Lincoln in the Bardo
George Saunders
The book that immediately came to mind for me when I heard this year’s theme—”Between Worlds”—was the Man Booker Prize-winning novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders. The story is centered around the death of Willie Lincoln (the son of President Lincoln) and his journey through the Bardo, which is an intermediate world of sorts between death and the afterlife. I really liked this novel because it has a unique and effective format of multiple voices telling the story as well as a gripping plot that makes it very hard to put down.
I don’t usually do too much analysis when I read, but at the end of this one I found myself reflecting on how the book made me feel. It was definitely a page turner, and besides winning the aforementioned award, it has also received the Josh Chen seal of approval, a very high honor.
JOSH CHEN
Class of 2019
Chemical Engineering Major
This book is part of the 2019 Berkeley Summer Reading List. Stay tuned for more weekly posts!