Book and Audiobook Review: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: February 14, 2017
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body.
From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.
Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?
Lincoln in the Bardo takes place in the graveyard where Abraham Lincoln’s son was interred after he died of typhoid when he was just eleven years old. The graveyard is full of ghosts who are not aware that they are dead. They think that they have fallen ill and their bodies are lying in “sick boxes” (coffins), while they recover. Willie’s arrival shakes things up. When his father comes shortly after Willie gets there, he shocks the ghosts by cradling Willie’s body. None of them have had their bodies touched since they have been “sick.” Also, usually children pass through without stopping but Willie’s spirit hangs around because his father said he would be back to visit him again. The other ghosts must figure out how to convince Willie to move along so he doesn’t get stuck forever.
Lincoln in the Bardo was one of my book club’s selections. It has a huge cast of characters that was difficult for some of us, including me, to keep straight. Each ghost had some aspect of their appearance that was a reflection of who they were as a person. Sometimes it was hard to figure out what their appearance was supposed to symbolize. Talking it through it in book club helped.
Saunders includes real news clippings and interviews from the time period in which Willie died. It’s interesting how widely the first person accounts of the events surrounding Willie’s death differ. Some recall that there was a big, beautiful moon the night Willie died, while others say there was no moon at all. Some say Lincoln was extremely homely, some say he was handsome, and so on. Seeing these quotes juxtaposed against one another could be quite humorous. There was a dry humor about the way the ghosts spoke to one another as well that kept the book from being too melancholy.
A few of my book club friends listened to the audio version of this book and said that it was easier to follow than reading it in print so I decided to listen to it as well. They were right; I found it easier to follow. Some of that probably had to do with the fact that I had already read it in print but I think it also helped that each character is voiced by a different actor. There are 166 narrators in all! Some of them are famous actors. David Sedaris is one of the main characters and we all know he is fabulous. Some of the other characters are read by Bill Hader, Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman just to name a few. I definitely enjoyed the audiobook version more. If you decide to read this book, I recommend listening to the audiobook.
I had the opportunity to hear Saunders speak at an author event in my city. If you ever get the chance to see him, do it. He has a great sense of humor and his talk was really funny. He also gave us some great tips on writing that I thought were no nonsense and realistic. Some authors can sound pretentious when they talk about their process but he was very down to earth. I wish I would have gotten my book signed but the line was super long. He’s very popular!
Opinions varied widely at book club. Some thought Lincoln in the Bardo was one of the best books they’d ever read and some didn’t care for it at all. I fall somewhere in the middle. It’s such an unusual book that I think you need to give it a try. Let me know what you think after you read/listen to it.
