Lincoln in the bardo, by George Saunders

Winner of the Man Booker Prize, and on almost all the “Best of…” lists last year, this novel really deserves to be called unique.  I had resisted reading it as I found many of the short stories in his similarly well-reviewed Tenth of December more experimental than pleasurable (although I was blown away by the title story).  Hmmmm, another, longer, experiment?  Even the title was opaque – what is a “bardo?”  Bardo is a Tibetan word for the "in-between" or "transitional" state between lives.  The central character caught in this state is Willie Lincoln, beloved 11-year-old son of Abraham Lincoln, who has succumbed after a lengthy bout of typhoid fever, an endemic infection in the Washington DC area which has been further spread by the presence of troops in the Civil War.  The war is entering its second year and Lincoln is increasingly troubled by the struggle and his responsibility for it.  His son’s death has pushed him further into melancholy and despair.  The Oak Hill cemetery, where Willie is interred in a borrowed tomb, is far from quiet – many troubled spirits remain caught in this intermediary state and converse among the tombstones.  When Lincoln returns alone to visit Willie’s tomb after the burial, and again later that night, a struggle for the fate of Willie’s soul takes place.  Similar in some ways Spoon River Anthology and Our Town, the novel is narrated through multiple viewpoints and print citations – some historical and some invented by the author.  There are some sections that are beautiful poetry, some are funny and others are quite disgusting.  I came away impressed by the author’s audacity and loved the book.  Others have cited the audiobook – I don’t do audiobooks but fell across a wonderful 17 minute bit on Prairie Home Companion, of all places, that is well worth watching/listening to,  https://youtu.be/Y2yA4TI1kS4,  342 pp.