Review: The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
I am currently freezing my loins at my youngest daughter’s tennis training. I say freezing - my heart and soul burns brightly when I reflect on the past week or so reading this magnificent book.
Amor Towles. He understands how humans tick. He gets it. Life is complex. Relationships even more so. The Lincoln Highway is my first read by this writer and it most certainly won’t be my last. I plan to devour them all in 2025. Like my recent obsession with Percival Everett and Agatha Christie, Towles is shaping up to be a forever favourite.
As I reflect, it’s the subtle inclusions that caught my eye. The way in which Sally sits down in the one place within her home where she knows she can escape the heat. That sense of belonging whilst wanting more than comfort can bring you. The power of photography was felt strongly by me as someone who cherishes these moments frozen in time. How we can almost see what is happening on the other side of a photo by the expressions of those in them is written by Towles in such a beautiful way. I developed a soft spot for Woolly. I think perhaps he was my favourite character and this quote just sends me over the edge (a tear was shed I won’t lie!):
/-When you put it, said Woolly to no one but himself, while wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, when you put it all together just like that, with the beginning at the beginning, the middle in the middle, and the end at the end, there is no denying today was a one-of-a-kind kind of day./
The Lincoln Highway is a story brimming with joy, heartache, and quiet revelations. Towles humility as a writer is evident in the way he steps back, allowing his richly drawn characters to take centre stage. Each voice is distinct, each story a thread in the larger tapestry of this 1950s road trip adventure across America.
Towles has a rare gift for capturing the beauty in the ordinary, turning seemingly simple moments into profound reflections on friendship, family, and the passage of time. The journey of Emmett, Billy, Duchess, Woolly, Sally, Ulysses and Townhouse is more than a race to their destination - it’s a meditation on the unexpected detours that shape us, the bonds that hold us together, and the enduring hope we carry even in the face of loss. With this,
Towles offers a quiet but powerful reminder: joy is often found in the most surprising places. Reading this book feels like embarking on your own odyssey and one I didn’t want to end. A truly enchanting work that stays with you long after the final page.
Read it! Read it! Read it!
