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From My Bookshelf with Morin Bishop: The Lincoln Highway

By Morin Bishop, Womrath Bookshop

Jan. 19, 2022: Here in Womrath’s, we are enthusiastic fans of novelist Amor Towles. Gentleman in Moscow, his enchanting tale of a Russian aristocrat sentenced to spend the remainder of his days in an elegant hotel in Moscow, has sold more than 400 copies in our store since its original publication in 2016, including 12 during this past December, an astonishing total for a book more than five years old.

So it was with breathless anticipation that we welcomed Towles’s third novel, The Lincoln Highway, when it arrived this past October, in perfect time for the Christmas rush. My first reaction after pulling the book from its box was to balk at its length of more than 500 pages, worried that some readers might find it too daunting. But soon thereafter I sunk into my comfy couch at home and began reading. And reading, And reading. Three days later, I was done and wishing that Towles had given us another 500 pages. To resort to a tired cliché—literally accurate in this case—I simply could not put the book down, so mesmerized was I by the inventive storytelling and the collection of colorful and highly sympathetic characters that populate its pages in abundance.

The primary protagonists are 18-year-old Emmett Watson and his eight-year brother Billy, wise and resourceful both, whose planned journey across 1950s America, from their bankrupt family farm in Nebraska to the golden promise of California, is repeatedly waylaid, forced over a frantic and action-packed 10 days to head in the opposite direction, by car and most memorably by train, to New York City. Two fellow inmates from the juvenile work farm that Emmet leaves at the beginning of the novel—one devious and wily, the other wonderfully innocent and naïve—are frequently the source of the plot’s many peregrinations, but a motley crew of other characters keep the reader endlessly entertained, including an itinerant preacher, a veteran of World War II and seasoned train-hopper named Ulysses—shades of Homer and Joyce both—a feisty Nebraska neighbor named Sally, and the author of young Billy’s beloved big red compendium of 26 heroes and adventurers from history and legend (from Achilles to Zorro), who the two brothers discover holed up in an office in the Empire State Building.

A stirring tribute to the power of story, with unmistakable allusions to Huckleberry Finn and the Odyssey both, The Lincoln Highway is destined to become a classic that will be read for decades to come. Writing in the New York Times, Chris Bachelder describes the novel as “remarkably brisk, remarkably buoyant. Though dark shadows fall across its final chapters, the book is permeated with light, wit, youth. Many novels this size are telescopes, but this big book is a microscope, focused on a small sample of a vast whole. Towles has snipped off a minuscule strand of existence—10 wayward days—and when we look through his lens we see that this brief interstice teems with stories, grand as legends.” I liked Gentleman in Moscow very much; this one I adored. Come on in and grab a copy for yourself.

 

Arts Directory

Bronxville Public Library
Bronxville Public Library

The Bronxville Public Library traces its origins back to 1875, when it was a small lending library housed in a room attached to the “Bronxville Model School.” The Library was officially chartered in 1906 and moved into the Village Hall Building. The needs of the library grew with the town and, in 1942, a new standalone building was erected, which is where the Library is today. Over the years, the Library was renovated and expanded to meet the needs of the community.

The Library has wonderful resources for adults and children and offers a comfortable and relaxing environment. The Library also houses a fine art collection, consisting principally of Bronxville painters and sculptors.

The Library offers special events, art exhibitions, and programs for adults, young adults and children. All events are open to the public, unless otherwise indicated.

The Bronxville Public Library
201 Pondfield Road (Midland Avenue & Pondfield Road)
914-337-7680

Concordia Conservatory
Concordia Conservatory

Concordia Conservatory, a preeminent center for music education in Westchester County, is a welcoming community where children and adults find lifelong inspiration and joy through learning, performing, listening to, and participating with others in music. Concordia Conservatory, a community outreach division of Concordia College, offers top quality music programs for early childhood, youth, adults and seniors. The Conservatory's vision is to enrich the lives of the people in our community through music.

Executive Director: Kathleen Suss
Concordia Conservatory of Music & Art

171 White Plains Rd
Bronxville, NY
914-395-4507

Fine Arts Gallery of Bronxville
Fine Arts Gallery of Bronxville

99B Pondfield Road
Bronxville, New York 10708
914-779-5053

Objects and Images Fine Arts
Objects and Images Fine Arts

117 Pondfield Road
Bronxville, New York 10708
914-779-7979

The O'Silas Gallery at Concordia College
The O'Silas Gallery at Concordia College
Part of Concordia College New York, the OSilas Gallery integrates the visual arts into the cultural and educational life of our campus and community by providing quality exhibitions and programs that are diverse in style, content, and media. Our programs are memorable, thought-provoking, and spiritually enriching; and of artistic originality, integrity, and excellence.
 
914.395.4520
Womrath Bookstore
Womrath Bookstore
Womrath Bookshop is a located in the heart of Bronxville village. In addition to selling books, the store also sell children's toys and holds readings both at the store and elsewhere in the community, such as at the Library.

76 Pondfield Road
Bronxville, NY
(914) 337-0199

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