The Lincoln Highway By: Amor Towles
Publication Date: October 5, 2021 Date Finished: December 6, 2021
Rating: 10/10
I was first introduced to Amor Towels a few years back when my uncle gifted me a copy of his best-selling second novel A Gentleman in Moscow (friends of the newsletter Mike and Sarah Caroleo managed to get the author to send me a signed copy for Christmas last year). Towles followed up that brilliant work this year with the American road-trip story The Lincoln Highway. While A Gentleman in Moscow remains my favorite, all three of his novels (the third being his debut Rules of Civility) have received a perfect ten out of ten rating from me. If I was forced to pick my favorite writer in the game right now, I would probably select Mr. Towles.
The Lincoln Highway begins in the mid-1950s with Emmett Watson returning to his home in Nebraska along with the warden after his release from a youth labor camp, where he served a sentence after an unfortunate encounter with a local bully led Emmett to throw a punch that eventually led to the bully’s death. Emmett returns to the farm of his recently deceased father where the local bank is in the process of foreclosure.
Emmett plans to pack up only a few necessary supplies and leave with his precocious younger brother Billy for the growing housing market of Texas. Billy desires to find their mother who abandoned the family several years ago in San Francisco, the location of the last postcard the boys received from her after she left. While Emmett doesn’t believe their mother will be waiting for them, he discovers California is booming even more than Texas and he will be able to put his carpentry skills to work in the western state. Emmett and Billy agree to set out west on the Lincoln Highway (the first road to cross all of the continental United States stretching from Times Square in New York to San Francisco) soon after Emmett settles the family’s affairs in their hometown.
Unbeknownst to Emmett or the warden, two of Emmett’s fellow inmates at the work farm stowed away in the trunk of the car. One of the escapees is Duchess, the son of a shady itinerant thespian with a sense of justice that could be straight out of the mind of Hammurabi who has a flair for the dramatic. The other stowaway, Wooly, is the scion of a wealthy New England family with a happy-go-lucky demeanor that can cross into absentmindedness with his “medicine” usage.
Wooly is the beneficiary of a large trust from his father that his brother-in-law will not permit him to collect. Wooly and Duchess plan to a travel to one of Wooly’s family’s estates and collect the money he is entitled to from a safe. The pair plan to entice Emmett, the proud owner of a blue Studebaker, to drive them to the Adirondacks in exchange for one third of the trust. Emmett declines the offer but agrees to drive Duchess and Wooly to the bus station as it is only slightly out of the way of the route to California.
Duchess convinces Emmett to stop on the way to the bus station at an orphanage he used to live at when his father dropped him off so he could travel unencumber by a child with his new girlfriend. After a long while waiting for Duchess (who is delivering homemade jam made by Emmett’s former neighbor and possible love interest Sally), Emmett follows him to see what is going on. While Emmett is dealing with the fallout of Duchess romp through the orphanage, Duchess and Wooly “borrow” the Studebaker to make the trip to New York, promising Billy they will be back in a few days with the car and Emmett’s share of the money.
When Emmett discovers Billy without the Studebaker or any of the money he saved for the trip, Emmett and Billy take off on a journey of their own to New York worthy of the pages of Billy’s favorite book Professor Abacus Abernathe’s Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers. The ensuing days see Duchess, Wooly, Emmett, and Billy run across a broad range of interesting characters and situations as they traverse the roads and rails headed east from Nebraska instead of west as Emmett intended.
The book is over 550 pages but is well paced and never feels like a slog. Mr. Towles uses a lot of literary flourishes in his work, but it never comes at the expense of a compelling plot. The Lincoln Highway was one of the books of 2021 for me. You can find an insightful Q&A with Mr. Towels about the novel at his website. https://www.amortowles.com/the-lincoln-highway-q-and-a/
The Americans Season 5
Release Date: March 7, 2017-May 30, 2017 Date Watched: Very Long Time
Rating: 9/10
I started watching the FX series The Americans back in 2016, while the show was still in its middle of its run. I don’t have regular TV viewing habits and, as a result, I have just finished the shows penultimate season. But don’t be confused by my slow watching pace, The Americans would easily crack a list of my top 10 (maybe 5) favorite television shows of all time.
The show centers on Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell) who appear to be well to do, middle class travel agents in suburban Washington, DC but are in fact unregistered spies working for the Soviet Union. They have revealed their true identities to their daughter Paige (Holly Taylor), but the rest of the world, including their son Henry and their FBI agent neighbor Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) are unaware of their undercover work.
While there are the intense developments, shootouts, and car chases one expects of a drama centered on espionage, The Americans is much more of a slow burn than is typical of the genre. Season 5 delves a lot into the Jennings’ personal lives as the negotiate their future as spies (they consider packing up and moving back to the USSR with their kids, who have never been to the country) and their relationships with themselves and the rest of the world.
One of those relationships is Paige’s budding romance with Stan’s son Matthew Beeman (hands down the worst character on the show). At first Philp and Elizabeth want Paige to end the relationship immediately. When that doesn’t happen, they decide to teach Paige some of the methods the KGB taught them to successfully lead a double life. Paige also must manage the intrigues of Pastor Tim and his wife Alice, who have discovered the true identity of the Jennings. Pastor Tim is very concerned for Paige and does a lot of meddling in her life. Paige is resistant to the plan at first, but by the end of the season, the KGB have arranged for Pastor Tim to be offered a great job opportunity in South America.
The Jennings’ main spy work of the season sees them posing as the parents of an adopted Vietnamese boy, Tuan, who is tasked with becoming friends with the high school aged son of a Soviet defector who ranked highly in Soviet agriculture. They also take on different disguises to woo two Americans working on an important agriculture project for the US government. “The Center”, as the KGB is known, believes the US is developing a plan to poison Soviet crops and induce a famine. The Jennings begin to question more and more the utility of the work they are doing and if it actually leads to more peace in the world or less.
Concurrent with the Jennings wrestling with their moral dilemma, the show follows former employee of the Soviet Embassy in Washington Oleg Burov’s life working investigations in the corrupt Soviet Union upon his return home. While he performs his job he obtained from his powerful father, he sees the paradoxes of the Soviet being a state for the workers while the privileged few have access to lives well beyond the dreams of the common citizen. Season 5 also introduces a son Philip is unaware of as he tries to leave Russia and connect with his father in the US.
You can’t ask for more from the acting quality this season. While everyone (Matthew Beeman aside) is brilliant, this season saw Holly Taylor’s Paige really evolve as a character and Ms. Taylor nails every scene. The writing and direction of Season 5 are spot on as well. The season concludes leaving the viewer with great anticipation to see how the sixth and final season will play out.
Sports Gambling
Note: I am considering a return to the world of sports officiating. If this comes to pass, I will no longer be betting on sports. Tim’s Reviews and Winners will simply become Tim’s Reviews. If I do get back into officiating, sports analysis will remain a huge interest and this third section will become a place where I look back on some recent development in the sports world instead of looking ahead to the outcome of upcoming contests.
I would also like to point out that my sports gambling account has a year-to-date ROI of 7.17% while the S&P 500 lags behind at -8.31%. I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.
Chicago Bulls to win NBA Central Division (+210 a FanDuel)
Editor’s Note: Right before publication, it was announced that Alex Caruso suffered a fractured wrist in last night’s game after a flagrant two foul against Grayson Allen. He will require surgery and be reevaluated in 6-8 weeks. A lot of what I write below still applies, but Caruso is huge to the way the Bulls play, especially on defense. While I’m still planning on riding with my Bulls, +210 is no longer a great price and I’d recommend trying to find better odds.
The Detroit Pistons are already positioning themselves to have the best odds in the 2022 NBA Draft Lottery. Despite beating the 33-13 Warriors without all five starters Thursday, the Indiana Pacers are not too far behind and look to be one of the major sellers at the trade deadline. The Cleveland Cavilers have been one of the surprises of the season with 27-19 record. Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen are both worthy of all-star consideration and Mobley is the front runner for Rookie of the Year. JB Bickerstaff has done an incredible coaching job, but after guards Collin Seton and Ricky Rubio both suffered season ending knee injuries, I don’t see them hanging around until April.
I think the race for the Central will boil down to the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks and my Chicago Bulls. Milwaukee was projected to coast to the division crown this year and as a good Bayesian, I keep those preseason projections in mind as I make this bet. 538’s Raptor model based on individual player projections sees the Bucks finishing with a 51-31 record and the Bulls with a 47-35 record. That model really thinks this is a dumb play. Their Elo Forecast is more favorable with Bucks at 49-33 and Bulls at 48-34 (Cavs are 51-31 so that’s a little disheartening).
Despite the 538 projections, there a few factors that make me think the Bulls at over 2 to 1 odds is good value here. The first is that the Bulls currently sit atop the division with a 28-16 record (Bucks are at 29-19 and Cavs 27-19). It is a small head start to be sure, but it’s a good position to be in as we get into the dog days of the season. Additionally, in the Bucks remaining 34 games, their opponents have a combined winning percentage of 53.9%. In contrast, the Bulls remaining 38 opponents winning percentage sits at 49.1% (Cleveland has the second easiest remaining schedule in the NBA at 46.2%... maybe I shouldn’t have dismissed their chances so quickly).
Last night saw the Bucks squeak out a four point win in an absolute slugfest against the depleted Bulls roster. There are no moral victories in the NBA, but the Bulls should be encouraged they almost stole a game on the road (though Fiserv Forum was basically turned into United Center North by my fellow Bulls fans) against the defending champions with so many players unavailable. Lonzo Ball’s injury is concerning, and he will be out several weeks, but the prognosis for all-star Zach Lavine is much better and he should be back soon with no structural damage. Javonte Green is rehabbing as well.
The rest of the roster that is presently available is more than capable of competing for a lot of wins in an upcoming stretch of games against easier opponents. Bulls President of Basketball Operations, Arturas Karnisovas, should be on everyone’s Executive of the Year ballot. Signing Alex Caruso from the Lakers was one of the best moves of the offseason. Caruso is a legitimate NBA All-Defense and 6th Man of the Year candidate. He guarded all of the Bucks’ “Big Three” (Giannis, Jru Holiday, and Khris Middleton) at times last night and did a commendable job. Lonzo was another great pickup in a sign-and-trade that has given the Bulls another good defensive player on the perimeter and a wizard in transition. Lonzo also helps space the floor and is a big reason the team is the best 3-point percentage team in the league. It is a universal truth in the NBA that you can never have too many guys that are good defenders and can shoot above 40% from deep. Ayo Dosunmu was taken in the second round out of Illinois and has been everything you would want from a role player on a team with aspirations of making a deep playoff run. Teams will be kicking themselves for a long time for letting his talent fall to the Bulls at the 38th pick.
That gets us to the guy whose deal was universally panned as the worst move of the NBA offseason. I must admit I questioned if we weren’t bidding against ourselves for the services of Demar DeRozan (I really wish we could have retained Thad Young who was indispensable to last years team and is only getting about 14 minutes a game for the Spurs so far) but the signing of DeRozan is an unequivocal success. Demar has been the “King of the Fourth” and the “Monster of the Midrange” since day 1 and will appear on a lot of league MVP ballots at the end of the year. I was concerned that the offensive with him and Lavine would devolve into a lot of isolation with the two historically ball dominant players taking turns to try to beat their man off the dribble. I was wrong though; the two stars have been ready to get a tough bucket when the situation calls for it, but for the most part the Bulls offense is fluid with a lot of screens and cuts and the ball moving among all five players.
One last thing that makes me like the Bulls here is the absence of Brook Lopez for the Bucks. With the contracts of Giannis, Holiday, and Middleton taking up so much of the salary cap, it is tough to build a good bench. The Bucks have done well under the circumstances, but their depth is not up to the level of the Bulls in my opinion. Lopez has been vital to their defense for years. His role as rim protector has fallen to Giannis, who is one of the best at protecting the rim in the league and has an NBA Defensive Player of the Year award in his trophy cabinet. With Giannis there, they still will be elite at defending shots in the restricted area. Where the problem comes in is with Bobby Portis taking Lopez’s place in most lineups. Lopez at the rim allowed Giannis to wreak havoc on opposing offenses by taking the assignment of a weaker offensive player and acting as a type of free safety and helping where needed and jumping into passing lanes. Bobby Portis is not capable of filling this role and the overall defense suffers for it.
At the end of the day, the central division race will go down to the wire. The Bucks are the defending champions and know if they are a lower seed, they can win a game 7 on the road in Brooklyn since they did it 9 months ago. The Bulls haven’t been to the playoffs with this group and will be gunning to win as many games as they can while the Bucks will prioritize player health and trying different schemes that might give them an edge in the postseason over regular season wins. One could argue with Nets’ star Kyrie Irving only playing away games for now, it would behoove the Bucks to finish below the Nets in the standings and face Kyrie a maximum of 3 times in a series and not 4.
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Another great set of reviews from Tim! Since I don’t follow sports it’s nice to get a 5-minute dive into something unfamiliar. And I’ve heard him talk about The Americans for years and this is upping my intrigue :).