Lincoln in the Bardo

Shirley J.                Adult Fiction             Abraham and Mary Lincoln and the loss of their son Willie

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders   200 pages (I did not complete the book)

I know this is a work of fiction but the grief and despair described was so intense and so incredibly sad I decided not to go further.   That is a testament to the writer's talent that he can convey such raw and abysmal agony of a tortured father's and mother's soul.    The story begins with the time just before Willie Lincoln's death at eleven in the White House.  It shows the utter love the parents feel for their children (Todd and Willie), it discusses the finite perfectionist's attention Mary gave to each and every detail when entertaining and the very public life they had to live even in the darkest of family moments.  It is a very well told tale of a father's heart being ripped from his very fiber to the point he goes to the boy's tomb to hold the tiny lifeless body once again, night after night, trying to hold onto his son as long as he possibly can.  It also tells the tale of displaced souls cooling their heels in a state of purgatory or as the Tibetans call it "the Bardo" which takes place in the cemetery where Willie's body is interred.   There are conversations between Willie's spirit and the other specters "haunting" the place.  The feeling is Abraham's misery and longing is what is holding Willie in that in-between place lest he move on to the "light."   Many other characters from all walks and times of life are there, decent folk and not so decent ones.   The conversations among them are witty and funny, but, it made me wish I could have somehow helped Mr. Lincoln who was in such dire need of comfort and relief from his burden of guilt over purchasing his beloved son a pony to which the boy wanted to be on the pony so long and so often that bad weather didn't phase him to the point he made himself ill from exposure only to die from his illness days later.    A sad story made even sadder in the telling.  I couldn't enjoy the comical dialogue for the pallor of misery in poor President Lincoln's devastation.   Easily the saddest book I have ever read though I suppose it tries not to be.  Since this is such a verbal foray into death and its effects I am reluctant to recommend it.