George Saunders is a brilliant writer. Lincoln in the Bardo and A Swim in the Pond in the Rain are wildly different from each other but both are tours de force. This new novel is a tough one and my expectations were lowered by Dwight Garner’s take in the NYT.
Saunders very effectively used Bardo dwellers, those who have died, but are not settled into their final rest in Lincoln in the Bardo. In this book the narrator is a woman who died in the 1970s when she was blown up by a criminal who put a bomb in her policeman/husband’s car which she drove by chance that day. It was not clear to me why she was active rather than being at rest, but there are many others like her. Her role is to shepherd those about to die to a peaceful end.
Her current assignment is K.J. Boone, a ruthless multi-millionaire who was successful despite humble beginnings and being very short. His great success, as told by those around him, came from his denial of climate change, by disparaging those who spoke about it, and undermining scientific data about it. The narrator, Jill, wants to help him through his death, but many others also appear to force him to repent his bad behavior. Most, like Jill are “on the other side,” but his daughter also sees him for what he is.
I am unclear how his forceful and persuasive arguments made him rich and as powerful as a king. I have to assume that he was selling something such as cars, some foods, and consumer goods that destroy the planet. If the message is that this person or these people who profit from human activities are evil, I find that problematic. For my whole (and long) adult life I have been conscious that all of us are in a web that requires driving and consuming food and other goods that destroy the earth. Pinning the blame for that on one man or set of people seems mistaken; that web was created long ago by many bad choices by humans. As Samantha Harvey says in her book Orbital, humans have both wonder and curiosity on one hand and the “force of human want” on the other. Some are more guilty than others but we’re all participants.
The book is described as “playful” and Saunders clearly enjoyed the creation of the many characters he brought in from the spirit world. Sometimes I appreciated the artistry he brought to this, but it was not always successful.
George Saunders, Vigil, Random House, 2026, 174 pages (I read the kindle version). Available in the public library.