Lincoln in the Bardo
By George Saunders
- Release Date: 2017-02-14
- Genre: Literary Fiction
Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE
The “devastatingly moving” (People) first novel from the author of Tenth of December: a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, living and dead, historical and invented
One of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years • One of Paste’s Best Novels of the Decade
Named One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post, USA Today, and Maureen Corrigan, NPR • One of Time’s Ten Best Novels of the Year • A New York Times Notable Book • One of O: The Oprah Magazine’s Best Books of the Year
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?
“A luminous feat of generosity and humanism.”—Colson Whitehead, The New York Times Book Review
“A masterpiece.”—Zadie Smith
Reviews
Pretentious
1By FreethinkerXI read the paperback. The first 80 pages were interesting and moving. What follows is pretentious overblown sludge masquerading as a supposedly darkly comic surreal horror novel choking on ghostly despair and after death. Might have worked at 1/2 the length.Style is distracting
1By ktbambI couldn’t handle the pseudo-quote, jumpy, half-sentence, stylized writing. Really bad.Lincoln In the bardo
1By literature fanThis book is supposed to be about Lincoln. Content seems difficult to read. What a waste of money…A must-read. Essential!
5By savedbyvivaldi1Indescribable. Utterly original. One of a kind!!Not an easy read at times and demands great concentration but is perhaps the most moving and rewarding reading experience I have had in years. A fraction of the length but has the depth found within Pierre’s sections in Tolstoy’s War and Peace, that sense of grace and love and understanding. Absolutely and utterly essential. I will be reading it again for sure. Bravo Mr Saunders!!!...
2By doug funnieIt’s been 5 days since I finished this and I’m still waiting to be moved. Apologies for an unhelpful review. If you’re like me and trying to read more contemporary literature and finally move past the classics, please don’t start here.Lincoln in the Bardo
4By RistikayDefinition of bardo- Lamaism: The intermediate or astral state of the soul after death and before rebirth. “Lincoln in the Bardot” is a weighty novel of historical fiction that speaks of Abraham Lincoln the president, Lincoln the man and Abraham Lincoln the father. The story is told by graveyard souls (in other words: ghosts) waiting to move on from the astral plane on which they have been stuck. Some have been awaiting rebirth for a long time, others have just arrived. The newest member is President Lincoln’s young son Willie who died of Typhoid: he has been brought to a cemetery crypt in his “sick box” (in other words, a coffin). What follows is a combined effort of souls to get Willie to his rebirth and his dad back to the White House and the Civil War. The book is full of sadness mixed with dark humor. Because of the historic quotes the author weaves into the rhythm of the story, the book can be both brilliant and hard to follow. ...But mostly brilliant.Lincoln in the Bardo
5By Whim1954This book is very different and it took me a while to understand the story line. But it is like nothing else I’ve ever read. I read it over a rainy weekend and quite enjoyed this book.Strange and hard to follow.
2By kbelton1961I know that some love this book. I thought it was strange and hard to follow. I’m pretty open minded but abandoned it 1/3 of the way through. Life is too short.Awkward Awful writing
1By Tankee2As much as I tried to like this book, I could not follow it. Boring, confusing non sensical ..I had to give up and spend my time on better books. Don’t understand the hype.Novel Novel
3By Marzipan24If you love traditional novels with character development, this may not be for you. This is a uniquely structured novel which reads quickly with so many voices it’s difficult to keep track. Though it’s structured uniquely for audiobook listening it seems to me, I found it better to read it to keep track of the plot rather than the characters. For me neither the plot nor the characters were developed enough. I imagine this is the first of many new novels for audio I’ll come across and I look forward to innovative structures that are more satisfying.Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
5By Arcane MccaenLincoln in the Bardo A terrific, thick read that messes with your head. His take on the afterlife, though a period piece, mixed with historical fiction, I think, is dead on. That people are people, no matter the times, whether living or dead. That getting inside of someone else’s head will be troubling to most of us. Sometimes, it takes a child to point out the obvious to grownups. And to do what you should. And even, to go first. The first half of the book built slowly. The second half ran like an express train, fast and powerfull. Theologically, who knows if any of this is right or not. Regardless, a great read. -Rob CainLincoln In The Bardo
4By FamilyCrazyOdd, but bizarrely fun.Huh?
1By jus' sayin'Some amazing books have been written whilst under the influence. This is not one of them.Lincoln in the Bardo
5By KbayhamI would give this book 100 stars if I could. It was so touching and beautiful and such an incredibly original way to humanize Lincoln even more than our history already makes him. I didn’t want it to end. Can’t wait to read more by this author and am praying the next novel will be 1/10 as good as this.Speechless
5By DroceankidddI just finished this book. It is a masterpiece of prose, originality, and construction. I couldn’t possibly do justice with a review, so here’s a quote: “His mind was freshly inclined toward sorrow; toward the fact that the world was full of sorrow; that everyone labored under some burden of sorrow; that all were suffering; that whatever way one took in this world, one must try to remember that all were suffering (none content; all wronged, neglected, overlooked, misunderstood), and therefore one must do what one could to lighten the load of those with whom one came into contact; that his current state of sorrow was not uniquely his, not at all, but, rather, its like had been felt, would yet be felt, by scores of others, in all times, in every time, and must not be prolonged or exaggerated, because, in this state of grief, he could be of no help to anyone and, given that his position in the world situated him to be either of great help or great harm, it would not do to stay low, if he could help it.” BUY THIS BOOK.Strange!
5By CasperCoolI think the five stars might be for me, for finishing the book. I applaud the writing and for getting off the beaten track, I love to discover new ways of writing, and this is all that. But it was difficult and I asked myself many times why I kept reading. I don’t know if I liked it or not.Waste
1By SDWillI purchased this book because it had just won the Man Booker prize and incorrectly assumed that it would be worthwhile reading; I now utterly regret that decision. What a waste...A unique journey!
3By Revlis77A very interesting perspective of life and death as experienced through those caught in the "Bardo" (the place between life and Death). Historically Intersected with the death of Lincoln's son Willie this fascinating novel runs the gambit of human emotion both in life and in the afterlife.Best seller?
1By StaynavytomWeird book. Couldn't follow it at all. Saunders must have had many voices in his head when he wrote this book. I thought it would have been about Lincoln.
