LINCOLN IN THE BARDO

George Saunders. LINCOLN IN THE BARDO. Bloomsbury, 2018.

Finished reading this experimental novel, winner of the Man Booker Prize, 2017,  on August 26, 2024. Sought it out because I've been following Saunders' Substack column Story Club, on reading and writing, and because Abraham Lincoln has always been my favourite famous American. The first time I ever had to give a speech in school, I spoke about him. It was back during the Civil War centennial, and all the media in our home, Readers Digest and National Geographic, were full of it.

I had to look up the meaning of "bardo"--which seems to be not a building but rather a Buddhist tradition of a transitional state where souls await their final placement.

I love the experimental nature of the style of this book. The "damn the rules" attitude. The presentation of voices as if they are dialogue in a stage play. The presentation of citations as if nothing more need be said of the jaundiced view of people and politics then and now. 

I love the idea of exploring attitudes towards death, burial, and the afterlife. Not one who is too interested in abstractions myself, and not of a faith group which puts much stress on an afterlife, I have not thought much about what happens after death. Our family prefers cremation; we have chosen a return to nature rather than solid physical memorializing of lost loved ones. So Saunders' imaging of Lincoln's dilemma is interesting. Visiting the mausoleum in private. Opening the coffin. Holding the body. Believing his son is still present; feeling when the soul departs. Very affecting, as is the juxtaposition of the president's grief with the grieving of families having lost and doomed to lose more loved ones in the years of civil war yet to come. 

A sad story leavened by the delusions and denial of several waiting souls, and the devious nature of one group, mostly impoverished and/or lower class, destined for the other place. 

The HOME for UNWANTED GIRLS

Joanna Goodman. The HOME for UNWANTED GIRLS. Harper, 2018.

Ladies Only Book Club pick. Not wild about the style which is too much telling and weak on matching POV and life experience. [words and images used which the POV character would not know of]  But the history and the emotions kept me hooked. The history of Quebec's funding orphanages run by nuns, and switching them over to asylums because the federal grants were greater. Unconscionable. And the lifetime, a whole generation, of mother and daughter longing for each other. And the damage done by loss of agency, hypocrisy, lies, forced labour, restricted access to the world, and abuse is heart-breaking. Maggie got pregnant at 15. Not sure who the father was as an uncle had raped her after her own father separated her from Gabriel, the love of her life. Elodie did not get adopted. 

Elodie = Melody without the M. I wish I knew that sooner as I had no idea how to pronounce the name.

THE HUNGRY SEASON

T. Greenwood. THE HUNGRY SEASON. Kensington, 2010.

A loaner from a writing group friend. The story of a family in crisis. Sam Mason, a writer; Mena, his actor wife; and Finn, their sixteen-year-old messed up son. All are grieving the loss of Finn's twin sister, Franny. They drive from San Diego to Vermont for the summer where they are disturbed by Sam's agent, Monty, and by an academic/stalker, Dale. Suspense surrounds the mystery of what happened to Franny and what will happen when needs collide. This one I stayed up all weekend to finish.

WHERE'S BURGESS?

 Laurie Elmquist. WHERE'S BURGESS? Orca, 2018.

My first ever "middle years" book which I bought at the library book sale because I have met the writer. Reece copes with change and losses--his missing frog, his parents' trial separation. 

IN A DRY SEASON

Peter Robinson. IN A DRY SEASON. Penguin,1999. 

I so miss Inspector Banks. I wish the television programs would return. Sometimes I cannot remember if I have read a title before of if I just saw it on TV.

This story moves back and forth between the present, 1990s Yorkshire, and the past, WW II, when a Land Girl arrived to help out on a farm. The plot begins when, in a dry season, a reservoir or a man-made lake dries up and in the drowned village which emerges, a body is found. 

A GOOD HOUSE

July 19, 2024

Bonnie Burnard. A GOOD HOUSE. Harper, 1999.

The story of an ordinary small town family from the 1950s to the 1990s. 

p. 152 "[H]e now believed that guilt could not exist without intention." 

NAMWAYUT: A PATHWAY TO RECONCILIATION

July 14, 2024

Chief Robert Joseph. NAMWAYUT: WE ARE ALL ONE. A PATHWAY TO RECONCILIATION. PageTwo, 2022.

Reading this man's life story puts me in awe. What a wonderful person he seems to be. I was aware of the great work his books and his training company do although I still worry that the idea of Reconciliation is used as a way to help companies and corporations convince Indigenous groups to partner with them. There seems to be no suggestion of how Indigenous values may be able to influence resource extraction and land development decisions. 

Let me check my Post-ITS;

p 95 That reconciliation challenges the concept of European superiority and that other people want to become like Europeans and instead accept that Reconciliation means "allowing all of us to be who we authentically are" & to come together and celebrate our differences."

p. 96 "We are more than driftwood. We are an ocean." Stresses the importance of learning to know and love the self and the environment first. 

p. 149 aware of the additional challenges faced by women and girls. Violence. Physical, sexual, and emotional. 

p. 169 suggests that focus on specific issues around land use and claims is a way of NOT addressing the substantive issues--racism, colonialism, fear, and violence. 

p. 178 All the people that come to Canada, every race and religion, "they all have a story to tell. We [IP] like to applaud ourselves for being open to these newcomers despite the wall we have created of wrongful assumptions, prejudice, and racism. This wall exists because we have lost sight that everybody has a story." We caution newcomers: "Be true to yourselves. Do not lose your soul in assimilation in the name of 'being Canadian'. Bring your foreign languages and your ancient rituals and practices with you. We are not frightened nor challenged by your diversity and resourcefulness."  

p. 179 "We have to begin to know that we are not just us alone. ...that we are not just responsible for ourselves, but to everybody else. We have to begin to know that we have to stop the politicization of our responses and become human beings in our ability to listen and learn from each other." 

p. 220 Decolonization means: "Finding our home, living in our own skin, embracing who we are, and honouring our authentic selves are all a critical part of this, so it doesn't matter how much prejudice or wrongful assumptions come your. way. 

You know who you are.

Your values and principles are right there with you. You have a sense of dignity and belonging that will never fade." 

Although these words seem directed towards Indigenous Peoples, they also apply to the rest of us. We all have to know what is important to us, and what we are not willing to permit and tolerate any longer, when we see abuses imposed upon others, including the Indigenous People of Canada.