The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

I liked Towles's A Gentleman in Moscow, but I LOVED this! Prepare to be utterly charmed with The Lincoln Highway. The characters leap off the pages in this heart-filled, action-packed adventure story!

Emmett Watson has just finished his term for involuntary manslaughter at a boys juvenile work camp in 1954 Kansas. With his deceased parent's Nebraska farm foreclosed, he plans on getting his eight-year-old brother Billy, his car, and setting off to start anew in California. But when two escapees (Wooly and Duchess) from Juvie turn up at the farmstead needing a ride in the opposite direction, plans change. The brothers plan on continuing west on the Lincoln Highway after a little detour east with Wooly and Duchess.

But when scheming Duchess and naive Wooly help themselves to Emmett's Studebaker during a stop, Emmett and Billy set off to reclaim the car and its contents. They jump a train heading east to track down the Duchess and Wooly in New York. The two meet Ulysses who has been riding the railways looking for his absent wife and child since he came home from the war. He tells young Billy that only when you feel you've been completely forsaken by your maker is when you find your strength; Billy and Emmett demonstrate this time and again throughout their days long quest. Encountering scoundrels and protectors alike, our intrepid protagonists make their way toward their formidable goal.

Multi- dimensional characters kept me on my toes. Vulnerable Wooly is described by his sister as someone whose positive traits (his kindness) have become an obstacle such as when he got in trouble for trying to return a fire truck. And fast-talking Duchess displays villainous tendencies but conversely covers up Wooly with a blanket in his sleep. Then there is tough as nails fellow in-mate Townhouse who they find in Harlem; he shows his big heart by helping the brothers recover their essential Studebaker. Also, Sally, their neighbor from Nebraska, tired of being her father's cook and maid, shows up along the way and proves herself a true friend and strong ally. Towles ensures that each person introduced has a back-story that breathes life into them.

This novel is in full color: between the detailed descriptions of the making of a tomato sauce with sofrito to the unfolding of a vaudeville magic trick, the five hundred and seventy-six pages almost turn themselves. As one character, professor Abernathe points out, at some level we must believe that what we are going through has never been experienced quite as WE have experienced it. True in life on many levels. That being said, I do hope you pick up this book and have a similarly positive experience!