Lincoln in the Bardo (9/10)

The book’s cover gives away absolutely nothing, which adds to the shock value of actually opening it.

Author: George Saunders

Publication: 2017

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy

I was not aware upon ordering this that it was an experimental novel. I was therefore highly confused when I flipped through it for the first time. Lincoln alternates between historical (and pseudo-historical) accounts of Abraham Lincoln around the death of his son Willie, and the narrative of ghosts that Willie finds himself with in a kind of in-between place after death. If that sounds weird, you don’t know the half of it.

The historical fiction parts are shaped around Lincoln’s struggles to effectively lead the country during the Civil War. He’s receiving harsh criticism for his management of the war and the deaths of so many of the nation’s children. At the beginning of the novel, in an obvious metaphor, the Lincolns throw a lavish party at the White House while Willie lies deathly ill upstairs. After he succumbs and is buried, (mild spoiler) Lincoln visits his tomb and holds his body. (The author has said in interviews that this is based on real historical accounts, which, yikes.)

The fantasy parts find spirit Willie in the bardo. The wild and weird residents are in denial about being dead and stubbornly refuse to pass on, despite insistent encouragement from the powers that be. Willie, as a child, faces harsh consequences for lingering, but is held back by the presence of his father.

The residents of the bardo and their backstories are often bawdy and gross. They do, however, effectively immerse the reader in the messiness of life and death. And the moments in between are sweet and sad and ultimately have a beautiful message about living with grief. I was impressed by both by the book’s construction and by its the execution.

In the ‘miscellaneous complaints’ category - I was put off by the author’s failure to distinguish between real and invented historical sources. Some of the “quoted” works sound authentic. Others are clearly fabricated - we don’t have the letters of a woman who happened to spot Lincoln entering the cemetery at 2 am because she lived across the street.

On the whole though this was a moving read. I thoroughly recommend it to adults, in no small part because I’ve never read anything quite like it.

Snuff (9/10)

This image starts to make sense in the later part of the book, but that's still not quiiiiiite how things went.

Author: Terry Pratchett

Publication: 2011

Genre: Fantasy

To explain why I loved this book I have to go way back to the early 2000s when I first discovered Terry Pratchett. My introduction was Night Watch. It’s not only one of the ‘Watch’ series-within-a-series of Pratchett books, but one intensely focused on Sam Vimes. Hence he’s always been a favorite character of mine. This is the last Watch book and one of the last novels Pratchett published before his death from Alzheimer’s in 2015, so it was a bittersweet read.

Summary: Ankh-Morpork City Watch Commander and reluctant Duke Sam Vimes is forced by his wife take a vacation at her estate in the country. Almost immediately he discovers a murder has occurred. What was that about a vacation, exactly?

My take: I was a bit annoyed on my reread of Night Watch last summer at Vimes’ qualities of smugly knowing what to do and magically always being three steps ahead of his adversary. Vimes hasn’t changed, but those qualities are deployed more satisfyingly here. They make sense for the older character, and Pratchett does a better job exposing Sam’s weaknesses and limitations. The last nearly 200 pages are a really fun ride, and I was sad to turn the last one. I wouldn’t recommend this as an introduction to Terry Pratchett- it’s probably best enjoyed after a few of the earlier Watch books. But as a conclusion (alas) to a long arc, it’s deeply satisfying.

Some miscellaneous complaints: Could Vimes shut up about about Sybil for eight seconds, honestly? The only other thing was that a lot of time is spent introducing the house and its servants at the beginning of the book, but as it never really led to anything later it came off as unneeded.

One final note: I didn’t buy this book back in February expecting for its content to be topical. But coincidentally I’ve seen this quote going around (page 244 of my paperback copy):

“It always embarrassed Samuel Vimes when civilians tried to speak to him in what they thought was “policeman.” If it came to that, he hated thinking of them as civilians. What was a policeman, if not a civilian with a uniform and a badge? But they tended to use the term these days as a way of describing people who were not policemen. It was a dangerous habit: once policemen stopped being civilians the only other thing they could be was soldiers.”

Snuff has a lot to say on the appropriate role of law enforcement, including a fair bit on the use of violence. Might be useful reading for some of America’s cops, and perhaps its politicians…