About the book
Set in February 1862, during the first year of the Civil War, George Saunders's experimental novel starts from a historical report: after his eleven-year-old son Willie died, a grieving Abraham Lincoln was said by newspapers to have returned alone to the Georgetown crypt to hold the boy's body. Most of the story unfolds over a single evening in the bardo, a Tibetan term for the state between death and rebirth, where ghosts who do not know they are dead mingle, quarrel and perform strange acts of penance. Willie finds himself stranded among them. It was Saunders's first full-length novel and won the 2017 Booker Prize.
Dua Lipa chose it as a monthly read for her Service95 Book Club, and Bill Gates said the novel, which mixes Civil War history with fantastical elements, made him rethink parts of Lincoln's life.
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This book has 2 recommendations
Bill Gates (CEO/Microsoft)
I thought I knew everything I needed to know about Abraham Lincoln, but this novel made me rethink parts of his life. It blends historical facts from the Civil War with fantastical elements—it’s basically a long conversation among 166 ghosts, including Lincoln’s deceased son. I got new insight into the way Lincoln must have been crushed by the weight of both grief and responsibility. This is one of those fascinating, ambiguous books you’ll want to discuss with a friend when you’re done.
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