Lincoln in the Bardo
GEORGE SAUNDERS BABY, you did it again! Saunders is the king of short stories. His short story collection, Tenth of December, won a bunch of awards because it’s fabulous. He has made many contributions to magazines, which land him in short story collections like The Best American Short Stories 2013. In 2017, he debuted his novel Lincoln in the Bardo and it did not disappoint.
Don’t listen to me-- listen to the Guy from High Maintenance. I’ve tweeted before and I’ll inevitably tweet it again: High Maintenance is the best show currently on television. Ben Sinclair has to have excellent taste in books and he’s reading Lincoln in the Bardo in season 2 episode 10. This is why we stan.
Back to Saunders, whom we also stan. Lincoln in the Bardo is an incredibly inventive undertaking. I normally avoid reading the back of books because I don’t want to go into a novel with set expectations; however, this novel is an exception. I think that it requires context to grasp and get on board. Without spoiling anything (again, this is all on the spine): Abraham Lincoln’s 11-year-old son, Willie, dies during the Civil War (This is a historical fact that I never learned because I was really only taught Texas history #LoneStar). Lincoln is very upset by his loss, and he visits his son’s grave to mourn. Saunders takes the fictional reins here, incorporating 50+ perspectives of all of the different ghosts in the graveyard. The story is told by everyone, not just a single person, and this style wins mega creativity points.
Lincoln in the Bardo manages to hit all my existential hot spots (What is the meaning of life? How do the ghosts acknowledge their death? How do the ghosts deny their death? How does Lincoln keep living?) AND it’s entertaining. I laughed a lot. I enjoyed all of the characters’ backstories. I appreciated Saunders’ spin on the historical context. Please keep giving us more content, Saunders, because you know what you’re doing. Lincoln in the Bardo receives 5 out of 5 flames
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