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Nick Offerman, Carrie Brownstein, Don Cheadle, Julianne Moore (and basically the cast of your dreams) read ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’

George Saunders’ soon-to-be-released and highly anticipated first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, is shaping up to be a high water mark in the annals of audio books. The recently announced 166-member cast features Nick Offerman, Ben Stiller, Don Cheadle, Julianne Moore, Mary Karr, Maranda July, Jeff Tweedy, and Saunders himself, among many others. In fact, Random House, the novel’s publisher, has already submitted the list to Guinness World Records for the most narrators within a single audio book — a rather specific, but apparently legitimate, record category.

Narrted from a cacophony of decidedly biased — and often conflicting — perspectives, Lincoln in the Bardo tracks the eponymous president at the onset of the Civil War as he confronts the death of his young son, Willie. In the audio book excerpt below, the narrators disjointedly debate Lincoln’s stoic, or less than stoic, comportment as he crosses a room to examine Willie’s coffin. Unsurprisingly, the intercut, and often playful exchanges seem to indicate the novel retains the enrapturing dynamism of Saunders’ masterful short fiction. Not to mention a wonderful sampling of Nick Offerman’s voice.

Listen here:

https://medium.com/media/52a5331ebeab003672e7a1add6ead0a3/href

Here’s an even longer list of the audio book’s known cast members:

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