The Book Report: “The Last Man”

By Kate Norrish Staff Writer I find there is a sad phenomenon where great authors often have all their other works overshadowed by one magnum opus - Dante Alighieri’s “La Vita Nuova” is a fascinating perspective on obsession and depression, I’ve met people who consider Terry Pratchett’s “Nation” to be the best book they’ve ever read, and Mary Shelley has “The Last Man.” The book stars Lionel, a quiet, philosophical man who is finally living a happy life after spending his childhood sheltering his younger siblings from the effects of poverty and abusive parents. Then a plague enters Europe, quickly leading to a mass war all over Europe, which his brother is drafted into. Written in 1826, everything about this book feels like it was written far later than it was. It is arguably one of the first novels about the apocalypse, and is about the only survivor of a pandemic. While Lionel is already a lonely, overworked figure at the beginning of the book, he now must learn to preserve his connections and sanity as society - and eventually his family structure - slowly falls apart. This is exacerbated by the fact that he has only just entered his 20s. Normally, I find classic literature’s obsession with Greek mythology to be annoying and self-centered. While both Lionel and his sister are big fans of Greek and Roman poetry, my boredom of hearing about it quickly left as it turned into them using it to desperately try to hold onto the world as they know it, even when it becomes abundantly clear that it will never exist again. Like many knock-your-socks-off good books, ‘The Last Man’ immediately overloaded my brain with emotion and complexities even in the first few pages. Mary Shelley is almost inhumanly good at including tons of information without confusing the audience, while leaving all the right elements up to interpretation. For example, even though the book takes place in 2073, the characters live in a similar manner to a person in the year the book was written, leading to the obvious, disturbing question - why? We are given tons of information that allows us to theorize as to why, for example, most of the characters praise the values shown in the older books they read. I feel it is especially important for people to recognize this work because “Frankenstein” is frequently the subject of misogynistic conspiracy theories. Many of these are about how Shelley couldn’t have written the genre-defining novel because she “doesn’t have any other writings,” or worse, “doesn't have any other good writings.” Not only does this book disprove that, it establishes that this woman has an extremely distinct, earnest style. The fictional plague is handled eerily, feeling less like the gothic horror at the time, and more like the existentialist literature of the 1900s. The scene where Lionel meets one of the victims of the plague for the first time sent images of the worst news stories from COVID swirling through my head, and placed me far deeper into Lionel’s depressing headspace than I thought was possible. As the book continues, the depressing mood suffocates Lionel and the audience more and more until it becomes a little emotionally difficult to read. Similarly, the pacing of this book is slow, to the point where it would be understandable for a person not to be able to get into it. However, I found the long descriptions of the characters’ environment to be creepily relatable, as they capture something I’ve been feeling lately - when terrible things are happening around you, and all you can do is live your life the best you can. A great example of this is when Lionel and his family are traveling around the Mediterranean, only to see soldiers showing up more and more throughout their trip, internalizing the idea that the plague has caused a war. The final chapter of this book is Mary Shelley - one of the best authors who ever lived, I believe - at her absolute best, and while the physical scene is extremely simple, there is so much under the surface that it’s overwhelming. If you are a fan of political sci-fi authors such as Octavia Butler or want more Mary Shelley in your life, give “The Last Man” a shot. Let’s just hope one pandemic is enough for this century.