Reviews with content warning for Child death - Lincoln in the Bardo

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

49 reviews

saffytriesherbest's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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emtay's review

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"All pleasures should be tainted by that knowledge. But hopeful dear us, we forget. Lord what is this? All of this walking about, trying, smiling, bowing, joking? This sitting-down-at-table, pressing-of-shirts, tying-of-ties, shining-of-shoes, planning-of-trips, singing-of-songs-in-the-bath? When he is to be left out here? Is a person to nod, dance, reason, walk, discuss?
As before..." (156)

Written as if in interview format though to be it feels more like a tableau from a play. As if all our ghosts and historical accounts are pieces being told by a narrator as the actors mime about onstage.
The book does not let characters off the hook yet it never gets so far as to judge. And, being historical fiction, any the assessment does not feel burdened by convention or time. Though, perhaps that is for people in three hundred years to discuss. One of my all-time favorites. Written for my tastes.
Made me think of Sarah and of G.

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blobry's review

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dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

An amusing, beautiful, and at times heart-wrenching meditation on the question 'What happens when we die?' One of those books that makes you laugh and cry from one page to the next. Could be either healing or triggering for those who have lost a child. (I don't recommend reading it on a Kindle or other digital device due to the formatting.)

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jenpurlteach's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I listened to this one as full cast audio book—I think 166 different people did voices. Amazing and entertaining, done by professional actors and even family members of the author. Such an interesting concept, a story about the in-between of life and true eternity. As an audio for me, I was often confused, but as I heard more of the story, many things became clear, so don’t quit too soon if you are inclined to. I really enjoyed the first hand accounts about the Lincoln family and the Civil War. I’m assuming those were factual— cited as they were within the story—but just listening to the words being performed (loved those parts) left me wondering at times if they were real people’s observations. One thing I didn’t enjoy was the more graphic sexual aspects. I do realize that for a couple of the characters you couldn’t understand them without the background of sexual abuse, but there were parts that seemed unnecessary (just my own opinion!). Over all, though, really interesting and strange and thoughtful tale about all kinds of people in and around Washington D.C. during the time of Willie Lincoln’s death.

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