The Lincoln Highway

If you like your heroes white, male, and full of so-called Midwestern family values, you will probably appreciate The Lincoln Highway more than I did. Towles is a beautiful writer and he knows how to tell a ripping yarn. But his interesting, complex secondary characters deserve better; their primary function is to help our hero (and his little brother sidekick) learn valuable lessons, and to serve as counterpoints to his pure goodness. Don't even get me started on the “magical Negro,” the saintly hometown girl, and the prostitutes with hearts of gold.

The book takes place in 1954, and it feels like it was written then as well.