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Lincoln in the Bardo
- Narrated by: Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, George Saunders, Carrie Brownstein, Miranda July, Lena Dunham, full cast
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
Non-member price: $23.41
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magic
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Alec Leamas has ended his time in Berlin. Or his time has ended him. The last of his Eastern agents has been killed, like the others, by the Abteilung. Back at the Circus, Leamas is put on the shelf. He turns to drunkenness and dishonesty and finally disappears from view, a seemingly broken man. But unknown to anyone except George Smiley and his master, Control, Leamas has been given his toughest mission ever. He will have to be himself but more so.
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Publisher's Summary
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
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Finding it in the end
- 27-05-2017
Does not translate
This book does not translate to audio. Cast - brilliant, premise - beautiful but too disjointed for the listener to enjoy and follow. Better read than listened to.
18 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- gina
- 04-11-2017
Difficult
I couldn't finish this book. Was so hard to understand - maybe it is better to read this type of literature but I certainly didn't enjoy listening to it. Very hard to follow and understand what was going on.
6 people found this helpful
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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
- Lara
- 14-05-2017
One of my favourites!
I thought that this book was weird & wonderful, hilarious & heart wrenching. I loved the performances, and the perspective. It took me a while to get into the narrative because of the many quotations, but I really came to enjoy the extra depth that they added to the story. I cannot keep the excitement from my voice when talking about this novel!! I would recommend it to anybody who has an open mind, and can find delight in the thought of a giant swinging member, that's nearly as big as a leg.
5 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Gerard
- 24-10-2017
Lack of Flow
The endless attributions of quotations are something you would skim over in reading but just spoil it for the audio sadly, Do we really need to know for the tenth time that something was quoted in the Watchman's Logbook, 1817-1868?.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Daniel
- 06-07-2017
ripe off
may be a good book to read but not listen too, so confusing and repeating itself constantly.
11 people found this helpful
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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
- Megan
- 30-07-2017
Best audiobook I've ever listened to
I don't normally write reviews but this book warrants one. I couldn't recommend this book enough; it was unique, quirky, funny, sad and deeply moving. Saunders is a talented writer who draws you into his world. I particularly enjoyed the intriguing use of multiple narrators to bring attention to the subjective nature of reality. The performances are outstanding, with an incredible cast. It felt more like a play than an audiobook. Just amazing.
6 people found this helpful
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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
- Anonymous User
- 16-09-2018
Unlike anything I’ve listened to
I highly recommend listening to this while reading the book in order to appreciate the beautiful nuances this novel has to offer. This is an incredibly tender and moving story of a father’s love for his son told through the many voices of America. I highly recommended Lincoln in the Bardo to those looking for a memorable reading/listening experience- Saunders has broken new ground here, completely breaking away from traditional notions of the form but in the process creating what I believe to be a masterpiece.
2 people found this helpful
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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
- 15-11-2017
Fascinating and beautifully told
A wonderful story told in the most interesting way. Needed to concentrate whilst listening, but so worth it!
2 people found this helpful
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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
- jdk
- 16-01-2019
Masterpiece
Lincoln in the Bardo is a fitting successor to Hamilton. At a time when Americans need it most Saunders presents them with a fantastic historical tale able to happily bear comparison to Melville, Dante and even Homer.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Penny wynne
- 04-06-2018
Op cit
A torrent of quotations, too clever by half. Sighs.
I’d rather read Leech. Op Cit.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 04-09-2019
Fantastic performance
While the book might not be my favourite, the cast made it a worthwhile listen!
1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- David
- 26-06-2018
Just Too Depressing!
Well written, ok. Well read, yes. But just not a subject that should ever be written about. I do not want to read about a poor, innocent young boy suffering in death. A terrible, depressing, miserable, gruesome, nasty, hideous, repulsive book! Unless this is what you get off on, avoid.
3 people found this helpful
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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
- Nichola
- 26-02-2018
Perfection, what more need I say except thank you
What more need I say, except thank you to the author and voices. I think I will listen again straight away.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- M. J. Walsh
- 18-01-2021
A dismal misfire
After listening to the first hour of this dismal misfire I decided that enough was enough and I will not be listening to the rest. Why suffer further punishment?
The puzzle is that I have liked and enjoyed many of the short stories by the author. The problem is that the qualities of warmth, dark humour and deft invention that so enliven the stories are not present this time. Instead we are given a lugubrious slog through a work of sour seeming fantasy about the aftermath of the death of Lincoln's son.
To be fair, it may be a book best read in the traditional way. This multi-voiced audio book is more like a radio play than a conventional audio book and the numerous voices may function to further distance the listener from material that is already cold and seeming ghoulish (and not in a good way).
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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 O Moore
- 13-02-2018
Great book but took study guide to understand at first.
This was a really great book however it took a study guide to understand the first few chapters as it isn’t very clear who is talking. Once you understand and know the voice for the character then it makes for a lot better listening. This is the first fiction book I’ve listened to on Audible as I normally listen to non-fiction but was very impressed and highly recommend this book.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 19-01-2018
do not listen to audio without book
in your hands story not designed for stand alone audio enjoyment need three more words
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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
- David
- 27-08-2017
Not for the faint hearted
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
it was challenging but also funny, moving and informative
Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
there was so many of them, but the performances were all great
Any additional comments?
If you don't want to be challenged by innovation in story telling this book is not for you
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Kirsty
- 11-01-2018
Not for me
If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?
I'm not sure why this has received rave reviews - I can only imagine it works better in printed format than audio book. I'm sure its all very clever but it just didn't work for me.
What was most disappointing about George Saunders’s story?
I listen to audio books whilst driving and I found this to be tedious and irritating in equal measures, to the point where I had to pull over to switch off.
Would you be willing to try another one of the narrators’s performances?
There were so many narrators, many sounding similar and so very many characters . I could not tell you what was going on or who anyone was. Perhaps an American audience would appreciate the characters more, if they are more well known there.
Any additional comments?
I had to give up on it all together around half way through.
8 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- L
- 13-07-2017
Mistake
I liked the first part of the first chapter. After that I found the constant references totally stopped any kind of flow. This is not my kind of book and I returned it having failed to be pulled in.
44 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Mrs Karen Southwell
- 21-01-2018
Don’t buy on audible
This book does not work as an audio book. This is because there are chapters of extracts of newspapers and something called op.sit. that just serves to make the whole thing fragmented and very difficult to follow. I’m sure it makes sense in the written word though.
20 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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Story2 out of 5 stars
- rena
- 16-10-2017
I really don't get the point of this book
I found this book disjointed and pointless. I forced myself to finish it, not sure why as it felt like torture.
11 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Dan
- 02-04-2017
Emperors new clothes
I think this may be a book everybody raves about because somebody clever wrote it and the critics say it's great. It's not great. It's boring and pseudo-intellectual. Like a spoof of a really clever book. Maybe you have to be American to get it. Can I have my money back please? I feel like I was conned by all the rave reviews.
44 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- bookylady
- 01-10-2017
Confusing, disappointing, over-hyped
This has to be one of the most over-hyped books I have ever read or listened to. It has had rave reviews and has been shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize for fiction but I have to say that I really don't understand why.
It is rambling, confusing, depressing, lacks cohesion and, for a prose work, it is full of quotes and end notes from works of non-fiction. To me, this just made the whole thing a complete mess and very difficult to concentrate upon. Additionally, the huge number of characters (and therefore voices) used in the performance made this narrative really difficult to keep track of. I lost interest after the first half and gave up on it.
Perhaps it would be better to read a hard copy, to help make sense of it all. But if you decide to do that, allow plenty of time. This is a tale that you really need to concentrate hard on and it is certainly not an uplifting story.
21 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- no
- 27-07-2017
Complete gibberish as far as I can tell
If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?
No idea
What will your next listen be?
Julian Barnes
Would you listen to another book narrated by the narrators?
Some of the narration is great - but I have no idea what they were narrating
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Mystification. I started it again twice thinking I might not have been concentrating whilst I was gardening or driving - but once they got past Willie's death it just gets sillier and sillier
Any additional comments?
I listen to and read a lot of "literary" fiction - but this is just a waste of time or too experimental for my brain
48 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- serginhowardinho
- 08-08-2017
Incomprehensible Garbage
What disappointed you about Lincoln in the Bardo?
Everything.
What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?
Like an am-dram production by moderately talented students with no director to marshall them: the numerous voices, footnotes and diversions serve only to produce a story which is utterly incomprehensible and completely incoherent. This is the worst audio book I've ever heard.
15 people found this helpful
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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
- Bronnage
- 24-11-2017
What an extraordinary ride
A strange, beautiful, funny, moving gem of a novel. It is not a linear narrative but a watercolour painting of voices, snatches of fragmented lives and deaths and a truly original contemplation of what we have that might be eternal. This is not an easy listen or read and might not be for everyone, but I loved it.
8 people found this helpful
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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
- Suswati
- 03-04-2017
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.
17 people found this helpful
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