{"id":2455,"date":"2026-04-18T12:02:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T00:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/?p=2455"},"modified":"2026-04-18T12:02:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T00:02:26","slug":"vigil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/04\/18\/vigil\/","title":{"rendered":"Vigil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

George Saunders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomsbury<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Otago Daily Times, April 18th 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite claims by the political right that empathy and compassion are weak and toxic traits that should be eliminated from the culture, George Saunders considers the ability to put oneself into the mind of others, particularly those we disagree with, a powerful tool of resistance. It is something he as a writer has dedicated his career to, and an idea he explores explicitly in his latest novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story is narrated by Jill \u201cDoll\u201d Blaine, a spirit who comforts the dying by forgiving their misdeeds, which are predetermined by the circumstance of their birth: \u201cInherent, fixed, non-negotiable\u2026 an inevitable occurrence, upon which, therefore, it would be impossible, even ludicrous, to pass judgement.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a mission at which she excels and one that brings her great satisfaction. But her latest charge, oil-tycoon and architect of the climate-change denial movement, K.J. Boone, is a challenge. Not only is he proud of his legacy and thus needs no comfort, several other spectral attendants are also competing for his attention. These include a Frenchman who hopes to lead Boone \u201cas quickly as possible, to contrition, shame and self-loathing\u201d so that he can repent and make amends, and two of Boone\u2019s former business partners, Mel G and Mel R, who are as predatory in death as they were in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resulting three-way contest has quasi-religious overtones (Jill offers peace and absolution; the Frenchman repentance and reparation; the Mels an eternity of torture) and Saunders, a former student of Tibetan Buddhism, originally intended Jill to be \u201cthe unchallenged hero of the story.\u201d It is through her immersion in Boone\u2019s consciousness, that we see, for example, how his need for domination has its roots in \u2018small man syndrome,\u2019 childhood depravation, and the desire to earn his father\u2019s respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These insights are salient reminders that the actions of even the most villainous are grounded in experiences that we can potentially relate to. But the writing progressed Saunders says that his surety in Jill\u2019s conviction that \u201ceverything other than compassion is futile\u201d wavered, and this is reflected in the storyline. Jill\u2019s resolve falters as she becomes increasingly distracted by memories of her former life, which bring a \u201ctendency towards judgement, and action, of dropping out from elevation\u201d that threatens her ability to provide the unconditional compassion that is her reason d\u2019etre<\/em>. And the ambiguity of the novel\u2019s ending suggests complete exoneration, even if it provides the giver with the moral high ground, is not an effective solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor, however, does the Frenchman\u2019s strategy seem any more helpful since no matter how many of the dying he might convert, \u201cthe effect on the world would be \u2026negligible\u201d. Perhaps the real moral of the story comes from its exposure of the excuses and rationalisations by which Boone justifies his actions. By asking \u2018Did you hear what he just said?\u2019 Saunders challenges us to recognise such self-deceptions and the underlying issues they disguise in both others and <\/em>ourselves. Maybe then we can address them before it is too late.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George Saunders Bloomsbury Otago Daily Times, April 18th 2026 Despite claims by the political right that empathy and compassion are weak and toxic traits that should be eliminated from the culture, George Saunders considers the ability to put oneself into the mind of others, particularly those we disagree with, a powerful tool of resistance. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[518,370,524,18,407],"class_list":["post-2455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-518","tag-fiction","tag-george-saunders","tag-odt","tag-speculative-sci-fi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2457,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions\/2457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}