Lincoln In The Bardo cover; Nick Offerman (Tara Ziemba/Getty)

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.


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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