Saunders, George, 1958-
Lincoln in the Bardo : a novel / George Saunders. - Trade paperback edition. - London : Bloomsbury Publishing, c2017. - 350 pages ; 21 cm
"February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth," the president says at the time. "God has called him home." Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy's body. From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins a story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state -- called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo -- a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul. Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction's ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?" -- Publisher's description.
Adult
English
9781408871751 [paperback]
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 --Fiction.
Lincoln, Abraham 1809-1865 --Fiction.
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Presidents--United States--Fiction.
Grief--Fiction.
Presidents--United States--Fiction.
Grief--Fiction.
Grief.
Presidents.
United States.
Historical fiction.
Biographical fiction.
Fiction.
Historical fiction.
Biographical fiction.
Biographical fiction.
Historical fiction.
Lincoln in the Bardo : a novel / George Saunders. - Trade paperback edition. - London : Bloomsbury Publishing, c2017. - 350 pages ; 21 cm
"February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth," the president says at the time. "God has called him home." Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy's body. From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins a story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state -- called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo -- a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul. Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction's ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?" -- Publisher's description.
Adult
English
9781408871751 [paperback]
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 --Fiction.
Lincoln, Abraham 1809-1865 --Fiction.
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Presidents--United States--Fiction.
Grief--Fiction.
Presidents--United States--Fiction.
Grief--Fiction.
Grief.
Presidents.
United States.
Historical fiction.
Biographical fiction.
Fiction.
Historical fiction.
Biographical fiction.
Biographical fiction.
Historical fiction.