We meet eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson as he arrives home to Nebraska from a juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. Catchy title but not exactly accurate to the story. The Lincoln Highway does make an appearance but two of our main characters don’t even get to really travel on it. It is a journey, but more about boys becoming men and trying to find their place in a post-world society in 1954. I thought it was going to be a road trip/buddy story that took the reader on the actual Lincoln Highway where I assumed we would visit plenty of small towns on the journey, meet interesting and quirky people and get to the final destination in a big, grand finale kind of way. What’s the Story Aboutįirst, I do think calling this novel The Lincoln Highway is a bit misleading. If you’ve read the book and would like to talk all things spoilers-head over to my discussion about the ending here. I go back and forth about what I think overall so here’s my attempt to digest it for you.

This story is not what I expected in the slightest, which made for both an enlightening reading experience but also a bit of a confusing one as well.

I felt everything from intrigue to boredom at times to absolute shock. Still, I’ve seen so much praise but also plenty of negative reviews too so I was quite curious to read the story for myself.Īnd whew, I have so many thoughts. I was also unsure of the story-18-year-old men on a road trip throughout the U.S. I’ve actually owned The Lincoln Highway for months but the size is daunting (588 pages).

Amor towles the lincoln highway