Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders

This book was so wonderfully weird, it's very hard to describe, let alone value on a typical star scale. At times I found it a bit too vulgar, but the overall contemplative themes and writing are what keep the score at 4 instead of 3.

Willie Lincoln has died and found himself in the Bardo (hence, Lincoln in the Bardo) - an in between place of purgatory essentially, where those souls who refuse to move on are made to ceaselessly live out their evenings in crude caricatures of their former selves. For his part, Willie is waiting for his parents, who he is certain must surely come to get him, as if this is all just a grand mistake. Within purgatory, he is accompanied by Mr. Vollman and Mr. Bevins. 

Vollman is a man struck down by a roof beam the day before he and his wife of almost a year are finally, finally, set to consummate their marriage. He has cursed himself to walk around purgatory always anticipating this event and therefore, naked and aroused, he's a sometimes frightening figure to behold. Bevins, on the other hand is a young, kind gentleman, unable to deal with his homosexuality and his lover's moving on from their relationship, slit his own wrists, only to find at the precipice of death, that indeed, he did not want to die. So focused is he on the last sights, smells and touches of the worldly things, he has become a grotesque oddity of only hands, noses and eyeballs in purgatory. 

But Willie Lincoln is special, as his father, Abraham Lincoln, does indeed come to see him. And hold the boy's lifeless body as the soul looks on. The visit causes Willie not to move on when the angels come, and he is thus in danger of not moving on at all. Vollman and Bevins, having come to care for Willie, set out to help him understand that he should move on, as all children should. But the longer Willie stays, the more in danger he is of never being able to leave. 

In order to effect their plan, Vollman and Bevins must go "into" Abraham Lincoln's body and become one with his mind. Ultimately they get far more out of the experience than Lincoln does. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the explorations of the meanings of life and death and thoughts on the afterlife. Some of the characters in the Bardo are filthy and unnecessarily vulgar which I think sometimes detracts from the overall readability of the book. And again, the book is such a genre bending oddity that I'd have a hard time explaining it or recommending it to someone, even though I myself really enjoyed it.

4/5 Stars.