My rating: 4 of 5 stars
More like a 4.5. This is a hard book to discuss because it is very different than other Amor Towles books that have been overwhelmingly amazing. So if this was the first book of his that I had read, I'd definitely say a 5 star. The differences that brought the score down just a scooch: 1. It wasn't as much of a feel good at the end. I didn't cry or anything, and there was hope, but there was definite some sadness which I will not spoil. 2. It felt both fast and slow. It didn't feel like I couldn't get through the book but maybe as an attribute to his writing, I felt as though I was going down a highway at the speed of 55 MPH (but I like going faster, of which I will not disclose how much). 3. It wasn't a time period that intrigues me. Sure, I like the 50's when it is about Marty McFly on a skateboard in Back to the Future, but traveling down the Lincoln Highway isn't the same. I however loved Rules of Civility time period and even the decades of Gentleman in Moscow. So as said, a magnificent book in it's own right, but he set the bar high with his previous two books.