Reading Skywards – Your Friendly Bookshelf

INFORMATION ABOUT THIS BOOK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 27, 2026
Format:  Hardcover, Paperback, audiobook, and ebook
Print length ‏ : ‎ 177 pages
Genre:  Literary Fiction

MY PERSONAL OPINION OF “VIGIL”

I read this book because it was the Monthly read with my book club. I bought the book from Barnes and Noble and really did not even read what the book was about. I just started reading, and within the first few pages, I was loving this book. It was dark, mysterious, funny, with incredible writing, words floated in the pages, and at times I was lost, but I found my way to the story.

The book goes about the main character (Jill “Doll” Blaine”) and how she ended up being “elevated” allowing her to do her “job” which is to “comfort” her “charge” at their time of death. In this case, her “charge” was Mr. K.J. Boone.

The story floats between K.J.Boone wrongdoings (especially his active role in massive environmental destruction of the world), and Jill as she reconciles her “lovely and perfect life” before dying so suddenly and so young.

PREMISE OF THE BOOK AS FOUND IN AMAZON / GOODREADS:

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 343 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, epic life, and the world is better for it. Isn’t it?

MY RATING: 4.75

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: GEORGE SAUNDERS

George Saunders is the author of nine books, including Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the inaugural Folio Prize (for the best work of fiction in English) and the Story Prize (best short-story collection). He has received MacArthur and Guggen-heim fellowships and the PEN/Malamud Prize for excellence in the short story, and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2013, he was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.