Nothing can compare to A Gentleman in Moscow and it's not fair to compare! At first, I was ready to give up on this book, but I am glad I did not. And I am ESPECIALLY glad that I borrowed the audiobook because it is amazing! Sometimes, I know I don't concentrate enough on the language and the nuance of the text when I read/ I get distracted, I go fold laundry, or I find something else to do. But when I am walking and I have a fantastic audio version of a book (Tess, Hamnet, On Becoming) the reading is so much more rewarding for me. And this is a great audiobook. I found out that one man narrates the whole thing. I was convinced that there were numerous narrators, of both genders.
Anyway, I really got into the book and wish I had the time to go back and start all over again. Towles takes a while to introduce the cast of characters (and that there is!), so in my early reading days, when I was not as engaged, I think I lost some of the essence of the many characters. And even following the story, and each of the characters' stories would have been better if I had started and stayed with the audiobook.
But don't take this as a reason NOT to read the printed book. It is great, but you must pay attention to the humor and the pathos involved.
It is a long book and took me a while, and it's one book that I really SHOULD read again.
From the NPR review:
The Lincoln Highway is, among other things, about the act of storytelling and mythmaking. 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. Towles' intricately plotted tale is underpinned by young Billy's obsession with a big red alphabetical compendium of 26 heroes and adventurers — both mythical and real — from Achilles to Zorro, though the letter Y is left blank for You (the reader) to record your own intrepid quest.
I had the good fortune of hearing Amor Towles speak recently at an event sponsored by our public library. His talk was witty and entertaining but didn't say too much about The Lincoln Highway. Instead most of his prepared comments were about how the actual Lincoln Highway (known in many places as U.S. 30) and one of the people instrumental in its development. Given that many people in the audience may not have read it yet, I suspect he didn't want to give too much of the story away.
ReplyDeleteFortunately in the Q&A, he spent more time on how he writes his books. He does some research but perhaps draws more on his imagination. He wants to have some distance from the present but close enough that the era will be somewhat familiar to most readers.
Regarding the importance of historical research to his novels, he made an analogy to how a stage is set for a play. History for him is the background of the stage and is done in an impressionistic manner without too much detail. Judging from his comments, I would be surprised if he used a fact checker. In discussing letters he's received about The Lincoln Highway, he told us that one reader commented that the scene in which Emmett and Wooley found a liquor store in Ames, IA could not have happened in the mid-1950s because the only liquor store then was in the county seat, which Ames apparently was not.
One person in the audience asked about a sequel to The Lincoln Highway. If I recall correctly, he said that one was not forthcoming in the near future, but perhaps later after he's written a few more books. I have the sense that there are other things he wants to write about now.