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A review by thewordsdevourer
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
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
2.75
well, this was a different experience from towles' previous effort. the lincoln highway is a book thats both big and (tries to be) bighearted, but the nearly-600 pgs puzzlingly fail to create any kind of emotional impact for me aside from the occasional urge to strangle some of the characters.
like, i get what it tries to do, but it doesnt rly end up working for me. the writing and narrative voices can be enjoyable - god knows how many times i chuckled or snorted from the periodically deadpanned narration and dialogue; the characters are fleshed out, making them understandable as ppl despite how ??? they can be, and billy's def my fav character for how endearing yet wise he is. at the same time, however, i find a few of them bland (esp emmett, befuddingly), and others simply rage-inducing (looking at u, the damn pastor and duchess). the book also often reads like a game of cat-and-mouse, just a long, winding trail chase that hops from one thing to another, one w/ an ending thats unfortunately a lil underwhelming at that.
my biggest issue w/ the novel is prolly its ability to evoke any emotions - the good ones anyway - from me, despite how long, adventurous, character filled it is, esp considering the amount of scenes that could be impactful, but ultimately fail to. overall, this unfortunately doesnt live up to my expectations despite its lofty potential.
like, i get what it tries to do, but it doesnt rly end up working for me. the writing and narrative voices can be enjoyable - god knows how many times i chuckled or snorted from the periodically deadpanned narration and dialogue; the characters are fleshed out, making them understandable as ppl despite how ??? they can be, and billy's def my fav character for how endearing yet wise he is. at the same time, however, i find a few of them bland (esp emmett, befuddingly), and others simply rage-inducing (looking at u, the damn pastor and duchess). the book also often reads like a game of cat-and-mouse, just a long, winding trail chase that hops from one thing to another, one w/ an ending thats unfortunately a lil underwhelming at that.
my biggest issue w/ the novel is prolly its ability to evoke any emotions - the good ones anyway - from me, despite how long, adventurous, character filled it is, esp considering the amount of scenes that could be impactful, but ultimately fail to. overall, this unfortunately doesnt live up to my expectations despite its lofty potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Racism
Moderate: War, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Death, and Sexism