The Last Man Audiobook By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley cover art

The Last Man

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The Last Man

By: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
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The Last Man is Mary Shelley's apocalyptic fantasy of the end of human civilisation. Set in the late twenty-first century, the novel unfolds a sombre and pessimistic vision of mankind confronting inevitable destruction. Interwoven with her futuristic theme, Mary Shelley incorporates idealised portraits of Shelley and Byron, yet rejects Romanticism and its faith in art and nature.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) was the only daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, author of Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and the radical philosopher William Godwin. Her mother died ten days after her birth and the young child was educated through contact with her father's intellectual circle and her own reading. She met Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1812; they eloped in July 1814. In the summer of 1816 she began her first and most famous novel, Frankenstein. Three of her children died in early infancy and in 1822 her husband was drowned. Mary returned to England with her surviving son and wrote novels, short stories and accounts of her travels; she was the first editor of P.B.Shelley's poetry and verse.

Public Domain (P)2013 Audible Ltd Classics Scary

Editorial reviews

Set in the late 21st century, Mary Shelley's apocalyptic story about the end of human civilization rejects Romanticism and its faith in art and nature. Narrator Barnaby Edwards' measured performance allows the nihilism and rebelliousness of protagonist Lionel Verney to seep through as he narrates his life story, set against the failure of the English monarchy and the establishment of a republic. However, when a plague arrives, most of the population falls to this implacable enemy and Verney's life is plunged into chaos and desperation. The rules of society crumble, a messianic cult rises, and law and order is overturned. Listeners will be fascinated by Shelley's Gothic vision of the future and fatalistic view of mankind.
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I had high hopes but the book became tedious and the story, written in the early 1800s, lacked imagination. Set mostly set in the late 2000s, ending in the year 2100, there were no scientific advances or even obvious changes in population.

length

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The text towers above most literature. The reader does the text exemplary justice. Most enthusiastically recommended.

A True Classic

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"Brevity Is The Soul Of Wit" Shakespeare unironically proclaimed in a play with over 30,000 words.
This book consists of writing so overburdened by indecipherable rococo embellishments it becomes a flat meaningless grotesque. Every novelist before Mark Twain was, to a greater or lesser extent, terrible.

Wordy

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a plague story. set in an Edwardian future. Bleak ending and full of despair.

well written and great adventure

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I think it’s interesting to think that a mind like Shelley in the 1800s didn’t imagine the advances that we enjoy today. Shows how much of a boom the last 100 years have been.
The book does drag on a bit. I think the multiple story lines could have been multiple books. But maybe that would have taken from the main idea. I guess they were separate books anyway. Idk. I think it may have just been written for a different era.

Interesting future perspective from the 1800s

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Anybody who gives a one star or five star review should be disregarded, as they're implying there's never been anything worse or better. Her writing style is fantastic. it's very similar to Frankenstein. It drags slightly with the relationship stuff, but that's mainly my preferences probably. The narrator is very staccato and terrible at reading things with emotion. It's like a satire of a bad Shakespearean actor.

Good writing, bad reading

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this is a very long book. Normally would not read/listened to something this long. However, I do not regret it. The characters are deeply developed, the story line is riveting.It gave me much to think about leaving any reader better for having endured it.

epic

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When I find a book by Mary Shelley, the writer of Frankenstein, that I've not heard of I naturally assume it's obscurity is caused by a poorly written story. When compared to today's unbelievably action-packed stories the first half of this book seems relatively slow and uninteresting but by the time I made it to the second half I was hooked. though the story which takes place 70 years into our future was written 200 years ago it is still imaginative and not wholly unbelievable. I absolutely enjoyed this book and wish it had been slightly longer.

A Hidden Classic!

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This book goes beyond an adventure or an autobiographical memory, It is instead a journey into the human soul.
It's crazy It is not considered among the great classics of literature.

Definetely underrated!

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A big meh. There are to many better things to read. Don't waste your time on it.

Long and often dull.

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