“How easily we forget – we in the business of storytelling – that life was the point all along.”
– Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway
With The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles did what he preached in the art of storytelling. As though this book could read my mind, put my feelings into words, and understand my life situation.
The book started with Emmett and his brother Billy embarking on a road trip via the Lincoln Highway to find their mother. The duo turned into a quartet as Woolly and Duchess joined them. If their travel had gone as planned, it would take 20 days to arrive at their destination in California. Not only did they head in the opposite direction, but more than half of the book was in New York. One step forward, dragged back 100 steps. Always “another delay.” By the time the book almost ended, they were still in the Adirondacks. This comforted me — all these years in my endeavour to become a freelancer, my road trip looked alike.
“Emmett turned and headed back into the hallway – just in time to see the doors to the elevator closing. But before they shut completely, the tip of an umbrella jutted through the gap. A moment later, the doors reopened to reveal the man with the bowler hat and the bird on his shoulder.”
This left a vivid image in my mind. A beautiful book with cinematic description — I hope there will be a screen adaptation. Alongside the adventure, this book is a kaleidoscope of New York. I had a glimpse of the life of its inhabitants: Wall Street wunderkind, letter carrier, newsletter seller, false pastor, vagrant camp dweller, actors, professor, and more.
No matter if one is super rich or bottom poor, where relationships happened, it was like seeing a beautiful flower bloom in the skyscraper-busy city. I smiled when Woolly and Sarah had tea with a panda, when Billy told Ulysses a story on the train, and when the professor listened to Billy’s story “like a music lover who has just heard his favourite concerto.”
Indeed, this book is a very fine concerto to my ear.
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