Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders Review

 

Title: Lincoln in the Bardo

Author: George Saunders

Genre: Historical Fiction, Contemporary

Blurb: 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 returned to the crypt several times alone 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 thrilling, 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.

Me: After reading Saunders' short story collection Tenth of December, I didn't think I would feel inclined to read any of his other works. He was known primarily as a short story writer before this novel, and while his writing is undeniably fascinating and fresh, it didn't seem like my thing. This book changed my mind, and got me so excited that I get to experience a writer like this in real time. 

The Ups: This whole book was like nothing I have ever read before. Even just reading the blurb on the back cover, I was confused and intrigued as to what might make a writer want to write about President Lincoln and his son... and not as a biographer. The subject matter was just the jumping off point for a writing style and imagined world that I don't think I would have ever encountered otherwise. This book reminded me that writing really is an art, with just as much space to play and question and reinvent as any other genre, and I am so grateful for that. 

Few people write dialogue and inner monologues like Saunders does. In the sections of the book set in the "Bardo," the only way to get to know characters was by listening to their stories, thoughts, and conversations. It was amazing how these random three men from the 1800s, plus Willie Lincoln, suddenly felt like people I knew intimately and cared about by the end of the novel. Even the other minor characters whose stories and voices flitted in and out; they left such an impression on me because each perspective felt so whole and also raw. Saunders quite literally took the voices of people that had been entirely forgotten and gave them a chance to speak, and that was incredible. 

I also think the book has this interesting subplot/idea about history and how we tell it. I guess in some way, history is the main story through which we are immortalized, and Saunders really showed how complex and futile our attempts are to accurately capture the past. We are still stuck in our own perceptions, opinions, worries, and that is the beauty: that these "accounts" are often entirely contradictory. 

It's also fascinating though, that the book almost seemed to say that more than these factual discrepancies, what was really important was the constants. Everyone in the accounts, made-up and real, agreed that Lincoln was paralyzed with grief for his son. And the grief is palpable, the sorrow of this fictionalized Lincoln, and the desire of Willie to be with him. The grief of everyone else amplifies this feeling-- the other characters stuck in the "Bardo" grieving their incomplete lives, the country bearing incredible bloodshed and war-- all encapsulated into this one father-son relationship. 

The Downs: If I was disappointed by anything, it was that the Black characters in the book were sparse, and weren't given a ton of elaboration. I think this may have been deliberate on Saunders' part, partly to reflect the time period and because he didn't want to speak for them, but for a writer that is so talented in conveying pain and grief, it was a shame that he didn't go deeper into these people and their history. The characters were definitely there, but we didn't get to know them as intimately as the main white characters. 

Rating: 4 kisses!