Nick Offerman leads the impressive voice cast for George Saunders’ dazzling new audiobook

Judging from the three-minute clip, George Saunders’ upcoming Lincoln In The Bardo will be both a masterpiece of postmodern storytelling and an audiobook revelation. In the clip, several characters and a narrator cobble together a scene as seen through their differing perspectives and, possibly, agendas: A boy passes through his father (presumably Abraham Lincoln), who walks to the house where his son lies in a coffin. Nick Offerman, in a perfect casting decision, plays a character who insists that Lincoln shows steely resolve, while another voice insists he’s sobbing the whole time. If we weren’t excited enough to read Saunders’ first full-length novel, color us gobsmacked after just a hint of what kind of story the audiobook promises to tell.

Listen here:


The full bill includes:

  • 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
  • Patrick Wilson as STANLEY “PERFESSER” LIPPERT
  • Kirby Heyborne as WILLIE LINCOLN
  • Mary Karr as MRS. ROSE MILLAND
  • Cassandra Campbell as Your Narrator

 
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