Lincoln in the Bardo

A Novel

Trade Paperback, 343 pages

English language

Published Feb. 5, 2018 by Random House.

ISBN:
978-0-8129-8540-5
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4 stars (49 reviews)

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 a story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, …

8 editions

Even Better on a Reread

5 stars

I've seen some folks claim this book felt like reading (or listening to) a school stage play, and while I find that comparison unkind, I can't deny there's a grain of truth to it. I'm inclined to say there's something rather Beckett-ish about it (though maybe there's a better comparison; I'm not well versed in live theater), but in my most recent relisten, I found that an endearing trait. The purple-ish prose of our myriad narrators works well if you imagine them as actors on a stage, speaking to the audience while the actions they describe are performed behind them. The ethereal (ha) quality of their descriptions, and even of the historical interludes (and isn't it telling that their perceptions of reality are no less varied than those of the ghosts) works so well as 'detached' narrators.

All in all, I loved this reread, and look forward to enticing my …

Review of 'Lincoln in the Bardo' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

I mean, I'm sure this is a lovely book, but as an audiobooks it falls through entirely. From the very beginning, and therefore hardly a spoiler, the author uses a lot of citations from period writings, and this probably meshes beautifully when written. In the audiobook, it's jarring and disorienting whenever these come up, because you're unsure of who's talking, where it comes in the sequence of events, and how long these continue for. Like is the person who's talking now someone in the plot, or a reference for mood-building? The published splurged on great voice actors, but it doesn't save this from being a terrible audiobook (but at least not because of the voice actors).

lincoln in the boredom

3 stars

read this for a seminar about the Booker Prize, and while it was one of the more readable winners, the story itself is only okay although Saunders does some interesting things pertaining to form and the concept of liminality. if you're looking for a captivating tale about life, death, and whatever is in-between, i'd go somewhere else. the white americans in my seminar seemed to really love this book though, so perhaps if you find yourself identifying with that general profile you might really enjoy it.

Review of 'Lincoln in the Bardo' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

4 stars for the text only. The most important thing I can say about this book is DO NOT LISTEN TO IT AS AN AUDIOBOOK. It’s written in the style of a play, with quotes, but the audiobook narrators read every speaker’s name, with every single line, and it’s impossible to listen to. The text, however, is incredibly creative in both structure and plot. It kept taking surprising turns as it wove together historical facts with a magical ghost story, while imparting important knowledge about what it means to be human.

Review of 'Lincoln in the Bardo' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

An outstanding work and, perhaps, my favorite of the year thus far. Listening to this through Audible made the experience absolutely incredible, emotional, and deep. Audible hired around 166 voice actors to turn this work of experimental fiction into something akin to a play. Highly recommended for those willing to try something a little different. Also, I would say if you enjoyed "Stranger Things" on Netflix you would probably love this book because, in some sense, the "Bardo" functions in ways similar to the "Upside Down" in that both are superimposed on familiar landscapes and interestingly intertwined and yet mostly separated from our world.

Review of 'Lincoln in the Bardo: WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

George Saunders’ long awaited debut novel has been surrounded by hype, and winning the Man Booker prize only helped to launch this book. Saunders is probably best known for his short stories that often share a vibe similar to the television show Black Mirror. I even called his last collection Tenth of December “contemporary witty, with an element of darkness”. Even comparing it to two other great collections that were released about the same time, Black Vodka by Deborah Levy and Revenge by Yōko Ogawa. Lincoln in the Bardo tells the story of Abraham Lincoln in 1862. The Civil War has been raging for almost a year while the President’s eleven year old son lies in bed gravely ill. Despite the predictions of a full recovery, Willie dies and his body is laid to read in a Georgetown cemetery.

Blending historical data collected while researching this novel, George Saunders blends …

Review of 'Lincoln in the Bardo' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Amazing novel. The style took a couple chapters to adapt to. The various narrators each with their own voice were jarring at first but each added something to the overall narrative.

The story covers a single night after the death of Willie Lincoln, during which he exists in limbo between this world and the next. The denizens of the graveyard are trying to encourage Lincoln to move on while not admitting their own situation.

The narrative and the style blended great together. Excellent book.

Review of 'Lincoln in the Bardo' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

It is rare that I read something truly new, but George Saunders' cacophony of voices was certainly felt like something new. While it owes something to the form of many plays (the third act of Our Town came to mind) and to the cut-up technique of the Dadaists, neither really come close to what Saunders has done here.

Early on in the book, Saunders presents dozens of snippets ostensibly selected from historical texts describing a party thrown by Abraham and Mary Lincoln. Each of the snippets describes the moon on that night, and very few of them agree on this apparently simple fact. The message is clear: don't trust any of the narrators of this book. It's not that their lying, but memory is a tricky thing.

In fact, the entire book can be seen as an experiment—and a very successful one—in multiple unreliable narration. Such an experiment could easily …

Review of 'Lincoln in the Bardo' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I loved this book. If you have a chance listened to the audio book with Nick Offerman, Carrie Brownstein and many others doing the voices. It really brings the stories of individual characters alive. The story of the Lincoln’s loss has also touched me and now it’s interwoven with so many other stories. I highly recommend this book.

Review of 'Lincoln in the Bardo' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Congratulations to the author for the ManBooker Prize.

Although I liked this book very much it did keep reminding me of Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book"
Just to find out if I was the only one who thought so I went googling. Here's a link to a short critical article from someone else who liked the book and drew parallels to Gaiman and several others.
http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/books/book-review-lincoln-in-the-bardo-by-george-saunders-1-4393571

Review of 'Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Lincoln in the Bardo is a singular, unconventional read. I enjoyed it immensely. I had never heard the term bardo before, a word that in this novel refers to the time after one's death, but before...whatever comes next. Some characters in this story linger longer than others.

Saunders mixes poignant short stories, historical accounts, and intriguing dialog to create this unusual novel. There is sadness and humor, social commentary, and historical fact. The author tells the reader nothing, directly.

President Lincoln had to cope with many crises at the time of his son Willie's death, and this novel paints the picture of an introspective, philosophical man trying to make peace with one of the crushing events of his personal life, with the national tragedy taking place all around him. Everything, with and without, is so unstable.

The way this novel is presented takes some getting used to, in the beginning. …

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Subjects

  • Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 — Fiction
  • Presidents — United States — Fiction
  • Grief — Fiction
  • Biographical Fiction
  • Historical Fiction

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