Lincoln in the Bardo (2017)
Who wrote it?
George Saunders (1958- ; active 1986- ), born Amarillo, Texas, USA. He grew up in Oak Forest, Illinois, near Chicago. His first degree was, unusually, a BS in geophysical engineering from Colorado School of Mines, though he took an MA in Creative Writing at Syracuse University in 1988, where he met his wife Paula Redick.
He began writing short stories, with his first published in 1986. His first collection CivilWarLand in Bad Decline wasn't published until 1996. In between his MA and this first book, he worked as a technical writer and geophysical engineer, while continuing to publish short stories. He has subsequently published three further collections of short stories, edited an anthology called Fakes, and written extensively for the likes of The New Yorker, The Guardian, Harper's and GQ. Having previously said he wouldn't write a novel, Lincoln in the Bardo is thusfar his only example of the form (though he has written several novellas).
He has taught an MFA class at Syracuse for over twenty years, and in 2021 published A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, a "literary master class" based on his classes on the art of the short story form, focusing on four Russian masters.
What's it about?
Lincoln in the Bardo focuses on the death of Abraham Lincoln's son Willie. It focuses (not sequentially) on the build-up to his death (in which the Lincolns host a party while Willie lies bed-ridden), his death itself, and the aftermath, in which the grieving president visits his son's crypt and holds his body, all apparently based in historical fact.
So far, so simple? Well… the above summary does absolutely no justice to what this novel actually is, which is a joyously unusual thing that mixes historical accounts (real and invented) of those events with a wild supernatural narrative set in the "bardo", a Buddhist term for the "intermediate state" between death and resurrection.
The bardo in this case is a graveyard, populated by an extravagant cast of "ghosts", each with unique fantastical physical properties and personalities, who (mostly) do not realise they are dead but instead believe they are in "sick boxes" awaiting their recovery. The bardo-based plot centres on three of these ghosts who try to persuade Willie to move on to the "next phase" as "the young should not tarry".
There's loads more going on than I can possibly summarise here, to be honest, but that's about the long and short of it.
What I liked
I’ve overused the term “unique” in reviews of the 2010s winners, but this really is something else. It’s mad, magical, wild, unpredictable, and absolutely it’s own thing. It’s a novel written by someone who doesn’t really write (or want to write) novels, and it shows.
It’s often described as an “experimental” novel, which of course in many senses it is. A glance at its broken up structure in which barely a sentence is finished before a new voice enters might seem initially off-putting, and it does take a couple of pages to get into its rhythm. But it really only is a couple of pages. It’s “experimental” only in the sense that it’s fantastically fresh - it’s actually incredibly pacey, gripping and readable.
There are big issues being tackled head-on here. Death, most obviously. While the “bardo” of the title implies Buddhism (to which Saunders apparently subscribes these days) and reincarnation, the “afterlife” hinted at here is much more Christian in its depiction of (what seems to be fairly obviously) heaven or hell as the “next phase” after the graveyard-based bardo. Or is that just because we see it through the eyes of the predominantly (exclusively?) Christian cast of characters? Who knows - in any case it’s a hugely engrossing provocation for thinking about death, life, and everything in between.
At the same time though, the wild and enjoyable fantastical elements nicely offset the deeper themes. The characters themselves, despite their number, are all distinct and memorable. And just jaw-droppingly madly imagined - taking just the two main characters in the bardo… one has an innumerable number of eyes, noses and other appendages, and the other walks around naked with an impossibly large erection. Other characters fly around, are followed by “gelatinous orbs” with the faces of their children, collect dead animals, etc etc. Saunders mentions Miyazaki as an influence and you can certainly feel that Ghibli-esque vibe here - the border between reality and fantasy is non-existent and what happens next is anyone’s guess.
Even in the historical sections, there’s fun to be had. The early section in which the moon on the night of Willie’s death is described in massively contradictory ways by all of the different “sources” is exactly my kind of humour. It’s also a smart nod to any naysayers to Saunders’ more fantastical modes of storytelling: if there’s no one “truth” expressed in the supposedly “historical” sources, then why attempt to use facts at all? Why not use something infinitely more engaging, entertaining and perhaps even revealing in your quest to understand the “truth” of what was going on in the single historical moment that this novel spins from?
The most remarkable thing for me was just how it all held together. If you haven’t read it, the above probably suggests something complex, messy, and hard to get on with, yet it’s the absolute opposite. While it’s more extensive in length (though it’s still very short) and range than a short story, it’s evident that it’s written by a master of the short story form in that it has an incredible sense of unity and completeness about it.
What I didn’t like
NOTHING. I could say it was too short, but (while I could very happily spend more time in this world) as I’ve said above it’s so perfectly constructed that you wouldn’t want to change anything about it.
Food & drink pairings
No food & drink in the bardo, I’m afraid.
Fun facts
I'm not really an audiobook listener but I really want to listen to this one, and not just because the book is incredible. The voice cast includes dozens of celebrities and friends and family members, fittingly for a novel with over 150 characters!
Among those are Saunders' friend Nick Offerman and his wife Megan Mullally, both of whom some may know and love from Parks & Recreation. The rest of the cast includes such top folks as Julianne Moore, Rainn Wilson, David Sedaris, Carrie Brownstein, Miranda July, and Susan Sarandon.
Mullally and Offerman apparently purchased the film rights to the novel very soon after its release. While nothing seems to have come of it as yet, I would love to see what they do with it, for many many reasons.
The book is of course the second American winner in a row, and three of the six shortlisted novels in 2017 were by American authors, giving fuel to the fire of those worrying that changes in 2014 would lead to an influx of US authors "diluting" the "essence" of the Booker. But really, when they're this good, who honestly cares? It's certainly livened up the latter stages of this process for me (not that I'm being at all selfish!)
This was the final novel in a "one from each decade" shortlist for the Golden Man Booker Prize to celebrate the 50th Anniversary in 2018. It lost out to The English Patient, which saddens me. Also shortlisted were In a Free State, Wolf Hall and Moon Tiger (a great choice from the 80s, but probably only there to avoid Midnight's Children winning a made up "best Booker EVER" prize for the third time).
Vanquished Foes
Paul Auster (4 3 2 1)
Emily Fridlund (History of Wolves)
Mohsin Hamid (Exit West)
Fiona Mozley (Elmet)
Ali Smith (Autumn)
Read the Auster (enjoyed but remember the structure better than the plot) and Smith (didn’t massively get on with it, sorry) but no others. Still, better than usual!
The Women's Prize went to Naomi Alderman’s bestseller The Power, and the only Booker crossover came in the shape of Madeleine Thien’s 2016-shortlisted Do Not Say We Have Nothing.
Context
In 2017:
Donald Trump sworn in as US President, becoming first to be elected without holding previous political or military office
Women's March in US and worldwide in response to Trump's election
US government under Trump announces intent to withdraw from Paris Climate Agreement
UK triggers Article 50 of Lisbon Treaty in March, beginning Brexit negotiations
UK PM Theresa May calls a snap general election in June which leaves her with a significantly reduced majority and hampers subsequent Brexit-related votes
ISIL terrorist attack in Manchester, UK, kills 22 at an Ariana Grande concert; London Bridge terrorist attack kills 8
Assassination of Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, in Malaysia
Displacement of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar following mililtary operation against them
Hurricane Harvey causes record-breaking flooding in the US, especially Houston
US airstrikes in Syria
Las Vegas shootings by Stephen Paddock kill 60 and injure over 800
Catalan Independence referendum; Catalonia declares independence from Spain but is not recognised by any government
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe resigns following military intervention, after 37 years of rule
WannaCry ransomware attacks
Disney announces acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox
Sally Rooney, Conversations with Friends
Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Gail Honeyman, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Shape of Water
Get Out
Call Me By Your Name
The Greatest Showman
Drake, More Life
Kendrick Lamar, DAMN.
Lorde, Melodrama
Charli XCX, Pop 2
Tyler the Creator, Flower Boy
Life Lessons
Big ones. Lots of them. Just read it.
Score
10
Is any book perfect? No, but this is as near as it gets, for me. Marvellous.
Ranking to date:
Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders (2017) - 10
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) - 9.5
Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie (1981) - 9.5
Disgrace - J. M. Coetzee (1999) - 9.5
The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan (2014) - 9.5
The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst (2004) - 9
Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively (1987) - 9
A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James (2015) - 9
The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga (2008) - 9
Sacred Hunger - Barry Unsworth (1992) - 9
Oscar & Lucinda - Peter Carey (1988) - 9
The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch (1978) - 9
Life & Times of Michael K. - J. M. Coetzee (1983) - 9
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy (1997) - 9
Schindler’s Ark - Thomas Keneally (1982) - 9
The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai (2006) - 9
Life of Pi - Yann Martel (2002) - 8.5
Bring Up The Bodies - Hilary Mantel (2012) - 8.5
The Bone People - Keri Hulme (1985) - 8.5
How Late it Was, How Late - James Kelman (1994) - 8.5
Troubles - J.G. Farrell (1970, "Lost Booker") - 8.5
The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes (2011) - 8
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood (2000) - 8
Possession - A. S. Byatt (1990) - 8
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (2009) - 8
The Sellout - Paul Beatty (2016) - 8
Saville - David Storey (1976) - 8
The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton (2013) - 8
The Sea - John Banville (2005) - 8
The Siege of Krishnapur - J.G. Farrell (1973) - 8
Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre (2003) - 7.5
The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje (1992) - 7.5
The Finkler Question - Howard Jacobson (2010) - 7.5
Rites of Passage - William Golding (1980) - 7.5
The Gathering - Anne Enright (2007) - 7.5
True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey (2001) - 7.5
Offshore - Penelope Fitzgerald (1979) - 7.5
Last Orders - Graham Swift (1996) - 7
The Elected Member - Bernice Rubens (1970) - 7
The Conservationist - Nadine Gordimer (1974) - 7
Holiday - Stanley Middleton (1974) - 7
Heat & Dust - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1975) - 6.5
In a Free State* - V.S. Naipaul (1971) - 6.5
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle (1993) - 6
G. - John Berger (1972) - 6
The Famished Road - Ben Okri (1991) - 6
Something to Answer For - P. H. Newby (1969) - 5.5
The Ghost Road** - Pat Barker (1995) - 5.5
Staying On - Paul Scott (1977) - 5
Amsterdam - Ian McEwan (1998) - 5
Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner (1984) - 4.5
The Old Devils - Kingsley Amis (1986) - 4
*Read in later condensed edition.
**Third part of a trilogy of which I hadn’t read pts 1&2
Next up
It’s Anna Burns’ Milkman for 2018, which I picked up once in an airport (or something) and didn’t much get on with. I didn’t get very far though, so let’s see how it fares with proper attention…
