Tab Article

Ratings: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Genre: Literary Fiction / Historical Fiction / Experimental Fiction

Book Review:
George Saunders's ''Lincoln in the Bardo'' is a singular achievement—a novel that defies easy categorization and rewards readers with its extraordinary imagination, emotional depth, and formal inventiveness. Winner of the 2017 Man Booker Prize, it has been hailed by Zadie Smith as ''a masterpiece,'' by The Sunday Times as ''a moving and inventive fictional tour de force,'' and by Colson Whitehead as ''a luminous feat of generosity and humanism.''

The novel is based on a historical incident: in 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son Willie died of typhoid fever. Newspapers reported that a grief-stricken Lincoln returned to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy's body. From this seed of truth, Saunders spins a story that is anything but conventional.

Willie Lincoln finds himself in the bardo—a Tibetan Buddhist concept for the transitional state between death and rebirth. He is not alone. The cemetery is populated by a chorus of ghosts, trapped souls who cannot or will not move on. They bicker, gossip, and tell each other stories. They watch as Lincoln visits the crypt, and they debate what is happening and what it means. The novel is told through a collage of voices: the ghosts, historical accounts (real and invented), and snippets from the period.

The result is a work of astonishing originality. Saunders, known primarily as a master of the short story, here demonstrates his ability to sustain a novel-length narrative while maintaining his characteristic wit, compassion, and formal daring. The voices of the ghosts are by turns hilarious and heartbreaking, their stories revealing the full range of human folly and longing.

But at its core, the novel is about love and loss—specifically, a father's love for his son and his struggle to let go. Lincoln's grief is rendered with profound empathy, and the novel's exploration of how we deal with death feels universal.

The critical reception has been extraordinary. The Times calls it ''memorably rich and strange.'' The Daily Mail praises its ''joyous relish for life'' despite its subject matter. The Observer describes it as ''extraordinarily powerful... a brilliant, exhausting, emotionally involving attempt to get up again, to fight for empathy, kindness and self-sacrifice, and to resist.''

For readers who love literary fiction at its most adventurous, this book is essential. For those interested in American history, it offers a fresh perspective on a familiar figure. And for anyone who has ever grieved, it offers companionship and understanding.

''Lincoln in the Bardo'' is a book to be read, reread, and cherished. It is a masterpiece, plain and simple. Highly recommended.