Reading Well: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

George Saunders‘ much anticipated novel Lincoln in the Bardo (2017) does not disappoint, although it may bewilder.

The Lincoln of the title is not Abe, but rather Willie, his son who died at the nadir of his presidency (the Civil War is well underway, but it is not going well, and the steady river of corpses is taking a toll on the populace). Abe does have a role in the book, but the protagonists are actually a trio of ghosts.

Ghosts is an unfair term: the graveyard where Willie is buried is populated by a bevy of spirits who have not yet moved on to their final destination (the title refers to the Tibetan tradition of exactly such a space; the novel weaves bits of Tibetan mythology together with themes from The Egyptian Book of the Dead as well as more traditional Christian elements). They spirits refuse to accept their situation, insisting instead they are merely waiting to be healed.

Whether they will discover the truth of their situation forms most of what plot there is, enhanced by the experiences of the ghosts with Lincoln, whose visits to his son’s grave afford them moments of insight into the present world.

Lincoln in the Bardo is much closer to a play than a traditional novel, with chapters of dialog interspersed with chapters of very short excerpts from both actual and invented historical sources, often used to present a variety of perspectives on what would usually be thought of as simple truths. As a minor example, across a dozen or so quotes, the color of Lincoln’s (Abe’s, not Willie’s) eyes are described successively as grey, grey-blue, blue-grey, and blue.

It is a small thing, but it underscores the insistence of the novel on the possibility of mystery, and of the truth of the moment proving elusive and unknown. If the book is about anything, I would contend it is about that.

#WhatIWishICouldDo

There is a core humanity to the novel that is moving, and lovely. Allowing that to shine through is a great demonstration of craft and skill, doing so while mixing historical records, fiction, and a pivotal moment in the history of the USA is even more impressive.