Lincoln in the Bardo
Books | Fiction / Literary
3.9
(970)
George Saunders
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZEThe “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 inventedOne 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 DecadeNamed 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
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More Details:
Author
George Saunders
Pages
368
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Published Date
2017-02-14
ISBN
081299535X 9780812995350
Community ReviewsSee all
"I could NOT follow the text, but the audiobook was *amazing*. "
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Aubrey
"I had to give up. I was so lost, I could not enjoy it. It has received many rave reviews, but this one just was not for me."
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Andrea Jaffray
"An unusual format and structure. It took me a moment or two to get acclimated to the style, and I was not initially sure I was going to be able to get through the book. However, as I kept reading, I did acclimate and found myself really enjoying the characters and the world they inhabit. Thought provoking. I waited to post a review after finishing the book since I found the audiobook version and wanted to listen before I made any recommendation. I was eager to listen when I saw the cast of voices bringing the book to life...quite a cast!! Megan Mullaly, Nick Offerman, Ben Stiller, Julianne Moore, Bill Hader, Susan Sarandon, Bradley Whitford, Brad Garrett, Don Cheadle, Kat Dennings, Keegan-Michael Key and many others. Despite the excitement, it again took me a minute or so to get adjusted to all of the voices and snippets of narrative. I was a bit distracted by trying to see if I could figure out which voices belonged to which personalities, though it was fun. In the end, I found greater enjoyment reading the book than listening to it. Though the audio was engaging, I would have probably found it a little confusing to follow had I not read the book first. Overall, thumbs up to both with a slightly larger thumb up to the the book format."
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Paul Garcia