Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. The notion of the bardo comes from Tibetan Buddhist beliefs about the afterlife. What do you think happens to someone after they die? How has your perspective been shaped (or not) by cultural and spiritual traditions?

2. Lincoln struggles to cope with his grief after the loss of his son. What tools do you think can help a person cope with or navigate profound grief? At the end of the novel, Lincoln’s commitment to engaging in the Civil War gives him a newfound purpose as he accepts the loss of his son. Do you think that a goal or project can help someone to cope with a loss or other painful change?

3. While the novel focuses on grief and loss, it has strong elements of comedy as well. What do you think is the relationship between grief and humor? Do you enjoy what might be called “dark humor”?

4. Saunders gives each of the ghosts an aspect of “unfinished business,” as is common in lore about ghosts. What regrets or missed opportunities do you think most commonly haunt someone when they come to the end of their life? Does reflecting on the inevitability of death motivate one to live up to one’s potential?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Abraham Lincoln is widely regarded for playing a major role in the abolition of slavery in the United States. How are themes of racism and slavery handled in Saunders’s novel? Why is it significant that Thomas Havens (the ghost of a Black man) inhabits Lincoln’s body at the end of the novel?

2. Lincoln accepts the inevitability of suffering, and this gives him a sense of peace, even while he acknowledges that the Civil War will result in mass suffering and loss of life. How do you think political leaders or military leaders come to terms with the atrocities that come with war? Do you think that some wars can be ethically justified, and what conditions are required?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Discuss the symbolism of the “sick-boxes” (the term the ghosts use for their coffins). Why is it important that the ghosts refuse to understand that they are in fact dead?

2. The ghosts featured in the novel died at different points in time, and they speak in styles reflecting the time period in which they lived. Which styles did you prefer? Did you find this narrative technique jarring or confusing? What purpose(s) might it serve in terms of characterization, theme, etc.?

3. Discuss the phenomenon of “matterlightblooming” as depicted in the novel. How do the ghosts feel about this phenomenon? Does their perspective change over the course of the novel?

4. How does the novel foreshadow or allude to Lincoln’s own sudden and violent death?