Rating: 4 Stars
2017 Booker Prize
When I first heard of
this book it vaguely struck me as something unsavory, and I felt a stab of
indignation on behalf of the 16th President. Hadn’t the poor man
done enough; hadn’t he suffered enough? I calmed down after realizing my
brain-fumble – not Lincoln in the Bordello; it was ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’. Duh.
In Tibetan Buddhism, bardo is the intermediate stage between
life and death. The author conceived the idea for this novel when he learned
that President Lincoln had paid several visits to a crypt in Georgetown, to
hold the body of his recently deceased son. The story revolves around the
untimely demise of twelve year old Willy Lincoln and the transitional phase of
the boy’s bewildered spirit – uncertain as to whether he should stay behind
with his father or move on to whatever realm of being awaits him.
The book is a quirky
amalgam of actual historical documents, ingenious creative elements, and,
word-crafting. While some of his literary experiments seem a little labored, others
work very successfully. The writer deals gently with the grieving president in
anguish over the loss of his child. The Lincoln we see here is the Lincoln vindicated
by history and immortalized in popular culture – a very human man under
extraordinary circumstances, shouldering an immense burden to the best of his
abilities.
Considering that the
subject is both moving and macabre, there is a surprising amount of humor here.
The levity comes from the host of wraiths who are malingering in the cemetery,
believing that this denial of the obvious shows their strength of character.
These shades are a boisterous, bawdy, and, talkative bunch. They have a lot to
get off their chest, and they think they have many reasons to hang tough. Three
in particular befriend the little Lincoln and try to help him migrate to the
next plane of existence because the bardo
is a dangerous place for the young ones.
“…to be a child and to love one’s life enough to
desire to stay here is, in this place, a terrible sin, worthy of the most
severe punishment.”
The reasons for this
are never made clear. Actually, the author does not give much detail, depth, or,
clarity to the Great Beyond. He shies away from anything approaching actual
religion, spirituality, mysticism, or, the occult. That doesn’t affect the book
negatively, because oddly enough this story is more about life than death.
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