Lincoln in the Bardo
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Lincoln in the Bardo
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By:
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George Saunders
About this listen
Winner of the 2017 Man Booker Prize
In his long-awaited first novel, American master George Saunders delivers his most original, transcendent and moving work yet. Unfolding in a graveyard over the course of a single night, narrated by a dazzling chorus of voices, Lincoln in the Bardo is a literary experience unlike any other, for no one but Saunders could conceive it.
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 11-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 returned to the crypt several times alone 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 thrilling 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.
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 vJulianne 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.
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What listeners say about Lincoln in the Bardo
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- c’est moi
- 14-10-20
Brings the book to life
I’m reading and listening as they compliment each other. The first few chapters are difficult on Audible without the book ; later the voices need to relate to the names of the characters in the book. Anyway, this is a great book and a very enjoyable listen. Well done Audible.! And thank goodness for the Booker Prize judges without whom I would have never read it .
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alex Henderson
- 31-01-19
Fantastic book and performances
Probably my favourite audiobook I've listened too. Loved the different approach to telling a story and the cast and performances were the best I've listened to. would recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 19-02-22
Absolutely fantastic
This book didn't work for me in print form, but the ensemble cast totally brings it to life. It is a beautiful and haunting novel full of experimental imagery. Yes, it is a bit self-congradulatory, and yes, some might find it 'pseudo' intellectual rather than truly original and interesting. For me, the atmosphere completely did it. The book is full of references to real and imagined historical sources, you have to piece the stories together from not only different perspectives but different types of texts. If you like something like The City of Saints and Madman, this is a book for you.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Wingandaprayer
- 17-11-17
5 stars if ever there was one
A brilliant piece of work - both in the story and the telling. Highly intelligent, funny and intensely moving.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Graham
- 30-10-17
Worthy prize winning novel
Brilliantly read and innovative story that makes you think beyond normal boundaries of like and death. Not to be missed
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- TIM H.
- 18-03-19
I look not
I look not for meaning or truth but enjoyed and was absorbed by words, voices, scenes and suggestions of lives, of deaths. Memories, desires, regrets, joys and horrors but mostly horrors. A journey of a book.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sue
- 03-04-17
Epic contemporary Shakespearean tragedy
George Saunder's epic historical and existential tragedy seems to resonate on many levels with a variety of readers. Taking the real life account of the death of Abraham Lincoln's son, exploring his grief and creating a magical realistic theatrical piece is a true wonder.
It's a listening experience for all the senses, with the beautiful music and sounds of the Civil War, as well as a host of well known voices - it's haunting in many aspects. The language is rich and variable mixing Shakespearean dialogue with modern slang.
Where it falls short are the constant breaks in the novel through footnotes describing the actual factual account of that time. It is jarring and ruins the experience - it should be left to the end and is only valid when reading. In this case Saunders sounds timid, having to constantly back up his claims. It would have been five stars, but it happened too often.
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19 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Harriet Guest
- 12-02-20
Audiobook not best format
Such a unique and imaginative story. However, it was a difficult listen in audio format as it constantly switches between characters and form. Wish I’d read it instead.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Mark
- 22-08-18
Intriguing
enjoyed this for the most part, it was quite different to anything I had listened to previously. ultimately not my kind of thing really, slow and confusing in parts and lacked emotion and engagement for me.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- NC
- 01-11-18
Marvellous performance
This is a profound and complicated book, and it will take some time before I decide how good it is, though the prose and imaginative premise are undoubtedly very good.
The performance of the cast is, however, unquestionably excellent.
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