Lincoln in the Bardo

A Novel

by George Saunders

Trade Paperback, 343 pages

English language

Published Feb. 5, 2018 by Random House.

ISBN:: 978-0-8129-8540-5

(82 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

Alex Keane reviewed Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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.

otrops reviewed Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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 have turned into a mess, but Saunders manages to turn this into a compelling, and very human story.

The heart of the story is the death of Abraham Lincoln's son, Willie and the time he spends between this world and the next. The residents of the cemetery try to encourage Willie to pass into the next world when Abraham Lincoln visits to have one last look at his son.

The story is handled with humor and grace. Like very little I've read the story explores the love between a father and son. It is an extraordinary piece of work.

Jack Baty reviewed Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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

4 stars

Terrific read. Unique and fun.

CuriousLibrarian reviewed Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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.

WorzelFG reviewed Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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

Kat Trigarszky reviewed Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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

5 stars

Utterly brilliant. Just how one person can create quite so many characters - and with personalities that jump out of the page - is incredible.

loppear reviewed Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Review of 'Lincoln in the Bardo' on Goodreads

5 stars

Stunning, read in a moment but the intersection of its premises on death and decision keep rattling me.

Lavinia reviewed Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

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

3 stars

As soon as it hit bookstore shelves Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders went to No. 1 on The New York Times Bestseller List. It has been one of the most eagerly anticipated works and it has been considered a masterpiece.

But why I can’t see it?

It is not that I didn’t like it. I really enjoyed it. But it didn’t blow me away. Lincoln in the Bardo is a different book, an interesting experiment. It is a very quick read, in dialogue form. It is a serious book. It is clever and funny, a bit sentimental, perhaps.

Is it a book that changes the literature as we know it? Well, I wouldn’t go so far. It is readable. It is brilliantly done. It has great rhythm, but to me it lacks structure. I am not even sure it is a novel.

An audacious, daring book. I enjoyed …

Sharyl reviewed Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel by George Saunders

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. …