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The Lincoln Highway: A Read with Jenna Pick (A Novel) Audiobook, by Amor Towles Play Audiobook Sample

The Lincoln Highway: A Read with Jenna Pick (A Novel) Audiobook

The Lincoln Highway: A Read with Jenna Pick (A Novel) Audiobook, by Amor Towles Play Audiobook Sample
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Read By: Dion Graham, Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland Publisher: Penguin Audio Listen Time: at 1.0x Speed 11.17 hours at 1.5x Speed 8.38 hours at 2.0x Speed Release Date: October 2021 Format: Unabridged Audiobook ISBN: 9780593452103

Quick Stats About this Audiobook

Total Audiobook Chapters:

63

Longest Chapter Length:

55:08 minutes

Shortest Chapter Length:

06 seconds

Average Chapter Length:

15:51 minutes

Audiobooks by this Author:

6

Other Audiobooks Written by Amor Towles: > View All...

Publisher Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

More than ONE MILLION copies sold

A TODAY Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick


A New York Times Notable Book, a New York Times Readers’ Choice Best Book of the Century, and Chosen by Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Bill Gates and Barack Obama as a Best Book of the Year

“Wise and wildly entertaining . . . permeated with light, wit, youth.” —The New York Times Book Review

 

“A classic that we will read for years to come.” —Jenna Bush Hager, Read with Jenna book club

 

“Fantastic. Set in 1954, Towles uses the story of two brothers to show that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope.” —Bill Gates

“A real joyride . . . elegantly constructed and compulsively readable.” —NPR



The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America


In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York.

Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles's third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes. “Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes. Towles is not a one-trick pony. Like all the best storytellers, he has range. He takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys, including The Iliad, The Odyssey, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men. He seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as an interstate highway. But, he suggests, when something (or someone) tries to steer us off course, it is possible to take the wheel.” – Bill Gates

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"Frustrating to read as the main character falls into some stupid situations that could have been avoided. The character development of all the characters was very good. "

— MJ (5 out of 5 stars)

Quotes

  • “An enthralling odyssey.”

    — People
  • “A rollicking cross-country adventure, rife with unforgettable characters, vivid scenery, and suspense that will keep readers flying through the pages.”

    — Time
  • “Sometimes, audiobooks merely narrate the original text. In this case, the performances by Ballerini, Ireland, and Graham augment it, giving The Lincoln Highway increased complexity and humanity.”

    — BookPage (starred audio review)
  • “Packed with unexpected twists and unforgettable action.” 

    — Town & Country
  • “[A] mischievous, wise, and wildly entertaining novel.”

    — New York Times Book Review
  • “A real joyride.”

    — NPR
  • “Magnificent…This one-of-a-kind kind of novel isn’t to be missed.”

    — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
  • “A remarkable blend of sweetness and doom…packed with revelations about the American myth, the art of storytelling, and the unrelenting pull of history.”

    — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
  • “[A] playfully thought-provoking novel.”

    — Booklist (starred review)
  • Towles’ third novel is even more entertaining than his much-acclaimed A Gentleman in Moscow . . . A remarkable blend of sweetness and doom, [The Lincoln Highway] is packed with revelations about the American myth, the art of storytelling, and the unrelenting pull of history. An exhilarating ride through Americana.

    — Kirkus Reviews (starred)
  • Packed with drama . . . Towles’ fans will be rewarded with many of the same pleasures they’ve come to expect from him: a multitude of stories told at a leisurely pace (the novel clocks in at 592 pages); numerous endearing and sometimes maddening characters; and pitch-perfect plotting with surprises at every turn . . . Towles has created another winning novel whose pages are destined to be turned—and occasionally tattered—by gratified readers.

    — BookPage (starred)
  • [A] playfully thought-provoking novel . . . [Towles] juggles the pieces of his plot deftly, shifting from voice to voice, skirting sentimentality and quirkiness with a touch of wistful regret, and leading up to an ending that is bound to provoke discussion.

    — Booklist (starred)
  • [The Lincoln Highway] is reason to rejoice for Towles’s millions of fans, who made his first two novels, Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow, runaway international bestsellers.

    — The Millions
  • An absolute beauty of a book. Every character is a gem, the many locations spring to vivid life, the book is an intricate and moving exploration of journeys and the infinite unexpected turns they can take—and somehow Towles makes it all seem effortless. As soon as I finished it, I wanted to read it again.

    — Tana French, bestselling author of The Searcher
  • [A] bracing, heroic adventure . . . Towles plays stylishly with elements of the picaresque, the coming-of-age novel and the epic quest . . . The indelible final scene, which I did not see coming, perfectly encapsulates the theme of inheritance, and what choices the characters make about what they are given, to determine their own fates.

    — Seattle Times
  • [The Lincoln Highway] loses none of the author’s trademark wit or style . . . a cross-country adventure packed with unexpected twists and unforgettable action.

    — Town & Country
  • The Lincoln Highway is a road novel that celebrates the mythos of an era via a cross-country highway . . . Readers [...] will delight in this travelogue's touchstones.

    — Star-Tribune
  • History [and] adventure collide in The Lincoln Highway . . . The pace is fast and writing concise, making it a digestible read whether in bed or at a loud coffee shop.

    — Associated Press
  • Magnificent . . . Towles is a supreme storyteller, and this one-of-a-kind kind of novel isn’t to be missed.

    — Publishers Weekly (starred)
  • A wild ride through Americana.

    — Buzzfeed
  • [A] reason to rejoice.

    — The Millions 
  • Absorbing.

    — USA Today
  • An enthralling odyssey.

    — People
  • Captivating . . . The Lincoln Highway has suspense, humor, philosophy, and a strong sense of time and place, moving quickly and surely toward a satisfying conclusion . . . Like the intercontinental route that it is named for, The Lincoln Highway is long and filled with intriguing detours. In the hands of a master wordsmith like Towles, it is definitely worth the trip.

    — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  • Welcome to the enormous pleasure that is The Lincoln Highway, a big book of camaraderie and adventure in which the miles fly by and the pages turn fast.  Set over the course of ten riveting days, the story of these four boys unfolds, refolds, tears, and is taped back together.  When you aren’t actually reading the book, you’ll be worrying about the characters, so you might as well stay in your chair and keep reading.

    — Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House
  • [E]xhilarating . . . this multiperspective story offers an abundance of surprising detours and run-ins.

    — Gregory Cowles, The New York Times Book Review
  • [The] notion of American openness, of ever-fractalizing free will, coming up against the fickle realities of fate is the tension that powers Towles’ exciting, entertaining […] picaresque . . . Stories can bring us back to ourselves, Towles seems to say, if only we are open to receiving their power . . . Anyone who follows The Lincoln Highway will relish the trip.

    — Los Angeles Times
  • [A] captivating piece of historical fiction . . . transporting . . . a rollicking cross-country adventure, rife with unforgettable characters, vivid scenery and suspense that will keep readers flying through the pages.

    — TIME
  • The astonishingly versatile author of Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow returns with an American picaresque destined to become a classic . . . adventures and memorable characters abound. Using multiple points-of-view and shifting from comedy to tragedy and back again, Towles enthralls.

    — O Quarterly
  • Gorgeously crafted . . . Towles binds the novel with compassion and scrupulous detail . . . Towles draws a line between the social maladies of then and now, connecting the yearnings of his characters with our own volatile era. He does it with stylish, sophisticated storytelling . . . The novel embraces the contradictions of our character with a skillful hand, guiding the reader forward with 'a sensation of floating – like one who’s being carried down a wide river on a warm summer day.'

    — Washington Post
  • [A] real joyride . . . 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 . . . The Lincoln Highway is elegantly constructed and compulsively readable . . . action-packed . . . There's so much to enjoy in this generous novel packed with fantastic characters [...] and filled with digressions, magic tricks, sorry sagas, retributions, and the messy business of balancing accounts.

    — NPR.org
  • Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes. Towles is not a one-trick pony. Like all the best storytellers, he has range. He takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys, including The Iliad, The Odyssey, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men. He seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as an interstate highway. But, he suggests, when something (or someone) tries to steer us off course, it is possible to take the wheel.

    — Bill Gates
  • Not only is it one of the most beautifully written books I have ever picked up, it’s a story about hope, friendship and companionship in a time when we need it so much . . . Towles brilliantly captures the inner reality of each [character] with profound and poetic prose. All eight of them are incredible forces in literature . . . Amor Towles is one of those authors that I think will become a Steinbeck of our generation and [...] I think The Lincoln Highway will be a classic that we will read for years to come.

    — Jenna Bush Hager, Read With Jenna book club
  • [A] mischievous, wise and wildly entertaining novel . . . Towles goes all in on the kind of episodic, exuberant narrative haywire found in myth or Homeric epic . . . Each [character], Towles implies, is the central protagonist of an ongoing adventure that is both unique and universal . . . remarkably buoyant . . . permeated with light, wit, youth . . . 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.

    — Chris Batcheldor, New York Times Book Review

Awards

  • An October 2021 LibraryReads Pick
  • A Parade Magazine Pick of the Month
  • A BookPage Top Pick of the Month
  • A Jenna Book Club Today Show Pick
  • An Amazon Best Book of the Month
  • A Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2021 in Fiction
  • A #1 New York Times bestseller
  • A New York Times Bestseller in Audio
  • A New York Times Notable Book of 2021
  • An Oprah Magazine Pick of Best Books of 2021
  • An Audie Award Finalist for Best Fiction Narration
  • A BookPage Top Pick of Best Road Trip Audiobooks

The Lincoln Highway Listener Reviews

Overall Performance: 4.2727272727272725 out of 54.2727272727272725 out of 54.2727272727272725 out of 54.2727272727272725 out of 54.2727272727272725 out of 5 (4.27)
5 Stars: 7
4 Stars: 2
3 Stars: 1
2 Stars: 0
1 Stars: 1
Narration: 4.181818181818182 out of 54.181818181818182 out of 54.181818181818182 out of 54.181818181818182 out of 54.181818181818182 out of 5 (4.18)
5 Stars: 6
4 Stars: 3
3 Stars: 1
2 Stars: 0
1 Stars: 1
Story: 4.090909090909091 out of 54.090909090909091 out of 54.090909090909091 out of 54.090909090909091 out of 54.090909090909091 out of 5 (4.09)
5 Stars: 5
4 Stars: 4
3 Stars: 1
2 Stars: 0
1 Stars: 1
Write a Review
  • Overall Performance: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Narration Rating: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Story Rating: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5

    — Mariem Souissi, 3/20/2023
  • Overall Performance: 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5 Narration Rating: 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5 Story Rating: 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

    — Brenda Skelton-Bendtsen, 2/18/2023
  • Overall Performance: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Narration Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Story Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5

    — Andrina Lever, 1/14/2023
  • Overall Performance: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Narration Rating: 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Story Rating: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5

    — Nina McGehee, 11/2/2022
  • Overall Performance: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Narration Rating: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Story Rating: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5

    — Colleen Kelly, 10/4/2022
  • Overall Performance: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Narration Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Story Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5

    — Barbara Stratton, 9/23/2022
  • Overall Performance: 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Narration Rating: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Story Rating: 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5

    " My 1st audiobook experience, liked the storyline & narrator, "

    — Dynamarie, 8/9/2022
  • Overall Performance: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Narration Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Story Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5

    — 3/6/2022
  • Overall Performance: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Narration Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Story Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5

    — 3/6/2022
  • Overall Performance: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Narration Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Story Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5

    — Marta Aldrete, 2/19/2022
  • Overall Performance: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Narration Rating: 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Story Rating: 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5

    " Enjoyed the book...not at all what I expected based on the title. The characters were developed well. "

    — Bob, 1/21/2022

About Amor Towles

Amor Towles is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Lincoln Highway. The three novels have collectively sold more than six million copies and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

About the Narrators

Dion Graham is an award-winning narrator named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Audie Award numerous times, as well as Earphones Awards, the Publishers Weekly Listen Up Awards, IBPA Ben Franklin Awards, and the ALA Odyssey Award. He was nominated in 2015 for a Voice Arts Award for Outstanding Narration. He is also a critically acclaimed actor who has performed on Broadway, off Broadway, internationally, in films, and in several hit television series. He is a graduate of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, with an MFA degree in acting.

Edoardo Ballerini, an American actor, director, film producer, and multiaward–winning narrator. He has won several Audie Awards for best narration, including for 2019’s Best Male Narrator of the Year. He was named by Booklist as winner of their 2023 Voice of Choice Award, and was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine in 2019. He has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, from classics to modern masters, from bestsellers to the inspirational, from Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners to spine-tingling series, and much more. In television and film, he is best known for his roles in A Murder at the End of the WorldThe Sopranos, 24, I Shot Andy Warhol, Dinner Rush, and Romeo Must Die. He is also trained in theater and continues to do much work on stage.

Marin Ireland is a voice artist who has won five Earphones Awards as well as the prestigious Audie Award for Best Female Narration in 2020. She is an award-winning actress known for her starring role in the Broadway show Reasons to Be Pretty, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. She has appeared in a number of off-Broadway shows and television series, including Homeland, Unforgettable, The Killing, The Following, and others.