Vigil
Vigil
Vigil
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Description
Description
A wise, playful, electric novel from the #1 New York Times best-selling, 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.
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 three hundred and forty-three343 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 life, and the world is
better for it. Isn't it? Vigil transports us, careening, through the wild final evening of an epic, complicated life.
Crowds of people and animals--worldly and otherworldly, alive and dead--arrive,
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 post-death future. With the acuity 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 t
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.
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 three hundred and forty-three343 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 life, and the world is
better for it. Isn't it? Vigil transports us, careening, through the wild final evening of an epic, complicated life.
Crowds of people and animals--worldly and otherworldly, alive and dead--arrive,
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 post-death future. With the acuity 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 t
About the Author
About the Author
George Saunders is the author of nine thirteen books, including the novel Lincoln in the
Bardo, which won the Booker Prize, and the story collections Pastoralia and Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. He has received fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, and was included in Time's list of the one hundred most influential people in the world. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.
Bardo, which won the Booker Prize, and the story collections Pastoralia and Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. He has received fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, and was included in Time's list of the one hundred most influential people in the world. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
Praise for Vigil "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
Praise for George Saunders "Saunders is the most humane American writer working today."--Harper's Magazine "Saunders captures the fragmented rhythms, disjointed sensory input, and wildly absurd realities of the twenty-first-century experience like no other writer."--The Boston Globe "Part of the Saunders elixir is that we feel more empathetic after reading his work."--San Francisco Chronicle "Saunders makes you feel as though you are reading fiction for the first time."--Khaled Hosseini "Saunders is a writer of arresting brilliance and originality, with a sure sense of his material and apparently inexhaustible resources of voice."--Tobias Wolff "Saunders makes the all-but-impossible look effortless."--Jonathan Franzen "Not since Twain has America produced a satirist this funny."--Zadie Smith
"Staggering . . . Saunders has outdone himself with this endlessly irreverent work of art."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
Praise for George Saunders "Saunders is the most humane American writer working today."--Harper's Magazine "Saunders captures the fragmented rhythms, disjointed sensory input, and wildly absurd realities of the twenty-first-century experience like no other writer."--The Boston Globe "Part of the Saunders elixir is that we feel more empathetic after reading his work."--San Francisco Chronicle "Saunders makes you feel as though you are reading fiction for the first time."--Khaled Hosseini "Saunders is a writer of arresting brilliance and originality, with a sure sense of his material and apparently inexhaustible resources of voice."--Tobias Wolff "Saunders makes the all-but-impossible look effortless."--Jonathan Franzen "Not since Twain has America produced a satirist this funny."--Zadie Smith
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Random House
Pub date:
2026-01-27
Length:
192 pages
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