Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Lincoln in the Bardo

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

33 reviews

blobry's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

An amusing, beautiful, and at times heart-wrenching meditation on the question 'What happens when we die?' One of those books that makes you laugh and cry from one page to the next. Could be either healing or triggering for those who have lost a child. (I don't recommend reading it on a Kindle or other digital device due to the formatting.)

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anxious_brown_girl's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

It took a bit to get used to the format of the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. The pace was great and the mix of historical accounts versus fiction was great.

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ehagedorn's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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mementomoriiv's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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chalkletters's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Lincoln in the Bardo is one of those books that's been on my radar for a long time, but I don't really know why. I knew nothing about it, except the name, so had no strong feelings either way when it was the only book nominated for January's book club. I know very little about Abraham Lincoln, so much so that I initially assumed the first section of the book was about Lincoln, when it very definitely wasn't. So at least Lincoln in the Bardo would be an opportunity to learn some (fictionalised) history.

George Saunders composes his story from snippets of text supposed to be drawn from and attributed to actual historical documents. Many, if not most, of these are completely fictional, but the attributions get repetitive fairy fast, as well as breaking the flow of the story. If you skip over these, it's difficult to distinguish which character is which, so each reader will need to decide for themselves which is more important. (The story is still enjoyable, even without a crystal clear understanding of who does what in every moment.)

Despite the title, neither Abraham nor Willie Lincoln is really the main character. Instead, the story focuses on the Bardo itself, and the personalities which have haunted it for many years after their lives ended. While that might sound difficult to relate to for readers who, inevitably, have no yet come to the end of their life, George Saunders manages to build in many fears and themes which are just as applicable outside the Bardo. The focus on community and giving back to others instead of focusing completely on the self is particularly well done. (Lincoln in the Bardo would make an interesting companion piece to the musical In the Heights.)

I'm not sure I'll read Lincoln in the Bardo a second time, especially as I usually reread things via audiobook and I suspect the attributions would become extremely annoying extremely fast in that medium.

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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3.5

It’s hard to rate this one because some parts of it struck me so deeply, while others fell short. Lincoln’s grief was exquisitely portrayed, and though it was devastating, I almost wish I’d seen more of it. Saunders’ take on ghosts is intriguing and manifests in an interesting way. But because of this, the huge cast of characters can make the book confusing and hard to follow at times. I also felt a little uncomfortable with the portrayal of BIPOC characters (though I understand the book is set during the civil war, there were still moments that I felt could’ve been handled differently).

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kananineko's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this weird little book. I know it won’t work for everyone, but somehow it worked for me. I love absurd concepts like this and things that examine life and death and afterlife and the in-between and history, so of course I loved it. If you have similar interests, you may feel the same way. But you also might not, because it’s a very weird book. I love the play-like format and the parts that put together historical documents to recount a moment. I’m so glad I read this book and I’m very glad that i I own it!I loved this weird little book. I know it won’t work for everyone, but somehow it worked for me. I love absurd concepts like this and things that examine life and death and afterlife and the in-between and history, so of course I loved it. If you have similar interests, you may feel the same way. But you also might not, because it’s a very weird book. I love the play-like format and the parts that put together historical documents to recount a moment. I’m so glad I read this book and I’m very glad that I own it!

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helen's review against another edition

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4.0

Difficult to categorise novel - part historical fiction (with quotes from real historical sources), part fantasy (the main characters are ghosts who are in denial about being dead) and part morality tale (with the main message being enjoy life while you can because everything dies).

I found it grimly funny and poignant, but got a bit irritated by the layout - there are chapters of dialogue formatted as a play script, interspersed with chapters of quotes from real and imagined historical sources. It made for a quick read, with lots of blank space on the page, but I would have preferred prose.

As well as reading with my eyes I also read with my ears, and I would recommend the latter. The audiobook has 166 different narrators, including nick offerman and david sedaris, who are wonderful.

Content notes:

child death, grief, suicide, slavery, racism, rape, war, death, murder, sexism, injury description, child molestation mention, spiritual possession, description of embalming

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roy_gorbison's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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kelsis_book_nook's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This book was boring and confusing. I honestly barely knew what was happening most of the time. It just seemed like a bunch of ghosts sitting around talking about random things that hardly made sense. I don't understand how this book had so much hype when it came out...maybe it just wasn't for me.

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