I’ll start, so as a teen I stumbled across a book called," Someone comes to town, someone leaves town." The synopsis caught me as it’s about a man with a mountain as a fathera washing machine as a mother and one brother that is dead and trying to harm him. I’ll admit some of the technical terms were too much for my developing mind but it has stuck with me all these years.
What is the wackiest / craziest book you’ve read and did you enjoy the ride?
Lincoln in the Bardo
‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ by George Saunders tells the story of Abraham Lincoln’s grief-stricken visit to the crypt of his young son, Willie, who has recently died. Set in a graveyard that is populated by spirits stuck in the “bardo,” the book explores themes of love, loss, and the search for redemption.
I’ll tell you. It was one of the most enjoyable, yet truly weird beyond reads I’ve ever experienced. 10/10 would recommend. Incredible though provoking and not in a way that you would ever expect.
I found it really tedious and obtuse. I know I didn’t give it the attention it deserved but I was soured on it almost from the start. I loved his short stories but this didn’t do it for me.
Did I write this comment?? I feel exactly the same way, pretty much verbatim. Loved his short story collection so much but found Lincoln tedious and obtuse.
I’m glad I’m not the only one!
I wonder if you might like it in audiobook format. The audiobook is a full-cast production, and so many of the characters are really delightful with the voice actors’ performances’ breath of life in them.
Seconding the audiobook, but would add have the text handy at least at first to get the gist. However, it isn’t for everyone. I adored it!
Couldn’t get past the first chapter. Not a good sign the rest will be a good read
LOVED the audiobook version!
Really?! I felt it was like listening to someone read a pile of cereal boxes! I had to abandon. (Had you previously read the print book? Most people who recommended this audiobook to me were already familiar with the print book.)
No. I hadn’t read it in print. I felt like I was listening to a play on stage with so many actors reading their parts.
Nick Offerman interjecting “Sick box” was a delight every time.
Thank you! Everyone was raving about that book to the point where I suspected people were pretending to like it because to me it was… not good.
Our book club read it a couple of years ago, and I absolutely adored it while no-one else really did. It was bonkers and interesting and deep and stupidly funny all at once.
That’s a great description of a Saunders short story as well!
It’s an absolutely gorgeous book, and I always think it’s saner until I remember the big dick ghost
I loved Lincoln in the Bardo for showing me an entirely new way to write a book. Like nothing I’ve ever read. Deserved it’s Booker prize.
Fantastic audiobook experience too! At one point, I did a re-read while listening to the audiobook, having the physical book in front of me, and also the publisher’s website pulled up, which lists the audiobook readers by chapter, in order.
I need to re-read now that it’s been a few years.
I loved the different recountings of the night of his inauguration. It was beautiful and amusing. I think a lot of it is accurate, or at least people really had suspected that Lincoln snuck into his son’s crypt and held him. It’s an awesome book, totally worth a rereading.