BOOK CLUB: Against idiot compassion

In “Vigil,” George Saunders examines the difference between performative kindness and the real thing

Is Jill “Doll” Blaine — the spirit guide of George Saunders’ Vigil — suffering from “idiot compassion”?

That phrase, popularized by Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun and author of such works as When Things Fall Apart, was coined to describe a sort of performative kindness that has the effect of enabling bad behavior in an effort to avoid conflict, or to be perceived as “nice.”

In Vigil, Doll is dispatched from above to encourage oil tycoon and climate change denier K.J. Boone to account for his sins as he lies dying, yet her primary instinct is to offer him comfort, not punishment. He remains resolute that he’s done nothing wrong.

Is she getting it all wrong? What will she do?