Amor Towles is being praised for this new novel. So unlike his previous novels, this plot takes us back in US history to the 1950s, a simpler time, but still a time of heartache for so many young men coming of age.
This novel explores the lives of three young men who come from very different walks of life and different places in the United States. We get to know each of the characters telling their story as they travel from Nebraska to New York. They and others share what has led each of them to end up in Salina, a work farm for troubled boys.
Emmett, who grew up in Nebraska, was at Salina for involuntary manslaughter after a boy was killed in a fight. His father has died after years of being an unsuccessful farmer and loosing his property to the bank. As Emmett and his younger brother Billy are about to leave and start a new life, Wooly, son of an aristocrat and Duchess, son of a vaudevillian , two boys who were at Salina with Emmett show up unexpectedly and detour Emmett and Billy to New York. Wooly and Duchess are are on the run, having snuck out of Salina before their time is up.
This is the story of misadventures and coming of age, self discovery and learning along the way to be a better person in order to succeed.
The writing style in this novel is perfection. The descriptions and the character development are very well done. Maybe it is the perfect writing... but I was on edge the entire time I was reading this novel. I had a pit in my stomach, worried that something terrible would happen to Emmett and Billy, who I really wanted to succeed from the very beginning. So along the way, there were many times where I thought I would just put the book down and not continue to make myself so uncomfortable. But in the end the writing and story kept me engaged and I had to read all the way to the end.
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