is a survivor at every struggle in his life.
Emmett Watson, 18 years old, is released from a Salina, KS prison for the involuntary manslaughter Jimmy Snyder. He returns home to take care of his younger brother, Billy, after his father passes away - leaving them a foreclosed farm in Nebraska. Emmett wants to go to Texas. Billy wants to go to California because he found postcards from their mother who abandoned them. The route would take them on the Lincoln Highway: Ogallala, Cheyenne, Rawlings, Rock Springs, Salt Lake City, Ely, Reno and Sacramento.
They decide to take Emmett’s car and leave Nebraska. While checking out the car, Emmett finds a letter from his father and $3000 cash. While trying to get the car started, two people show up in the barn - Duchess and Wolly - escapees from Salina. This is where Emmett’s troubles begin.
Emmett Watson, 18 years old, is released from a Salina, KS prison for the involuntary manslaughter Jimmy Snyder. He returns home to take care of his younger brother, Billy, after his father passes away - leaving them a foreclosed farm in Nebraska. Emmett wants to go to Texas. Billy wants to go to California because he found postcards from their mother who abandoned them. The route would take them on the Lincoln Highway: Ogallala, Cheyenne, Rawlings, Rock Springs, Salt Lake City, Ely, Reno and Sacramento.
They decide to take Emmett’s car and leave Nebraska. While checking out the car, Emmett finds a letter from his father and $3000 cash. While trying to get the car started, two people show up in the barn - Duchess and Wolly - escapees from Salina. This is where Emmett’s troubles begin.
nothingforpomegranted's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Emmett Watson has just returned to Nebraska after eighteen months (cut short because of good behavior and his father’s death) at a juvenile detention farm to which he had been sent after a punch in the face led to the death of a taunting classmate of his at the fair. Looking forward to a new start for himself and his eight-year-old brother Billy, Emmett has made a plan to invest the limited cash his father left them in a house to refurbish and sell, making a profit and buying themselves a new life. However, not only has Billy been creating his own plan for their fresh start (based on his compendium of adventure stories, his love for heroic journeys, and his desire to reconnect with the mother who abandoned the family eight years earlier), but also two of Emmett’s fellow inmates from Salina—Duchess and Wooly—secretly hitched a ride out of the farm and intend to join Emmett and Billy’s road trip with an adventure of their own. This motley crew finds themselves traveling along the Lincoln Highway to New York, jumping trains, stealing cars, and climbing through barbed wire fences, meeting lots of other adventurers along the way.
I loved Emmett and Billy, but Duchess made me absolutely crazy. I couldn’t quite get past his good intentions given the utterly ridiculous and harmful consequences of his actions. I cringed reading each of his chapters, even as I developed somewhat more sympathy for him throughout the novel. Wooly’s story was confusing and sad and heartbreaking, and I just wanted to give him and his sister Sarah a big hug. I also enjoyed meeting the side characters and would have loved to learn more about Townhouse and Ulysses, especially (and I hope he eventually found his family!). Overall, my primary criticism of the book, other than my distaste for Duchess, was the feeling that some of these storylines were left so unresolved, and I really cared about the characters. Most simply, I actually wanted to follow Emmett and Billy’s journey along the Lincoln Highway, and the story was almost exclusively about the detours. Amit Towles’ writing is absolutely beautiful, at both the sentence level and the story level, and I was truly engrossed throughout the story, even remarking on a few particular sentences and observations. The characterization had great depth, and the shifts in perspective were masterful. Each character truly had their own voice, and Towles created a fabulous mosaic of intertwined histories.
I loved Emmett and Billy, but Duchess made me absolutely crazy. I couldn’t quite get past his good intentions given the utterly ridiculous and harmful consequences of his actions. I cringed reading each of his chapters, even as I developed somewhat more sympathy for him throughout the novel. Wooly’s story was confusing and sad and heartbreaking, and I just wanted to give him and his sister Sarah a big hug. I also enjoyed meeting the side characters and would have loved to learn more about Townhouse and Ulysses, especially (and I hope he eventually found his family!). Overall, my primary criticism of the book, other than my distaste for Duchess, was the feeling that some of these storylines were left so unresolved, and I really cared about the characters. Most simply, I actually wanted to follow Emmett and Billy’s journey along the Lincoln Highway, and the story was almost exclusively about the detours. Amit Towles’ writing is absolutely beautiful, at both the sentence level and the story level, and I was truly engrossed throughout the story, even remarking on a few particular sentences and observations. The characterization had great depth, and the shifts in perspective were masterful. Each character truly had their own voice, and Towles created a fabulous mosaic of intertwined histories.
melodys_library's review against another edition
3.0
In true Amor Towles fashion, this is a long, meticulously crafted and meandering journey.
It took me awhile to get into it, and my first thought was, “Shame on me for reading the first 100 pages on Christmas Day in a bustling household.” But the silver lining of a delayed flight home is that it allowed ample time to truly immerse myself in this road trip.
Even though a delayed Christmas flight gifted me the time to read quietly at my leisure, my engagement just didn’t improve. There was A+ storytelling, all of the attention to detail a character-driven reader could want… but by the end of the novel, I felt disconnected and empty, and I can’t quite pinpoint why? Towles is so talented, and his talent shines through his descriptive storytelling. But I feel as if in this novel, he wrote and wrote and wrote, to the point where he overwrote, and yet somehow wound up with an end product that felt in some ways…underdeveloped? I can’t say that I was bored, but I can say that I wasn’t as present as I was with A Gentleman in Moscow.
I’m certainly not mad that I read this or feel like it was a waste of time, but at the same time, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it to just anyone.
For fans of Towles: Trust the journey.
It took me awhile to get into it, and my first thought was, “Shame on me for reading the first 100 pages on Christmas Day in a bustling household.” But the silver lining of a delayed flight home is that it allowed ample time to truly immerse myself in this road trip.
Even though a delayed Christmas flight gifted me the time to read quietly at my leisure, my engagement just didn’t improve. There was A+ storytelling, all of the attention to detail a character-driven reader could want… but by the end of the novel, I felt disconnected and empty, and I can’t quite pinpoint why? Towles is so talented, and his talent shines through his descriptive storytelling. But I feel as if in this novel, he wrote and wrote and wrote, to the point where he overwrote, and yet somehow wound up with an end product that felt in some ways…underdeveloped? I can’t say that I was bored, but I can say that I wasn’t as present as I was with A Gentleman in Moscow.
I’m certainly not mad that I read this or feel like it was a waste of time, but at the same time, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it to just anyone.
For fans of Towles: Trust the journey.