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A review by lilrheezy
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
5.0
Oooooooh I loved this one. “Lincoln in the Bardo”, set in 1862, focuses on President Lincoln’s son - lost to typhoid fever at 11 (true story, apparently) - and the President’s immense grief over the loss. It takes place “in the bardo”, which wikipedia tells me is a Tibetan term for the Buddhist "intermediate state" - essentially some weird liminal space with ghosts and spirits, trapped outside their body before rebirth. Or the afterlife. Or something. The ideas within the bardo and the conversations between souls/spirits/ghosts are heartbreaking, funny and delightfully compelling. I cried several times.
I started listening to this as an audiobook and was so confused by the back and forth narrative that I had to take the actual book out of the library. Once I followed along for a bit and could understand how the dialogue plays out, I more or less balanced my listening and reading. The cast of this audiobook is 166 actors deep (!!!) and “stars” Nick Offerman, who I love, as well as Megan Mulalley, Bradley Whitford and Susan Sarandon, among 162 others.
The novel is interspersed with excerpts from actual historical accounts of Lincoln’s life and presidency, which is not only super cool storytelling, but also an extremely interesting exercise in the veracity of historical evidence.
I am obsessed with this book and want to read it again immediately. Or have Nick Offerman read it to me.
I started listening to this as an audiobook and was so confused by the back and forth narrative that I had to take the actual book out of the library. Once I followed along for a bit and could understand how the dialogue plays out, I more or less balanced my listening and reading. The cast of this audiobook is 166 actors deep (!!!) and “stars” Nick Offerman, who I love, as well as Megan Mulalley, Bradley Whitford and Susan Sarandon, among 162 others.
The novel is interspersed with excerpts from actual historical accounts of Lincoln’s life and presidency, which is not only super cool storytelling, but also an extremely interesting exercise in the veracity of historical evidence.
I am obsessed with this book and want to read it again immediately. Or have Nick Offerman read it to me.