Fatema Ahmed
Lincoln in the Bardo
by George Saunders (Bloomsbury, £18.99)
In George Saunders’s best-known short story, “Pastoralia,” the narrator plays a caveman in a theme park. He and his fellow cavedweller Janet must grunt their way through the day while visitors look in on their palaeolithic practices. Yet for the pair (who are not a couple) there’s no escape from the late 20th century. They must also fill in a “Daily Partner Performance Evaluation Form.” Janet is not pulling her weight and the narrator is reluctant to inform on her, as he is supposed to do. But he has a sick child, medical bills and maxed-out credit cards. Eventually he rats her out to save his job, applying himself more firmly to his employer’s mantra of “Thinking Positive/Staying Positive.”