The Lincoln Highway

Read this with anticipation due to its popularity. With determination, I finished recently. If we still had afterschool specials, this book would fill the bill. Kept looking for meaning but it meandered fruitlessly and dove off into frivolous detail more times than I can count.

I nearly skipped this read based on the many grumpy reviews, but I’m so glad my curiosity won out. A story about flawed and fascinating humans, well narrated. One reviewer complained about one of the boys being too well spoken to be illiterate - this reviewer lacks imagination and real life experience with kids who have had to raise themselves. I’d rather not spoil any of the plot twists and turns, I’ll simply say that I very much enjoyed the story, even the ending which some readers may find challenging.

I loved “A Gentleman in Moscow” but this book is so slow. Tiresome amount of detail.The gee whiz voice of Billy drove me nuts.Great premise, but where was the editor?

The author loses the reins of the story and characters with way too much detail about everything. He seems so impressed with himself and his editor must be so impressed with the author cuz there is no editing of this verbose and lackluster book that should have been more of a Huck Finn adventure. But nope! Just boring and long. The story line itself is predictable and produced zero sense of drama or tension other than kids getting into more and more trouble. The characters are almost all irritating and thinly drawn. The narrator’s voice and delivery is also a source of constant irritation to me. And I feel terrible for saying all of this but it is a big whopping who cares and Waste of time.

I fell for the trap. I read the reviews and bought the book. It was tedious to read and unimaginative. I need to improve my process of selecting books.The characters were interesting enough, but not gifted with hindsight or foresight, so it was frustrating to see them in action. The plot was thin and convoluted; which made for a few disappointing loose ends at the conclusion of the story.I hope there isn't a sequel, but if there is, I've learned my lesson and won't fall for the reviews. BTW I read A Gentleman in Moscow, and felt pretty much the same way about that book too, so the lesson is doubly learned.