Lincoln in the Bardo

A Novel

By: George Saunders

Narrated by: George Saunders, Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, Carrie Brownstein, Don Cheadle, Lena Dunham, Bill Hader, Kirby Heyborne, Keegan-Michael Key, Julianne Moore, Megan Mullally, Susan Sarandon, Ben Stiller, Various

WINNER OF THE AUDIE AWARD FOR AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR • #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE

The “devastatingly moving” (People) first novel from the author of Tenth of December: a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, living and dead, historical and invented

One of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years • One of Paste’s Best Novels of the Decade

February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body.

From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.

Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?

The 166-person full cast features award-winning actors and musicians, as well as a number of Saunders’ family, friends, and members of his publishing team, including, in order of their appearance:

Nick Offerman as HANS VOLLMAN
David Sedaris as ROGER BEVINS III
Carrie Brownstein as ISABELLE PERKINS
George Saunders as THE REVEREND EVERLY THOMAS
Miranda July as MRS. ELIZABETH CRAWFORD
Lena Dunham as ELISE TRAYNOR
Ben Stiller as JACK MANDERS
Julianne Moore as JANE ELLIS
Susan Sarandon as MRS. ABIGAIL BLASS
Bradley Whitford as LT. CECIL STONE
Bill Hader as EDDIE BARON
Megan Mullally as BETSY BARON
Rainn Wilson as PERCIVAL “DASH” COLLIER
Jeff Tweedy as CAPTAIN WILLIAM PRINCE
Kat Dennings as MISS TAMARA DOOLITTLE
Jeffrey Tambor as PROFESSOR EDMUND BLOOMER
Mike O’Brien as LAWRENCE T. DECROIX
Keegan-Michael Key as ELSON FARWELL
Don Cheadle as THOMAS HAVENS
and
Patrick Wilson as STANLEY “PERFESSER” LIPPERT
with
Kirby Heyborne as WILLIE LINCOLN,
Mary Karr as MRS. ROSE MILLAND,
and Cassandra Campbell as Your Narrator

Hands Down the Best Book of 2017! It Will Not Be S

Where does Lincoln in the Bardo rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Lincoln in the Bardo is the best audiobook I have listened to so far. The book is a sweeping epic of America during the Civil War. It has much resonance today. Saunders crafted a masterpiece with the imagination and craft of a most master storyteller.

What did you like best about this story?

Everything. I loved everything about the book--the premise of Lincoln visiting his dead son in a graveyard inhabited by ghosts who have not crossed over; and the sumptuous production of one hundred and sixty-six actors and many sound and music effects to voice the characters, sounds, and music of another era. I felt like I was in that cemetery with Lincoln, Willie, and hundreds of ghosts in 1862.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

It is too early to tell which was my favorite character because I have to listen to this audiobook again and again. I suppose Mr Bevens for now, but it could change with more listenings.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I wanted to listen to this book all in one sitting. It was hard to put it down because the story was so compelling.

Any additional comments?

Skip the paper book. Listen to the audiobook. Because of the nature of the book about hundreds of ghosts in a graveyard, your imagination is unlikely to imagine all of these characters and their voices and personalities. Giving the task to one hundred and sixty-six actors to voice these characters increased my enjoyment of this book. Read it today. It is the best book of 2017 so far. Expect it to win Audible Audience Awards this year.

Provocative and engaging...

Listening to this novel is highly recommended.

It is a provocative, well-told, engaging story. It was written to be read aloud.

Listening to it brings the characters to life - the life after they died – and enables us to reflect on our own lives and on our own choices we have made and are making while there is still time left.

And what better period in history for George Saunders to write about than one that resembles the 1860s.

Saunders give us the pleasure of a beautifully written, emotionally charged story needed for the tumultuous times we're living -- muddling-- through.

Sean Gresh

Up there with Joyce, at his best

I'm not an easy mark for gushing. This book, for me--well, each resident inside the crypt had a full life worthy of a separate novel, even a character who spoke but a few sentences. This audible performance is among the best theater I've seen, heard, tasted. I cannot give enough praise. George Saunders, you are a dazzling researcher and writer and that you put this all together....I'm starstruck and dizzy and richer for this book. You, the person who directed this cast and all of you in the cast, you will remain in my brain, pop up in my thoughts, and, perhaps, in my bad dreams. Bravo, bravissimo & yippeeeeee.

A New American Classic is Born

What made the experience of listening to Lincoln in the Bardo the most enjoyable?

Remember the graveyard scene in Thornton Wilder's "Our Town"? That scene is a tease for Saunder's Lincoln in the Bardo. I wonder if both authors belonged to the same church. I learned in grad school that Wilder's faith taught that after life was as portrayed in the cemetery scene. This is easily the best book I have read thus far this year. The actors are perfectly cast. How Saunders came up with characters is amazing. I hope a filmmaker doesn't ruin it.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Lincoln in the Bardo?

When Lincoln's son decides to let his father feel him again in his body.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

The dead son

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

You think you know Abe Lincoln

Any additional comments?

Don't miss this book in this performance. It is a readers' theater to rival the best! Bill Adams would so proud.

Utterly beautiful

For some time at the beginning I felt a little lost, but the writing was so beautiful and the narrations so compelling, I stuck with it. Eventually the fog lifted and I came to (somewhat) understand the activities in this netherworld. It seemed like maybe Richard Brautigan stumbled into "Our Town" tossing strange, deep, poetic, goof balls throughout.