VIGIL by George Saunders

 VIGIL

by

George Saunders

    Vigil is the latest novel by George Saunders, award winning author of, inter alia, Lincoln in the Bardo, winner of the Man Booker Prize (and one of my all time favorites). Its expected publication date is January 27, 2026. 

    In Vigil, we experience the end-of-life vigil at the bedside of the dying CEO and oil tycoon, K. J. Boone. Despite this deceptively simple summary of Vigil, the book is anything but. Rather, Saunders portrays what feels like a lengthy, thought provoking, and rather complex vigil, with all the creativity and imagination encountered in Saunders's work.

    Part way through Vigil (and the vigil), I realized that the esoteric philosophical questions about eternal verities that Saunders was "forcing" the reader to grapple with were not the point of the vigil. Saunders tied those complexities to the multitude of crazinesses endemic in today's daily existence. So now, I think, I am ready to begin reading Vigil once again.

    Saunders is one of my favorite authors. His examination of the vigil in Vigil is thought provoking and delivers what I've come to expect from him. Vigil is quintessential Saunders.

IMO, Vigil is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

This review is based upon an Advanced Reader Copy kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.