Lincoln in the Bardo

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one was a little strange and kind of hard to follow. I heard the audio book was really good so I requested that version from the library, and while it was nice to have lots of entertaining voices and a great cast, I was very confused at first and it took at least an hour before I could figure out what was actually going on.

The juxtaposition of history versus this supernatural world was really interesting. The set up of the book alternates story narration from the point of view of various ghosts with actual historical quotes from real life sources, talking about Lincoln and the circumstances of Willie's death. It's quite a sad story, and we hear a wide variety of opinion on it, from those sympathetic for the Lincolns in their loss, to those who condemned and blamed Lincoln and his wife, both for allowing Willie to "run wild" in the cold and for having a party when Willie was so sick. Some of the eyewitness reports also refer to Lincoln's grief-fueled visits to the graveyard, so that also appears to be based on historic fact..

The ghost world is fascinating, but still holds a lot of ambiguity and uncertainty. I don't know that I realized that they were ghosts at first, which is part of the confusion. Once I figured that out and could follow what was going on, the world was really interesting: the ghosts didn't always appear the same way, they only had vague memories of their former lives, they even denied that they were dead, calling themselves "sick" instead. I'm not sure how much they really know about the dead versus not-dead situation - I think it might have actually been a very strong case of denial

The Reverend's story of going to sit before some sort of God-figure and have his actions weighed was an interesting scenario. In many was, this whole book is about what happens after you die and one of the traditional ideas is this weighing of scales and judgment to see if you were a good enough person to go to a glorious heaven, or if you didn't and you have to go to hell. We hear later on that some of people that went to hell are those ones you see mummifying the children in the ghost world. My guess is that when you decide to move on from the ghost world and are zapped out of the graveyard (and out of your clothes), you go to the judgement place, and then either to heaven or hell from there.

The big rescue sequence was really exciting and I was happy for the Reverend that he had that moment - maybe that tipped the scales in his favor this time.

I don't know what it is about children not being able to stay in the ghost world. I never really figured that out, and I don't know that they did either. They tell the demons that it doesn't seem fair, and the demons basically reply that nothing is fair. But I agree, it doesn't seem fair that if a child doesn't move on right away, they are somehow trapped in a cocoon-like shell for all eternity. There was something else that happened to them eventually, too - whatever was going on with that girl where she was continuously changing forms. I'm still not sure what that was all about, as it didn't make sense to me at all. It seemed like the adults had abandoned her to that state our of fear and hopelessness, but I feel like at the end they sort of rescued her from that, maybe. Maybe not. It's one of those things that maybe reading the book instead of listening to it would make more clear.

When Mr. Bevins and Mr. Vollman shared space with Lincoln and thus with one another, I loved that they could *feel* each other after that, and could really see each other's true selves. I loved the whole concept of sitting inside a person and knowing what they were thinking and feeling. Also, I really enjoyed whatever was happening when they finally all saw one another how they truly had been, not as they had existed as ghosts for the many years in the ghost realm. Mr. Vollman had his clothes back (no more bouncing member, thankfully), Mr Bevins had the proper number of eyes/mouths/ears, the Reverend's face had resumed a more natural expression, etc.

The most touching moments involved not only Lincoln's grief over the loss of his son, but alsoWillie's grief for losing his father and family. Willie suddeningly realizes he's by himself, and he can't go back - there's no way to. But Willie also finds some the joy in the end, when he tells everyone, "We're dead! My dad says we're dead and he doesn't lie to me, and that means I can go somewhere better, and you all should come with me!"

This is definitely one I think I'm going to need to re-read, physically next time, because there was just a lot that I was confused on and it was hard to keep track of who was talking. For a long time, the character that's voiced by David Sedaris, Mr. Bevins, I thought was a woman, and so I  was confused as to why his lover said they can't be together because he needs to do the right thing. It wasn't until later that I was like, "oh, he's a man! Got it!" I enjoyed the story, and I enjoyed the premise and the world that was built, and I appreciate all the different voices, but I think it would be better to read it first. Maybe it would be less confusing then, and then if you enjoy the book itself, listen to the audio book.

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