This novel isn’t just a nod to Huckleberry Finn – it’s a warm and loving embrace. Huck travelled on the Mississippi, while this mid-century adventure proposes driving a Studebaker across America on the Lincoln Highway, from NYC to San Fran.
After being released from juvenile detention, Emmett Watson returns to the family farm in Nebraska. His father has died and he and his younger brother, Billy, need to start over somewhere else. They decide to try to find their mother in California … but no adventure is complete without obstacles. Two friends from juvie, Duchess and Woolly, stowed away in the car which drove Emmett home. The latter comes from old money – a lot of which is waiting for him in upstate New York.
They all begin the journey west, but Duchess ‘borrows’ Emmett’s car to take Woolly home, so Emmett and Billy head east to NYC to retrieve the car. Duchess has also pocketed Emmett’s money, so now they’re forced to ‘hitch’ on the railroad. Encounters with characters such as Ulysses, Billy’s friend and protector; Professor Abernathe, the writer of Billy’s favourite adventure book and another juvie friend, Townhouse, add to the adventure.
Characterisations are superb: all have gigantic personalities without becoming caricatures. The brothers are smart but have much to learn. Emmetts’ lessons spring mainly from his no-nonsense neighbour, Sally. Duchess is charismatically generous … with Emmett’s possessions. Woolly is kind and naive (woolly-headed, naturally). All have complicated backstories.
Together they form a tight-knit ensemble cast which sets this adventure on its unruly, emotion-filled course. There are many points of intersection between this narrative and Huck’s and, just like Twain, Towles is a spellbinding storyteller.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born and raised in the Boston area, Amor Towles graduated from Yale College and received an MA in English from Stanford University. Having worked as an investment professional for over twenty years, he now devotes himself full time to writing in Manhattan, where he lives with his wife and two children. His novels Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Lincoln Highway have collectively sold more than six million copies and been translated into more than thirty languages. Both Bill Gates and President Barack Obama included A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway on their annual book recommendation lists.
Rules of Civility (2011) was a New York Times bestseller and was named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the best books of the year. The book’s French translation received the 2012 Prix Fitzgerald.
A Gentleman in Moscow (2016) was on the New York Times bestseller list for two years and was named one of the best books of 2016 by the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the San Francisco Chronicle, and NPR.
The Lincoln Highway (2021) debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
Towles’s short stories have appeared in the Paris Review (#112), Granta (#148), British Vogue, and Audible Originals. Access to some of these stories as well as a few short essays can be found in the Other Writing section of this website.
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