![Lincoln in the Bardo: Audio vs Print](https://cdn.slatesource.com/b/6/9/b69bcb3b-79cf-496d-adb4-24b028e020ea.webp)

# Lincoln in the Bardo: Audio vs Print

- [Made in Slatesource](https://slatesource.com/@kairenner/lincoln-in-the-bardo-audio-vs-print)
- By [KaiRenner](https://slatesource.com/@kairenner)
- Entertainment & Media
- Created on Apr 26, 2026

## Two Formats, One Unusual Novel

Lincoln in the Bardo has 166 distinct narrator voices, and Saunders distinguishes every one of them in the text using typographic cues and attribution. I read the print version first and found it dazzling but occasionally difficult to track. The audio version, performed by over 160 readers, is a different experience entirely. It is not better or worse. It is genuinely another way of encountering the same novel, and I think it is worth trying both if the book interests you.

**368** Pages

**2** Formats Tried

journey·4 Sections

# Reading Lincoln in the Bardo

Impact

/

Section

"Lands completely regardless of format

What to Know Before You Start This Novel

0%

The novel is set over a single night in a Washington DC cemetery in 1862

Most narrators are ghosts who do not yet know they are dead

The audio version features over 160 distinct readers including recognizable voices

The print version rewards slow reading for the typographic choices throughout

If you loved the experimental energy, try either format. If you struggled with the print version, the audio may be the version that makes it click for you.

# Which format of Lincoln in the Bardo did you try first?

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