Vigil - by George Saunders (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "A scorching portrait of modern America. And yet it also brings a sense of sense of hope, not only because [it] reminds us how powerful a great novel can be, but because of the sense . . . that a universal justice will prevail."--R. J. Palacio for Time, "25 Books That Capture This American Moment"

A "spectacular" (Los Angeles Times) novel from the Booker Prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo, taking place at the bedside of an oil company CEO in the twilight hours of his life as he is ferried from this world into the next

"Vibrant, fiendishly clever . . . Vigil is pure Saunders: the death of empathy, he insists, is greatly exaggerated."--The Boston Globe

Not for the first time, Jill "Doll" Blaine finds herself hurtling toward earth, reconstituting as she falls, right down to her favorite black pumps. She plummets towards her newest charge, yet another soul she must usher into the afterlife, and lands headfirst in the circular drive of his ornate mansion.

She has performed this sacred duty 343 times since her own death. Her charges, as a rule, have been greatly comforted in their final moments. But this charge, she soon discovers, isn't like the others. The powerful K. J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold, epic life, and the world is better for it. Isn't it?

Vigil transports us, careening, through the wild final evening of a complicated man. Visitors begin to arrive (worldly and otherworldly, alive and dead), clamoring for a reckoning. Birds swarm the dying man's room; a black calf grazes on the love seat; a man from a distant, drought-ravaged village materializes; two oil-business cronies from decades past show up with chilling plans for Boone's postdeath future.

With the wisdom, playfulness, and explosive imagination we've come to expect, George Saunders takes on the gravest issues of our time--the menace of corporate greed, the toll of capitalism, the environmental perils of progress--and, in the process, spins a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil, and the thorny question of absolution.

Review Quotes

"Anyone who loves George Saunders's writing can tell you about his wicked imagination: luminous, dark, wholly original, and quite frequently supernatural . . . The twin currents that run through these and all of his works, including his newest novel, Vigil, about a spirit tending to a dying oil executive, is large-heartedness paired with unsparing wit. Saunders is funny. Hilarious even."--The Atlantic

"Vibrant, fiendishly clever . . . Vigil is leaner than "Lincoln in the Bardo," but no less revelatory in its grasp of history and humanity, how and why our lives are shaped by politics that whorl around us . . . Saunders varies pointillist technique with staccato dialogue, slapstick humor, even touches of horror. It's all thrilling on the page . . . Vigil is pure Saunders: the death of empathy, he insists, is greatly exaggerated. He pushes back, a burst of surprises and sudden grace."--The Boston Globe

"As the winner of the Booker Prize, Saunders sets a high bar, and his latest easily clears it. Vigil explores the act of dying: what you regret, who you apologize to, and what you are proudest of. Saunders also imagines dying in an evocative, active way while also making time to explore capitalism, greed, and everything else you might regret in your last hours."--Harper's Bazaar
"Saunders tucks stories within stories, his prose rich with daring experimentation and his trademark compassion."--TIME

"It seems unfair that, after his spectacular Lincoln in the Bardo, Saunders returns with not just another novel featuring a ghost, but with a new novel even more spectacular than the last. 'Who else could you have been but exactly who you are?' says the newly incarnated Jill 'Doll' Blaine, sent to comfort nefarious oil tycoon K. J. Boone in his last hours alive a statement that in no way diminishes the political urgency of this spare, lovely book."--The Los Angeles Times

"Saunders doing capitalism, climate, and the afterlife in one swing? Sold."--Oprah Daily

"The bard of the afterlife returns with Vigil, a slim yet existentially complex novel about a woman guiding an oil company CEO to death in his waning hours. George Saunders has long been one of the writers best equipped to explore despicable people with clear-eyed compassion, and in his latest he takes aim at his toughest task yet . . . tender yet unsparing."--Chicago Review of Books

"In this cartoony, ping-ponging mix of pratfalls, philosophy, psychological nuance, and environmental laments, Saunders once again imagines the afterlife as he did in his Booker Prizewinning Lincoln in the Bardo. In this purposeful, funny, and lacerating variation on Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Saunders ponders suffering and repentance in a wily indictment of greed, greenwashing, and planetary devastation."--Booklist, starred review

"A magnificent expansion of consciousness . . . Saunders has crafted a novel that feels deeply resonant, especially in these fractious times."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Staggering . . . Saunders has outdone himself with this endlessly irreverent work of art."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

About the Author

George Saunders is the author of thirteen books, including the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Booker Prize, and five collections of stories, including Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the recent collection Liberation Day (selected by former President Obama as one of his ten favorite books of 2022). Three of Saunders's books--Pastoralia, Tenth of December, and Lincoln in the Bardo--were chosen for The New York Times's list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Saunders hosts the popular Story Club on Substack, which grew out of his book on the Russian short story, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. In 2013, he was named one of the world's 100 Most Influential People by Time. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.