Book: The Lincoln Highway
Basic Information :
Synopsis :
Characters :
Expectations :
Thoughts :
Evaluation :
Book Group :
New Words :
Book References :
Good Quotes :
Table of Contents :
References
Basic Information:
Author:
Amor Towles
Edition:
epub on Libby from the San Francisco Library
Publisher:
Viking
ISBN:
9780735222359 (ISBN10: 0735222355)
Start
Date: October 11, 2021
Read
Date: October 31, 2021
576
pages
Genre:
Fiction
Language
Warning: Low
Rated
Overall: 3½ out of 5
Fiction-Tells
a good story: 3 out of 5
Fiction-Character
development: 5 out of 5
Synopsis:
here
are two stories which intersect. The Watson brothers are trying to go
to San Francisco to start a new life, one to find his mother, the
other to escape his past. The other story centers on a rich, naive
person who is convinced by a con man to get his estate money and
share it.
When
the two stories intersect is with the elder Watson being released
from a Kansas reform school to his home in Nebraska and his buddies
tagging along with him. The Watson brothers end up in New York
trying to recover their car so they can go to California.
The
story centers around a children’s book of 26 heroic figures and the
imagination of the younger Watson brother. The theme of these stories
play out over the book until the money is recovered and death occurs.
Cast of Characters:
-
Emmett
Watson-Big brother who was in juvenile reform camp released early
because of father’s death, trying to start a new life from
Nebraska. I think he is 18. Abandoned by mother, father never made a
decent living as a father
-
William
(Billy) Watson-Eight year old brother who likes hero stories. From
Nebraska
-
Duchess-Con
man, lust of money. Meets Emmett and Wooly in reform school.
Abandoned as a kid by a vaudeville actor father.
-
Woolly-naive,
innocent rich kid. Meets Emmett and Duchess at reform school. From
upstate New York. Father dies when he is young. Mother out of
picture. Well taken care of.
-
Sally
Ransom-Next door neighbor. Styles herself as having a love interest
in Emmett
-
Townsend-Fellow
reform school. From Bronx. He received a beating in excessive of
reasonable. He did not rat on Duchess.
-
Sarah-Wooly’s
sister, Dennis’ wife. Very sympathetic and empathetic with Woolly.
-
Dennis
Whitney-Sarah’s husband
-
Ulysses
- Black World War II veteran whose wife deserted him. He has been on
a ten year quest, unknown to him. This gets put into perspective by
Billy Watson
-
Preacher
John-a self-styled preacher who will kill for money.
-
Professor
Abacus Abernathe’-Author of a book which guides Billy
-
Patrick
“Fritz” FritzWilliams-friend of Duchess’ Dad
-
Harry
Hewitt-Duchess’ Dad
Expectations:
-
Recommendation:
None
-
Date
Became Aware of Book: October 8, 2021
-
How
come do I want to read this book: Read another Towles book, A
Gentleman in Moscow,
and enjoyed it.
- What
do I think I will get out of it? At least a good read
Thoughts:
There
are several thoughts which run throughout the book.
-
Place
of the hero and what does a hero look like
- death-you
do not notice the number of people who die in the book, until the end
- the
curvature of a life
- the
evil all will do in a life
- evening
the score, both for the evil done and the good done to a person
Parts
go in the reverse order, like a countdown. This is a trick of Towles.
In A
Gentleman in Moscow
he did other “tricky” things with chapter headings. Also the
title character of each chapter plays the clue about what perspective
the chapter is from. Sometimes, it is narrated by the person, other
times it is just told like a webcam on the person. The self-narration
is usually Duchess and Sally, but not Bully or Emmet.
The
whole story takes place in less than two weeks.
Part
Ten
Emmett
Started
on June 12, 1954. Emmett is released from reform school and taken by
the director back home. He is told he should keep away from those who
would lead him astray. He finds that both his neighbor and a banker
are at the house. The banker says that he is foreclosing on the
property and all which is on it. Emmett notes that the car is his,
not his fathers. The neighbor advises him to go away and make a new
start. Billy is all set to find his mother in San Francisco, by
traveling the Lincoln
Highway.
The highway ends at Lincoln
Park in
San Francisco.
Duchess
Chapter
told from Duchess point of view. Duchess and Woolly have stowed away
in the car of the director and emerge from hiding. They want Emmett
to go to New York with them to recover Woolly’s estate fortune.
They will share the $150,000 equally. While Emmett is legitimately
out, Duchess and Wooly are not. Emmett wants nothing to do with this
scheme. Duchess invokes the motto of the Three
Musketeers.
Billy gives description of where Professor Abacus Abernathe’s
office is
Duchess
gives his background. Father was a traveling actor. He would go with
his father until his father abandoned him. But this is a made up
history.
Kazantikis-Magician
in the book. Not a real person
Part
Nine
Emmett
Told
from a third person perspective. Emmett wakes up on the first morning
in his house to find Sally has made breakfast. Emmett does not know
how to react to Sally. Emmett goes into town to get some supplies and
stuff-it is Sunday. Why are the stores open in a good town like this?
Then he stops by the library. He was figuring out which had the most
growth-Texas or California. Emmett wants to build houses so the more
growth the more profit.
Emmett
relives the night at the fairgrounds. How he was provoked into a
fight. In doing so, the person got knocked back, hit his head and
died.
The
brother/friends of the person who was killed are waiting for him when
he gets out of the library. They beat him up. He does not fight back.
The Sheriff breaks it up. Sheriff gives him some advice, gets him
taken care of and driven back to his home.
Danny
Hoagland-Only reason I picked this name out was that there was a
friend of mine with a similar name.
Duchess
Duchess
goes into town-Emmett does not know. He observes Emmett’s beating.
Duchess compares this to various movie actors who take beatings. The
willingness to take a beating: That’s how you can tell you’re
dealing with a man of substance.
Duchess
ruminates on unfinished business. What
wisdom the Lord does not see fit to endow us with at birth, He
provides through the gift of experience How
Emmett felt a need to balance the score with the family of the boy
who died in the fight.
Duchess
kills the guy who instigated the beating. (Turns out that he severely
injured him.)
Just
because it is an interesting sentence. This is thought by Dutchess
right before he kills the guy. It’s
the sort of reception that could turn you off charitable acts forever
Woolly
Told
from Wooly’s point of view. Some more background on Woolly.
Sally
Told
from Sally’s view. In church. She has it out for church because it
is from a man’s point of view.
Time
is that which God uses to separate the idle from the industrious.
The author may have put this in here more because he liked the
statement than it adds to the story. I like the quote as well.
For
what is kindness but the performance of an act that is both
beneficial to another and unrequired?
Gets to the heart of Sally
Duchess
Recounts
how Emmett told Billy about the fight. Duchess receives a mystery
shoe box.
Part
Eight
Emmett
The
four of them start out for San Francisco. Emmett wants the fastest
way; Billy wants to go by way of the Lincoln Highway. Billy wins.
Talks about the background to the Lincoln Highway. The plan is to
drop Duchess and Woolly off at the Omaha bus station and be on their
way. Duchess wants to stop by his orphanage on the way there. They
do.
Duchess
leaves chaos as well as Emmett and Billy at the orphanage. He meets
Sister Agnes.
Having
been abandoned, he calls Sally for help. While waiting, it gives
Sister Agnes a chance to talk with Emmett, particularly about
Duchess. She gives a bit more of the Duchess' history.
Sister
Agness talks about the parable of the Good Samaritan. She says:
A good Christian shows compassion toward those who are in difficulty.
And that is an important part of the parable’s meaning. But an
equally important point that Jesus is making is that we do not always
get to choose to whom we should show our charity
Sally
leaves Emmett and Billy at the train station.
Duchess
After
stealing Emmett’s car, Duchess and Woolly set out for New York. For
most people, it does not matter where they are going. That’s
what gave the Lincoln Highway its charm.
A
bit more about Duchess’ background as they go on to New York.
Emmett
Emmett
and Billy find they do not have any money after Sally lets them off
in Omaha. They hop a freight train.
Billy
points out they are on their own adventure-to get to San Francisco. I
think here, Towles figures it is similar to Ulysses.
I [Billy]am
pretty sure that we are on our adventure, Emmett. But I won’t be
able to make a start of setting it down until I know where the middle
of it is
Duchess
Woolly
and Duchess travel east. Woolly is fascinated by all of the things he
had not experienced.
Emmett
Billy
and Emmett jump a freight train.
Part
Seven
Duchess
More
Howard Johnson. Woolly takes the car for a spin.
Woolly
Woolly
tries to map read while driving.Purpose: find the town’s statue of
Lincoln. This brings back memories of being a failure to recite the
Gettysburg Address. But this was an occasion where his whole family
recited the speech:
this was the way that Abraham Lincoln had meant his Address to be
recited. Not as a little boy standing alone at the head of a table in
an itchy coat, but as four generations of a family speaking together
in unison.
Emmett
The
train has come to a stop. Emmett looks for food. He comes across a
car where there had been a party. Emmett
was raised to hold no man in disdain. To hold another man in disdain,
his father would say, presumed that you knew so much about his lot,
so much about his intentions, about his actions both public and
private that you could rank his character against your own without
fear of misjudgment.
But the two men in this car seemed to lack character and only had
riches.
Pastor
John
Introducing
the minor character of Pastor John. He comes into the boxcar where
Billy is waiting for Emmett. Pastor John hears the collection of
coins and makes plans to steal it. Pastor John’s thought as he
lusts after the coins: Not
the God of Abraham, who would sooner strike down a sinner than call
him by name, but the God of Christ. Or even Christ Himself, the One
who assured us that no matter how often we have strayed, we can find
forgiveness and even redemption by redirecting our steps toward the
path of virtue.
Then
Ulysses shows up. He throws Pastor John from the box car as it is
moving.
Ulysses
Billy
makes the association between this Ulysses and the Greek hero. Towles
goes into Ulysses’ history. Emmett returns to find Billy with
Ulysses.
Duchess
Duchess
finds Woolly and talks his way out of an officer taking him to jail.
And now a sordid business of murder of his old prison camp director.
One
down, two to go.
Obviously, Duchess has an agenda besides helping Woolly, Billy and
Emmett.
Another
Greek myth reference-labyrinth.
Emmett
Travels
in a boxcar with Billy, Ulysses and Emmett.
Part
Six
Duchess
Duchess
is trying to track down his Dad. Maybe #2? He finds where his Dad
was at the Sunshine Hotel. His Dad had a case made up for each of his
Shakespeare plays. Inside there was his disguise kit.
… seeing
the corner of the book poking out from the folds of his sheets. I
should have known. The poor old chap, he suffers from the most
dangerous addiction of all.
I guess if you are reading this book, you too suffer from this
addiction.
Talked
about FritzWilliams
Emmett
Ulysses,
Billy and Emmett have made it to New York. Ulysses shows them to a
homeless camp.
Wooly
Woolly’s
family placed a lot of expectations on their children. So when Woolly
and Duchess came to New York, Woolly thought: Manhattan
was absotively filled with expectations. There were so many
expectations, they had to build the buildings eighty stories high so
they would have enough room to stack them one on top of the other.
This was not a positive thought to Woolly.
He
reads yesterday’s newspaper while Duchess runs around New York.
Duchess
Duchess
talks with FritzWilliams about where his father is..
Sally
Sally
argues with her father.
Ulysses
Ulysses
is changing-he is getting attached to Billy.
Part
Five
Wooly
Duchess
and Woolly go to Woolly’s sister's house.
Duchess
Duchess
feels he owes Townsend for a beating Townsend took while Duchess gets
off free. Duchess goes to Harlem to find Townsend and to get the
score evened. He lets Townsend punch him three times. See what
Duchess learnt from the beating that Emmett got.
One
thing which makes up for it is that Duchess made it so that when
Townsend was being set up, he conceived to make the person setting up
Townsend took the fall In there, he made a speech which included”
We
few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
I think Towles cribbed this [He did from William Shakespeare’s
Henry
V.
There is a speech cal;lled This
day is called the feast of Crispian
which contains it.]. On the other hand, he has Duchess looking for
opportunities rather than fearing them. Instead of taking
a chance, he looks at it as having been given
a chance. That is a good way to put it.
Emmett
This
may be the point of the story: Sister Agnes had told Emmett that
Duchess needed someone to look after him and save him from his own
misguided intentions.
Emmett
was now trying to navigate New York, without a map or understanding
of the layout. He was looking for where Duchess’ father’s agency.
He is given a lead and follows the same trail as Duchess.
Ulysses
Billy
retells the story of the Greek Uylsses. Then Ulysses tells his own
story. As part of it, he says: The
Good Lord does not call you to your feet with hymns from the cherubim
and Gabriel blowing his horn. He calls you to your feet by making you
feel alone and forgotten.
Pastor
John
Pastor
John’s trip to New York. He strikes Ulysses unaware. The boy fights
and escapes. But his backpack is there and Pastor John looks for the
silver dollars.
Ulysses
Ulysses
regains conscientiousness. He knocks out Pastor John. Ulysses makes
sure Billy is taken care of. Then makes sure Pastor John will no
longer bother anyone.
Duchess
Duchess
recounts being at Woolly’s sister’s house. He says a story of
Marceline and how he was wrongfully accused of stealing his watch
when Marceline committed suicide.
Marceline
Maupassant-Is this Marceline
Orbes?
I think the character is more modeled after Orbes than is. In the
story he is a clown.
Part
Four
Woolly
Woolly
goes to his favorite store, FAO
Schwarz-a
toy store. That is where his sister Sarah finds him.
Chippendale
table
Duchess
Duchess
explores Sarah’s house alone.
Emmett
Conversation
with Townsend. Story of why Townsend was at the reformed jail.
Townsend gives Emmett a tour Not
the landmarks of Harlem, but the landmarks of their conversations.
This is more important than saying this thing happened in 1898. It
says who you are.
Sally
Sally
finds out that her father has a girlfriend.
Emmett
Emmett
brings Billy to the Circus to find Duchess. They find Woolly. The
circus is meant more as a pretext to have women remove clothing.
Woolly tells Emmett where to find Duchess, up where the performers
live/change clothes. Duchess is found playing a piano. Emmett is
drugged by Duchess and sent into a room with one of the women to be
seduced. But he went unconscious before that happened.
Duchess
Duchess,
Woolly and Billy set off into Manhattan. They see the Empire State
Building, where Professor Abernathe’s office is said to be. Duchess
wants to put an end to a Billy’s know it all and suggests they pay
him a visit. They find the office. The professor is real and is
interested in Billy. And then in Ulysses.
Wooly
The
night from Woolly’s perspective. And then they were on to the hobo
camp to meet Ulysses. Ulysses tells his story and how you have to
earn everything in life. He said: I
might finally have earned the right to hope again, Woolly understood
that here was a question disguised as a statement. And Woolly found
it to be beautiful.
Abernathy
understood Ulysses and realized he had not earned his place.
Abernathy gives a task to Ulysses like the Oracle did to the Greek.
Part
Three
Wooly
At
Sarah’s house, making dinner, waiting for Emmett..
Duchess
Killing
time at Sarah’s house. Making dinner, wondering if Emmett would
show up.
Emmett
Goes
over Emmett awaking after having been drugged. The idea was to give
Emmett his first taste of sex. Instead, he passed out. He wanted to
refuse breakfast from them. Then Emmett
was reminded that half the time, manners are there for your own good.
Breakfast is what he needed. He ended up being grateful for their
kindness.
To
find Woolly’s sister’s address, one of the prostitutes has a copy
of the social register. She notes that the upper crust nothing ever
changes.
America
is three thousand miles wide, he thought to himself. Five days
before, he and Billy had set out with the intention of driving
fifteen hundred miles west to California. Instead, they had traveled
fifteen hundred miles east to New York. Having arrived, Emmett had
crisscrossed the city from Times Square to lower Manhattan and back.
To Brooklyn and Harlem. And when, at long last, it seemed his
destination was within reach, Emmett had taken three trains, four
taxis, and now was on foot.
All
of the travel to find Woolly’s sister’s house left Emmett time to
think of his own father and how he always loved him and never
deserted him. He could not say the same for Duchess’ father. A
certain amount of forgiveness was now in his mind. That still does
not hold Emmett back from getting ready to slug Duchess.
Wooly
Woolly
occupies Billy’s time by giving away his heirloom watch. It needed
to be wound up 14 times each day to keep accurate time. Either
way—whether he wound it sixteen times or wound it twelve—it was a
little like when Alice stepped through the looking glass, or the
Pevensies through the wardrobe, only to find themselves in a world
that was and wasn’t theirs.
A CS Lewis reference, along with a Lewis Carrol.
Duchess
Starts
the chapter with a Sister Agnes quote: the
wise man tattles on himself.
I have a form of this, that I would rather write my own obituary.
But
Emmett does not slug him. Duchess gives him back the remainder of the
money.
Sally
Sally
has not heard from Emmett like he promised. So she figures out where
he is and drives to New York.
Emmett
Dinner
is served by Duchess. A good meal seems to take down stress and
everybody is on speaking terms. Sarah and Dennis walk into the room
to discover Dennis’ best champagne has been poured down the drain
four a magic trick. Dennis has a talk with Woolly with the result
that Woolly will be working as a runner for a stock firm.
Emmett
Emmetts
emotions went from merriment to shame seeing Dennis. He remembered
the train incident where he judged the partying and waste which went
on there. How
quickly Emmett had judged those two?
Was he not just as guilty? So he cleaned up the best he could. Sally
came down and helped Emmett clean up. Emmett felt there was comfort
of knowing one’s sense of right and wrong was shared by another,
and thus was somehow more true.
Part
Two
Duchess
How
magic or at least magicians work. Then Woolly and Duchess make their
way to Woolly’s family “camp”-a huge retreat with a suitable
house on it. Woolly gives a tour of the house. Duchess had some doubt
about whether there was $150,000 on the premises until going through
the house. Here
was a room of a man who knew not only how to make money, but how to
keep it. Which, after all, are two different things entirely.
There
is a picture of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Duchess asked who signed it? Oliver,
he said. He also signed the Articles of Confederation
When
they come to the safe where the money is, Woolly does not have the
combination.
Emmett
Emmett,
Sally and Billy are left at Sarah’s house with Sarah. This chapter
is being told about Emmett, not being told by Emmett. Emmett tries to
make amends by painting a room. Woolly has left a note explaining and
apologizing. Sarah says it is OK to spend the night at the house.
Sarah notes that: When
we’re young, so much time is spent teaching us the importance of
keeping our vices in check. Our anger, our envy, our pride. But when
I look around, it seems to me that so many of our lives end up being
hampered by a virtue instead.
Wooly
Woolly
goes through the house remembering things while Duchess goes to a
hardware store to see if he can get something to break into a safe.
Woolly sets himself up to have a comfortable daydream, as he takes
his bottle of medicine.
Abacus
Life
is like a diamond. It starts as a point, expands outward, until it
reaches its limits. Then the lines of a life narrow to a point.How
easily we forget—we in the business of storytelling—that life was
the point all along.
Abacus’s life is not following the diamond shape because of the
encounter with Billy. It is widening again, instead of narrowing. He
is going on an adventure with Ulysses.
Billy
Billy
understands it is time for him to add his own chapter into his book,
Compendium
of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers.
He needs to figure out where the middle of the adventure is. He goes
through various possibilities. The place to start: When Emmett was
released from prison.
Part
One
Emmett
Emmett
goes to get his car back. Townsend says he is a wanted man, along
with his light blue car. Emmett and Townsend talk about their plans.
Townsend is thinking of going into the Army. He says that
a black man, whether you end up carrying a mailbag, operating an
elevator, pumping gas, or doing time, you’re going to be wearing a
uniform. So you might as well choose the one that suits you.
Sally’s
truck gave out. So she will be going with Emmett and Billy to
California. But as they are discussing events and why the police are
on the lookout, Emmett decides that he needs to find Duchess and
Woolly. This transition seems a bit weak.
Sally
Sally
does not want to be considered part of the luggage, nor part of
Emmett’s household, which is what Emmett was assuming and trying to
avoid. This led Sally to think that there
is nothing bigger than a man’s opinion of himself.
Sally
discovers that Billy is gone.
Emmett
Emmett
gets to Woolly’s family’s “camp”. He goes through the
building looking for Woolly and Duchess. He finds Woolly dead from an
overdose of his medicine. Duchess is found trying to open the safe,
with no success. Billy had stolen away with Emmett. Duchess kidnaps
him.
Duchess
Duchess
tries to open the safe. Not successful. He finds Woolly having
committed suicide. Emmett comes in on him. He knocks out Emmett for a
few minutes and takes Billy, trying to convince him to help. Billy
escapes.
Billy
Billy
explains how and why he stole away in Emmett’s car. He sneaks
through the house, unnoticed and observes Duchess trying to open the
safe. When the safe was unattended, Billy figured out the combination
and saw the money. When he sees Emmett going after Duchess and
Duchess knocking out Emmett and Duchess kidnapping Billy, Billy takes
things into his own hands and kicks Duchess. Billy hid in a little
space under the stairs.
Billy
thinks that Emmett has one flaw-anger, like Achilles.
Emmett
Confrontation
with Duchess. Emmett knocks him out. The last will of Woolly is left,
leaving Duchess, Billy and Emmett a third each of his inheritance.
Billy opens the safe. They recover their share of the money. Then
clean up. Having
come fifteen hundred miles in the wrong direction, on the verge of
traveling three thousand more, Emmett believed that the power within
him was new in nature, that no one but he could know what he was
capable of, and that he had only just begun to know it himself.
Sally, Billy and Emmett start their trip to San Francisco from the
Lincoln Highway from Times Square.
What
to do with Duchess?
Duchess
Duchess
wakes up and finds he is in a boat in a lake. Emmett had left Duchess
with his share of Woolly’s inheritance. But the boat has a hole in
it, putting Emmett in the awkward position of saving the money for
himself. He cannot swim.
Evaluation:
Having
read Towles book, A
Gentleman in Moscow,
I was expecting both the enjoyment of Towles as a writer as well as a
storyteller. Towles ability to put words together is still one worth
paying attention to. I found the story line not as good as his
previous work.[A
note: when you hear Towles in an interview, he is a totally enjoyable
person, so I wish I liked this book a lot more.]
Towles
has several plot lines going through it. Young Billy is enthralled
with the great heroes, both from Greek storytelling all the way
through Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln Highway itself plays only a
minor supporting role in this partial adaptation of the Ulysses
story. Billy’s brother, Emmett, is trying to get both of them to
San Francisco to start a new life away from a manslaughter conviction
in his small town. Two of his fellow teenagers from the reform school
manage to pull him away to New York in pursuit of treasure. The
harder Emmett and Billy try to go west, they are drugged east. And
that is the story.
Maybe
it is because I was expecting something exceptional and found more of
a story which seemed to drag. Or that it ends on a black note, a bit
of a discord, I cannot say I appreciated this book like I thought I
was going to.
Notes from my book group:
The
book is named Lincoln
Highway.
Why is the highway named that? What part does it play in the book?
What does it represent to each of the characters in the book?
Why
does Towles have the Parts go in reverse order? [Note: In A
Gentleman in Moscow,
Towles also plays games with the chapters.]
Professor
Abernathe, and Billy, have the tales being told in
medias res,
“in the middle of things.” Why is this important? How does this
complicate the story telling from Billy’s perspective? How do you
know when you are in the middle of an adventure?
When
Woolly gets to Manhattan, he thinks: Manhattan
was absotively filled with expectations.
Why is Woolly so averse to expectations? Is it because of him? His
upbringing? Or is Towles trying to tell us something bigger?
Towles
shows us through Duchess that there are two ways to react to
opportunity: fear or taking a chance. What categories do the
characters fall into? How does Towles show the outcomes of each
category?
Sister
Agnes had told Emmett that Duchess needed someone to look after him
and save him from his own misguided intentions. What makes Sister
Agnes say this? Is this a fair responsibility to put onto Emmett? How
does Emmett shoulder this responsibility? Does he fail?
Who
is killed or hurt in this story? Could Towles have written the story
without this? How would that story have been different?
When
Townsend gives Emmett a tour of Harlem he is said to have given him a
tour Not
the landmarks of Harlem, but the landmarks of their conversations.
Which would you find more interesting? What kind of tour would you
give people of your own area?
When
Professor Abernathe has his talk with Ulysses, he notes that what
Ulysses is lacking is a task, particularly a meaningless task like
the original Ulysses had. Why is this important? How would you react
to such a task? Would you see it as redeeming?
At
Sarah and Dennis’ house, after having a party, Emmett remembers the
after-math of a party on the train he had hopped on. He remembers the
judgement he had on the oppolunce of the party and the shame he now
feels. Is Towles echoing Jesus’ teaching about judging? How does
this come into play?
Explain
this: When
we’re young, so much time is spent teaching us the importance of
keeping our vices in check. Our anger, our envy, our pride. But when
I look around, it seems to me that so many of our lives end up being
hampered by a virtue instead.
Towles
puts these words into Townsend’s month:
a black man, whether you end up carrying a mailbag, operating an
elevator, pumping gas, or doing time, you’re going to be wearing a
uniform. So you might as well choose the one that suits you.
Do you think Towles was only thinking about the 1950’s or something
more recent? How so?
Duchess
makes up his personal history. Do you think he is trying to fool
Emmett, Woolly and Billy? Or himself? Why does he feel the need to
make this up?
Evening
up the score is a major theme of the book. Give instances where that
occurs. Do the instances where this happens really even the score?
Have you had this kind of an event? How did it work out?
Why
is Sally in the book?
At
the end of Part Nine, Duchess receives a mystery shoe box. What is in
it? Why does Towles include this?
Sister
Agnes, while a minor character has some very profound lines. She
recounts the parable of the Good Samaritan. She takes from it that A
good Christian shows compassion toward those who are in difficulty.
And that is an important part of the parable’s meaning. But an
equally important point that Jesus is making is that we do not always
get to choose to whom we should show our charity.
What do you think about her interpretation? How does that work out in
practice? How does Towles apply this in the book?
Another
Sister Agnes quote is that the
wise man tattles on himself.
Is this wise?
Duchess
thinks that for most people, it does not matter where they are going
as long as they are going. Have you had a time of “random” or
non-directed travel? How was it?
How
would you have solved Duchess’ problem in the boat-saving the money
as well as not sinking? What is Towles trying to show us in this
scene? Is this something he is showing throughout the book? If so,
where else do people face this kind of issue?
Do
you think Emmett meant to kill Duchess in the boat?
How
do you want your life to change because you read this book?
Many
of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
Why
the title of Lincoln
Highway?
What is the Lincoln Highway?
Does
this story work as a novel?
Did
the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
Which
character was the most convincing? Least?
Which
character did you identify with?
Which
one did you dislike?
Every
story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s
world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
In
what context was religion talked about in this book?
Was
there anybody you would consider religious?
How
did they show it?
Was
the book overtly religious?
How
did it affect the book's story?
Why
do you think the author wrote this book?
What
would you ask the author if you had a chance?
What
“takeaways” did you have from this book?
What
central ideas does the author present?
Are
they personal, sociological, global, political, economic, spiritual,
medical, or scientific
What
evidence
does the author use to support the book's ideas?
Is
the evidence convincing...definitive or...speculative?
Does
the author depend on personal opinion, observation, and assessment?
Or is the evidence factual—based on science, statistics, historical
documents, or quotations from (credible) experts?
What
implications for you, our nation or the world do these ideas have?
Are
these idea’s controversial?
To
whom and why?
Are
there solutions which the author presents?
Do
they seem workable? Practicable?
How
would you implement them?
Describe
the culture talked about in the book.
How
is the culture described in this book different than where we live?
What
economic or political situations are described?
Does
the author examine economics and politics, family traditions, the
arts, religious beliefs, language or food?
How
did this book affect your view of the world?
Of
how God is viewed?
What
questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
Talk
about specific passages that struck you as significant—or
interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
What
was memorable?
Reading
Groups General Fiction Guide
Amor
Towles book
group questions:
-
How
do you think Emmett, Duchess, Woolly, and Sally’s various
upbringings—particularly their relationships to their parents—have
shaped them? How have their parents’ choices influenced their own
desires and ambitions? When you were eighteen, which aspects of your
parents’ lives did you hope to emulate, and which did you hope to
cast aside?
-
Early
in the novel, Emmett meets Sister Agnes, a nun who describes the
faith of children, who look upon a miracle “with awe and wonder,
yes, but without disbelief.” From the context, it’s fairly clear
that Sister Agnes is referencing Billy in her remark. How would you
describe Billy’s personality? While he is the youngest and least
experienced character in the novel, one could argue that he has the
greatest influence on other characters. What is it about Billy that
makes this so?
-
Throughout
the novel, an array of stories are recalled—stories drawn from
Professor Abernathe’s Compendium, from the Vaudevillian world of
Duchess’s father, from Shakespeare, cinema, and the Bible. What
role do stories play in the shaping of the different characters’
lives and personalities? Are these stories a productive or
counterproductive force? What story—whether handed down to you from
your parents or experienced in a novel or film—had a particularly
strong influence on shaping you as a young person?
-
The
novel takes places in the mid-1950s—a period of peace, prosperity,
and upward mobility in the US; a period in which television was in
its infancy, and which came just before the advents of rock &
roll, the modern civil rights movement, and the “sexual
revolution”. How does the era shape the journeys of the characters,
if at all? What aspect of their journeys are unique to their times,
and what aspects were shared by you when you were on the verge of
adulthood?
-
Hilary—and
old friend and member of my book group—observed to me in passing,
Well, of course, money is one of the central themes of your book.
It’s on the minds of all the characters. This hadn’t occurred to
me for one second! Do you think Hilary is right? On a related note,
discuss the broader themes in the novel of moral accounting: of debt
and recompense, transgression and atonement, sin and redemption.
-
The
City of New York is a thousand cities rolled into one. How does New
York differ in the eyes of Emmett, Duchess, Woolly, and Billy?
-
One
of the pleasures of writing fiction is discovering upon completion of
a project that some thread of imagery has run through the work
without your complete awareness–forming, in essence, an
unintentional motif. While I was very conscious of the recurrence of
Maps & Floorplans in the book, and Photographs, here are a few
motifs that I only recognized after the fact: Timepieces such as
Billy’s surplus watch, the two grandfather clocks, Marceline’s
pocket watch, and Wallace’s officer’s watch; Tables, Desks, &
Chairs such as the furniture in the doll case at FAO Schwarz, the
long table in the dining room at the camp, and the desks of “Dennis”
and Professor Abernathe; Cases such as the wicker picnic basket,
Woolly’s cigar box, Harry Hewett’s Othello case, and the shoebox
of preserves. What role do any of these motifs play in the thematic
composition of the book? And if you see me in an airport, can you
explain them to me?
-
The
tone of each character’s chapters differs from the tone of the
other characters’ chapters. How would you describe the style of the
different characters’ chapters? To what degree does the style shape
your sense of the characters’ personalities? How does reading
Duchess’s first person narrative influence you in comparison to
Emmett’s third person narrative?
-
Emmett’s
father leaves Emmett a quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay
“Self-Reliance” as part of his legacy. Do you agree with
Emerson’s argument that what is within the individual is new to
nature, and that we have no idea of what we can achieve until we’ve
tried? What about Emerson’s idea strikes you as particularly
American? What about this novel strikes you as particularly American?
What does self-reliance mean to Emmett, to Duchess, and to Sally?
-
There
are a number of smaller legacies in the novel. In addition to the
Emerson quotation left to Emmett, there are the recipes handed down
to Sally, the officer’s watch handed down in the Wolcott family,
the St. Christopher medal passed from Billy to Ulysses. What role do
these small legacies play within the larger themes of the novel? What
smaller legacy have you received that has meant a great deal to you?
-
How
would you describe each main character’s transformation over the
course of the novel? Which character do you think evolves most
significantly? Which characters, in your opinion, found what they
were looking for? Do you have a favorite character, and why them?
-
A
question for those of you who have read my other books: While Rules
of Civility covers a year in Katey’s life, and A Gentleman in
Moscow spans three decades, The Lincoln Highway takes place over just
ten days. How does the span of time effect the narrative and your
experience of it? What are the benefits and limitations that come
with reading a novel spanning days rather than years? While A
Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway differ in duration, the
ending of the two books match each other in a very specific way. What
is this commonality? And what are its implications when considering
the two stories side by side?
-
Woolly’s
sister, Sarah, observes to Emmett: “If you take a trait that by all
appearances is a merit—a trait that is praised by pastors and
poets, a trait that we have come to admire in our friends and hope to
foster in our children—and you give it to some poor soul in
abundance, it will almost certainly prove an obstacle to their
happiness.” Do you think this is true? What virtue do you think
each of the main characters possesses in excess?
-
Given
inflation, $50,000 in 1954 would be the equivalent of about $500,000
today. Late in your discussion, after you’ve had the chance to
share a bottle of wine or a few cocktails, tell each other what you
would do if you were suddenly given half a million dollars.
Every
character–main and secondary–in this novel has a dream. Some are
big and some are simple, but all of the hopes and dreams have
collateral consequences. Whose dreams do you think had the biggest
impact on the rest of the characters? Whose dreams do you identify
with most?
The
Lincoln Highway
is full of expectations based on class, gender, and race. The burden
of expectations can be heavy. Discuss how expectations affect the
character’s choices. How have others’ expectations of you
changed the decisions you’ve made in your life? What expectations
might have been on you, if you were a young adult in the 1950s?
Duchess
spends much of the novel concerned with settling moral debts both
owed and owed to him. Do you agree with his idea that the universe
is keeping score in some way? Do you think he deserved the ending he
got? What do you think his life would have looked like if he had
known how to swim?
By
all accounts, Wooly lived a life of privilege unlike any of the
other characters. But, Wooly was very different than the other boys.
In today’s world, Wooly might have been diagnosed with a mental
health or cognitive condition and received treatment. If Wooly were
alive today, how do you think his journey might have ended? How have
we made progress in the treatment of young adult mental health, and
where is there progress yet to be made?
A
central theme of The Lincoln Highway is ambition–wanting more than
you were born into. What do you think happened to Emmett and Billy’s
mother? Where do you think she is now? Besides the boy’s mother,
Sally serves as the central female character in the book. What do
you make of the relationship between Emmett and Sally? What do you
think happens to Sally after the novel ends?
One
of the criticisms of the book is the depiction of Billy as overly
precocious beyond his years. Have you ever known a child like that?
Were you a child like that? Do you think Emmett was fit to be a
caregiver for his younger brother?
The
Lincoln Highway is a book about metamorphosis. Which character do
you think transforms the most over the course of the book?
Even
though there are a handful of central characters, the novel
introduces many secondary characters along the journey. Of those,
who do you most identify with? Which of the supporting characters
would you like to read a full novel about?
The
era of the book almost functions as another character — what
themes in the book do you think are unique to the time period, and
which ones do you think would persist if the novel took place in
modern times?
With
all that happens in the novel, it’s hard to believe it only spans
10 days. What were the most memorable 10 days of your life? Why do
you think the author chose to constrain the story to this limited
amount of time?
New Words: 
