It seems to indicate that his father knew Duchess would come looking for him and did not want to be there when that happened. The book ends with Emmett leaving Duchess in a leaky boat with no oaks and with his $50K share in cash. He returned in time to see Emmett and Duchess arguing with each other. Each of the main characters are at a crossroads of sorts and in a way, the Lincoln Highway serves as a getaway from their current, somewhat bleak situation. Billy gets to know Ulysses, and he tells Ulysses the legend of the Greek hero Ulysses. Particularly, Emmett and Billy. Meanwhile, Duchess sets Billy to work to distract him from Emmetts absence. Every beautiful paragraph takes the reader a mile further into a world where our choices matter, where life surprises us, and where people are worth the trouble. Townhouse didnt make a big deal about it, but Duchess knows he owes Townhouse. Emmett reminds Billy that its not necessarily safe to take food from random strangers. The Lincoln Highway is, among other things, about the act of storytelling and mythmaking. Duchess goes to Townhouses place on 126th Street in Harlem and finds him sitting there on the stoop with some other boys. Load groceries and much more with ease into this 1/2 ton suv thanks to the power liftgate. Amor Towles is the author of New York Times bestsellers RULES OF CIVILITY and A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW. In the meantime, the Snyders had told everyone that Emmett had punched Jimmy for accidentally bumping into him. Pastor John initially strikes up a conversation in hopes that Billy will share any food he has with him. The idea of debts. Emmett Watson, just released . How else would he know where to drive to in New York City? As Duchess leaves, he thinks about how he considers Ackerlys debt to him to be repaid. He wonders if perhaps he could open it somewhere in California, maybe Los Angeles. There is now someone else staying there. They say a last good-bye to Woolly, and then get in the car to pick up Sally and leave. His first novel, Rules of Civility (2011), set among social strivers in New York City in 1936, took its inspiration from F. Scott Fitzgerald and its title from George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation. Meanwhile, Emmett and Billy head for San Francisco. I will definitely finish the book, as I like it, but your summary will help me bluff my way through book club. Each of the cases had contained accessories for that respective character. The building turns out to be St. Nicholass Home for Boys. Fitzy lied in a statement to corroborate Harry's lie. Thanks. Billy quickly falls asleep. He goes to Kaitlins first, who is not happy to see him there, asking why so many people are suddenly coming around looking for Woolly. However, Sally is gracious about it. She says that he was off at boarding school when he was wandering around in town and spotted a fire truck. They explain that they stowed away in Warden Williams's trunk and have a proposition for Emmett. Duchess also takes an inventory of the expenses that are owed to Emmett. Woolly has proposed that if Duchess and Emmett agree to help him claim what is rightfully his, then hell split the proceeds equally between them. This is their chance to leave behind Nebraska and its bad memories and try out California. Duchess thinks about the times Ackerly had hit them as he as brings the skillet down on Ackerlys head. The highway itself acts as nothing more than a MacGuffin, or a device that motivates the plot but ends up being entirely irrelevant to the work. Very sad and tragic. Emmett sees that Duchess has broken in through the back, used chairs to barricade the nuns inside their rooms and has stolen spoons to distribute the six jars of strawberry preserves to all the boys there. He reaches over to grab it, but realizes that because the boat is slightly damaged, moving towards the money causes water to seep into the boat. Woolly then muses that it would be magnificent to have a one-of-a-kind kind of day. Instead, Emmett works quickly to clear up and traces that theyd been there, and they deal with Duchess. Book Club Questions for The Lincoln Highway Why do you think this book was titled The Lincoln Highway? He sees that a bunch of bills ($50K) is stacked up on the opposite end of the boat. When the subject of their mother comes up, Woolly gets upset when they mention her second husband, Richard. Emmett finds himself regarding the drunk man with some measure of disdain, while thinking about how Mr. Parker is probably someone who has always been able to get anything he wanted his whole life. Emmett insists he has no intention of going there, but Duchess points out that hes stuck here until Monday anyway. Outside, Emmett smashes a windowpane to get back into the house. The novel embraces the contradictions of our character with a skillful. However, in April, hed come back from home on a Friday smelling like whiskey, and she sensed it was over. In 1929, Marceline been offered a lucrative contract in to perform in New York for six months, but while he was on the ship there, the stock market had plunged, the U.S. had fallen into a depression and his contract was cancelled. Once he steals Emmetts car and heads up to New York, it completely delays Emmetts and Billys plans. The two novels have collectively sold more than four million copies and have been translated into more than thirty languages. The Lincoln Highway is a joyride. Emmett feels unsure about how to explain what theyre doing to Billy. Duchess remembers Fitzy, who was an old friend of his fathers and also an actor. When the train reaches New York, Billy, Ulysses and Emmett all disembark. $24.99. (Spoilers), Book Club Questions for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Theyve promised to return by June 18. In the station, Emmett tries to approach one of the workmen at the station to try to get advice on the best way to hop a train, but hes dismissed. However, by the next morning, she was already gone. I wanted to hear other people's thoughts about the end though. He tells Billy that he doesnt think Duchess can read (but isnt willing to admit it), citing various incidents where Duchess had used some excuse not to read something, He says that Duchess doesnt know the rules for closing the house. With some difficulty, Woolly is able to locate it. Marcelines account in Paris was wiped out, too. He also mentions Duchess going to Harlem first (which Emmett seems to understand was likely for the purpose of visiting Townhouse). In Emmetts fathers room, he finds Billy reading a big red book called Professor Abacus Abernathes Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers. Duchess warns Emmett that hes willing to shoot him if hes left with no other choice. Afterwards, Emmett looks at Billys big red book. With no money to get back and being unknown in America, he ended up as a pantomime street performer living at the Sunshine Hotel. Expectations are repeatedly upended. Ransom, a neighbor and family friend who has known Emmett his whole life, meets them outside. That night, Duchess tells Woolly that if he had 50 grand, hed open up a place like Leonellos. While Duchess probably thought of himself as a hero, he was the villain, in the end. (The book chapters count down from 10 to 1.). Back downstairs, Duchess books rooms for him and Woolly for the night. At first, Emmett is hesitant, telling her that he doesnt want her to have expectations regarding the two of them. The legal-drama follows Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), a Los Angles lawyer who inherits the practice from his colleague Jerry Vincent after the latter's murder. The Quick Recap and Chapter-by-Chapter Summary for The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles are below. They arent home, so they enter though the (four-car) garage. The second is because his father knew it technically belonged to his creditors. Billy has recently found some old postcards indicating their mother (who left them 8 years ago) once took the journey there down the Lincoln Highway. In 1952, Duchess had just turned 16 and was living with his father at the Sunshine Hotel. The Lincoln Highway is America's oldest coast-to-coast road: "It starts in Times Square in New York City and it ends three thousand three hundred and ninety miles away in Lincoln Park in San. Rick Sebak travels across America's first transcontinental highway, checking out the changing landscape along the route from Times Square to San Francisco. He knows that Duchess cant swim and he did just enough to provide some safety but it was up to Duchess to ensure that he could get back to shore. There, he causes a commotion and then drives off with Woolly in Emmett's car (and inadvertently with all of Emmett's money), headed to New York. I felt pleased that Emmett and Billy were on their way and on their own with the money but also felt sorrow for Duchess who did have some redeemable features, but alas in the end his greed killed him. Nov. 19, 2021 Universally Accepted To the Editor: In his recent review of Amor Towles's wonderful "The Lincoln Highway" (Nov. 7), Chris Bachelder says, "The book lacks a prominent female. The novel begins on June 12, 1954 and ends on the same date, clearly not coincidentally, as A Gentleman in Moscow. He instead changes to subject and starts reminiscing about their childhood. Also, he realizes that he never gave Emmett an address for Sarahs house. Pastor John knocks him out with the shovel. I love to read and review various genres with a focus on contemporary fiction, historical fiction with some mysteries/thrillers and also select nonfiction and memoirs. He finally settles on beginning the story with Emmett being released from Salina. This was a good review. He advises Emmett that the only type of person these receptionists are inclined to help are producers, since they hold the purse strings. On reflection now, I can see that Duchess is a charming psychopath (who can quote Shakespeare but cant read) and his end is kind of fitting. At the door, he asks to speak to Duchess in private. The first is a page torn out of Ralph Waldo Emersons Essays, describing the value of farming your own land. However, hed accidentally set the grass around it and the goalpost on fire, resulting in him being called to the disciplinary committee. Quick (-ish) Recap In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the work farm where he has just served a year for involuntary manslaughter. This is kind of a cute chapter. Duchess wakes up on a row boat with no oar in the lake next to the Wolcott residence. Mr. Randsom says Emmett was always going to leave. This surprises Emmett since Duchess had always implied that Delphine had abandoned them. In town, Jake Snyder (brother of Jimmy Snyder) accosts Emmett, trying to goad him into a fight and then punching Emmett a few times, though Emmett doesn't fight back. Billy Watson, a precocious 8-year-old portrayed by Ballerini, dreams of traveling to California on the Lincoln Highway. Emmett returns to Billy to find that was given two sandwiches from a stranger, Mrs. Simpson, in his absence. But Sally makes it clear that shes not interested in trying to get involved with him. There's also a wall safe at his great-grandfather's house in upstate New York that contains roughly the same amount of money as his trust fund, $150,000. The Lincoln Highway: A New York Times Number One Bestseller Towles, Amor Published by Penguin, 2022 ISBN 10: 1529157641 ISBN 13: 9781529157642 Seller: WeBuyBooks, Rossendale, LANCS, United Kingdom Contact seller Seller Rating: Book Used - Softcover Condition: Good US$ 1.60 Convert currency US$ 9.55 Shipping From United Kingdom to U.S.A. Before Emmett leaves, Townhouse tells him that Duchess had mentioned that he and Woolly were going to watch the Circus show in Red Hook at 6PM that night. Duchess hits him on the head with a cast-iron skillet and leaves, noting that Ackerly's debt to him has been paid. Amor Towles is the author of New York Times bestsellers RULES OF CIVILITY and A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW. It seems that Emmetts mother suffered from depression, which was exacerbated by post-partum depression, which is part of the reason why she left. He takes his medicine, and then he takes the pink pills from the little brown bottle. So he decides to put an unconscious Duchess on a boat with his own share of the money. As they work, Sarah tells him about how Woolly ended up at Salina. However, Peterson had asked if Emmett had visitors from out of town. Emmett brings Sally and Billy to stay at a motel while he deals with the Duchess situation. As the reader will quickly realise, The Lincoln Highway is not the novel that it purports to be. I know some feel that way but I just dont think that was the authors intention. Woolly is excited to see the statues of Abraham Lincoln which Billy says have been placed along the road, since Woolly is a great admirer of Lincoln. Its likely part of the reason why he struggled so much with the routine in boarding school. Amazon; Insider When you buy through our links, Insider may. Stranded, Emmett calls Sally to pick him and Billy up. Then, in the kitchen hed found an envelope marked To Be Opened in the Event of My Absence in Woollys handwriting (which we soon learn is Woollys will). The panhandler tells Emmett that the Sunset East is the best train to board discreetly at night. When I picked up The Lincoln Highway I wasn't sure what to expect from the story. This 2023 Lincoln Aviator is pure luxury with a heated steering wheel. by Richard F. Weingroff. When Billy hesitates, Pastor John grabs it from him. 62,175 miles Body Style: SUV Engine: 4 Cyl 2.0 L MPG City/Hwy: 21/26 . At nearly 600 pages, "The Lincoln Highway" is remarkably brisk, remarkably buoyant. Sally also thinks unhappily about how Emmett had described her going through the time-consuming process of making homemade preserve as unnecessary. Jimmy was a troublemaker who had goaded Emmett into punching him. The Lincoln Highway, which owes a debt to Huckleberry Finn, revisits American myths with a mix of warm-hearted humor and occasional outbursts of physical violence and malevolence that recall E.L. Doctorow's work, including Ragtime. Dennis demands to speak to Woolly in private. From the moment that Pastor John says the name Ulysses, Billy seem fascinated by the man. Emmett works on cleaning up, and Sally joins him. If this book were set today, their constant detours and U-turns would send GPS into paroxysms of navigational recalculations. For the Great Ulysses, that meant planting an oar in the ground in the countryside in Posideons honor, but Professor Abernathe surmises that for the present-day Ulysses the tribute would be something different thats relevant to his own travels. When he finishes, Professor Abernathe asks to meet Ulysses. When the train reaches Cedar Rapids, Emmett goes to find food for him and Billy. The novel probes questions about how to structure a narrative and where to start; its chapters count down from Ten to One as they build to a knockout climax. With that, Emmett grabs the gun away from Duchess. Sam would go with his father to travel to see various shipwrecks, and he felt his world expand and broaden. Find the perfect used Lincoln Nautilus in Greensboro, NC by searching CARFAX listings. It left his $150,000 trust fund to be split between Emmett, Billy and Duchess. He sees that it was given to him by Ellie Matthiessen, the librarian. He then sees hes next to a freshly dug grave with a casket at the bottom. (Later, well learn that Duchess was not born in Dutchess County, but instead got his nickname for a different reason.). His new novel, THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY, will be released on October 5, 2021. Duchess watches as the guy in the cowboy hat walks away right when the Sheriff shows up. (Previous chapters have referenced how Warden William had taken over from Ackerly and made reforms like trying to educate the kids and firing the nurse who was illicitly dispensing drugs. A properly designed spoiler can, in effect, lengthen the distance or make the slope gentler, preventing airflow separation and reducing drag. It turns out Woolly did leave each of the friends his money. . Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Sarah is painting one of the rooms, and Emmett offers to help. He takes the bat with him, and he takes some clothes from Denniss closet as well. At Sarahs house, Duchess notices Sarah about to put the contents of a little brown bottle into her mug of tea, but he interrupts her. Meanwhile, Billy guesses the safe combination based on something Woolly had said about his great-grandfather loving the 4th of July. However, he actually goes down the steps to drop his body in the river. She was a singer who got sick and died. When he heads back, hes dismayed to see a police officer placing a parking ticket on Emmetts car. I feel Emmett was truly concerned that Duchess would find him and Billy and continue to cause havoc so he had to delay Duchess. He renamed himself Abacus. Emmett is momentarily upset that their father kept these postcards from them, but then thinks that perhaps it was the reasonable thing to do after shed abandoned them. Pastor John is about to collect the coins and leave when he starts to wonder what else Billy has in his backpack. Box's The Highway novel is filled with suspense. The Lincoln Highway for the most part steers away from the upper-class milieu of Rules of Civility, which tracks the ambitions of a winning young woman in 1930s New York City, and 2016's even . He hoped to eventually have four properties to maintain and rent out for income. Pastor John initially sounds like someone who is approaching Billy over concern about his well-being, but it quickly becomes apparent that thats not the case and that hes more interested in what he can get from Billy. (At one point, Maurice walks in and is upset to see that Townhouse is giving the car back to Emmett, but Townhouse just tells Maurice off, who stalks off angrily.). Thanks again! The Bibliofile's review of The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. Billy says they werent strangers since theyd spoken for a while. However, the last few years the harvests have been bad. He sees a scene with Sarah, Sally, Woolly, Billy and Emmett. His is a collection of thing that people rarely use, but should be set aside safely anyway. In 1954 much of that travel would have been on two lane roads until reaching Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He thinks about how his boarding schools had been like that, too. At the risk of sounding condescending, (but that is not my intention), there are a couple of typos I would be happy to point out if youd like. He sees that Californias growth had exceeded Texass impressive growth over the years. He says that he thinks Ulyssess life could be an echo of the life of the Great Ulysses, and that after ten years you could be reunited with your wife and son. However, spoilers can also be designed to reduce drag. The actors who lend their voices to the narrative are amazing. At the park, Woolly notices a man feeding the birds and some squirrels (the Birdman) by placing kernels of popcorn all over himself. The next morning, Sally Ransom, their neighbor and a former romantic interest of Emmett's drops by. Why are the summaries counted down from 10? Seeing them, people start to gather. For him, there are three main debts one he owes to someone else, and two debts that are owed to him. Emmett plans to move them to Texas, a plan he has carefully researched. By now, Ulysses, Emmett and Billy are settled in the boxcar together with Billy reading from his book the story of Jason and the Argonauts. The Lincoln Highway is a coming-of-age tale about the transition from teenager to adulthood. The Lincoln Highway: A Novel Hardcover - Oct. 5 2021 by Amor Towles (Author) 69,742 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle Edition $16.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook $0.00 Free with your Audible trial Hardcover $30.00 38 Used from $20.14 22 New from $25.20 2 Collectible from $61.73 Paperback $20.62 1 New from $20.62 Audio CD After leaving the hotel, they met up with Miss Maples, the magicians assistant in their troupe. In Chapter 2, Woolly and Duchess sneak out early and make their way to Woolly's great-grandfather's house in the Adirondacks in order to take the $150K from the safe. We apparently see a flash before Duchess dies that shows the brothers in California, Woolly alive, Sally with a child and Sister Sarah. . Billy has been reading an abridged version of from a big red book authored by someone named Professor Abacus Abernathe. But hitch onto this delightful tour de force and you'll be pulled straight through to the end, helpless against the inventive exuberance of Towles' storytelling. Sister Agnes then asks Emmett to stand by Duchesss side as a friend even though Duchess has taken liberties with his car. I found it to be a really wonderful book; light-hearted most of the way through with some really impactful character moments. In spring of 1953 his father had a flu he couldnt recover from. Hi Jenelle, the chapters in the book count down from 10 so I am mirroring the chapters in the book. Once he starts punching though, he seems to recall the indignity and injustice of the Hondo incident and hits more vigorously. With Emmett busy at Ma Belles place, Woolly and Duchess have Billy in tow. He also pours some water into a glass. After Ulysses was knocked out, he slowly regained his consciousness. His father was an insurance adjuster for damaged ships and his mother was a seamstress. Fitzy soon shows up as expected. Woolly and Billy both have a desire for adventure. The Lincoln Highway originated when Carl Fisher (who built the Indianapolis Motor Speedway), saw a need for a transcontinental highway. Emmett makes his way to the Wolcott house. He feels grateful for what shes done for him, but not beholden to her.