George Saunders

 

Lincoln in the Bardo

According to historical record, Abraham Lincoln visited the crypt where his young son was interred. In this novel, Lincoln follows his son to the crypt and spends the night in the bardo, a place between the worlds of the living and the dead. He encounters various characters, dead yet caught between worlds, held captive by their habits, regrets, and neuroses. Toward the end of the novel (which takes place in the middle of the Civil War) the souls of the enslaved pass through Lincoln’s body. Given some of Lincoln’s questionable views on abolition and racial equality, I’d rather that the enslaved had moved past him, following their own trajectories. Nevertheless, Lincoln in the Bardo is a profound and well executed portrait of an episode in the life of the president and a creative examination of the ways in which people hold tightly to what gives their lives meaning.

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A Swim in the Pond in the Rain:  In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

This uniquely structured book is doubly delightful in that Saunders places classic Russian short stories alongside his interpretations. Not only do you get to read stories by some of Russia’s greatest writers, but you also get to learn from Saunders’s insights regarding what makes these stories successful, based on decades of teaching them to creative writing students. Saunders invites the reader to think along with him, and also to challenge him, all the while offering his analyses in a humorous and conversational tone.