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Mockingbird
- Narrated by: Robert Fass, Nicole Poole
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
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Mockingbird
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Summary
In a world where the human population has suffered devastating losses, a handful of survivors cling to what passes for life in a postapocalyptic, dying landscape. A world where humans wander, drugged and lulled by electronic bliss. A dying world of no children and no art, where reading is forbidden. And a strange love triangle: Spofforth, who runs the world, the most perfect machine ever created, whose only wish is to die; and Paul and Mary Lou, a man and a woman whose passion for each other is the only hope for the future of human beings on Earth.
An elegiac dystopia of mankind coming to terms with its own imminent extinction, Mockingbird was nominated for a Nebula Award for Best Novel.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Glenda
- 26-06-23
Brave New World meets 1984
Excellent story. Would make a great film or series. Really good narration. Very enjoyable tale.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- lezeki
- 23-12-23
beautiful book
I read this book yeas ago and it is one of my favourites. the narration didn't disappoint, it highlighted details I had forgotten
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Audiobooks Nest Reviews
- 24-05-23
An absorbing thought experiment
🧡There are so many cultural touchstones for me in this whip smart dystopia. It’s got iRobot’s hyper-advanced AI running the world. There are the mind numbing drugs of Brave New World keeping people docile. And there’s something very Winston and Julia from 1984 about the way the two main human characters, Paul and Mary Lou, awaken to the reality of their existence. Plus the charm of Marty Mcfly getting to grips with a hoverboard in Back to the Future when they learn how to read.
💚 The plot is a slow burn, but the symbolism and the questions raised throughout are fascinating, tackling everything from the morality of advanced technology to the role of religion.
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SOUNDBITE
🎧 A thoroughly well-produced audiobook. Loved that there were two narrators for the three main characters, with Robert Fass doing double duty as the voices of Spofforth and Paul.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S Harley
- 18-09-23
I want to give the story an extra star
I wasn’t sure if it for the first chapter but so glad I continued. What a gripping story one you want to just carry on listening too.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gramski
- 06-11-18
Superb
I read this a long time ago and it was great to hear it on audible. The narrators did a first class job. The story itself is quite beautiful and poignant.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Nigel Marshall
- 14-08-23
Fantastic story beautifully narratted
First class and highly original dystopian novel. The narration perfectly complemented the content. Loved it. Highly recomended!!!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Chris Carr
- 12-07-23
Brilliant and thought provoking
I loved this and think it’s got a lot of truth in it - would be good for all ages
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Harry
- 29-08-23
Fantastic
This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- amac
- 08-05-20
relevant and thought provoking
I was transported on a journey through the three main characters.
Enjoyed it.!
recommended.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mr. R. E. Towers
- 10-06-23
Unsettling and thought provoking
Despite being first published in 1980, this novel is topical due to the current discussions about the capacity and role of artificial intelligence.
Paul Bentley lives in a world set in the not too distant future which is governed by robots. Humans are superfluous, drugged and sterilised. There are many grades of robots, some quite crude and basic performing menial tasks and others more sophisticated. At the top of the robots is Spofforth who is a black android Dean of New York University. Spofforth has lived for centuries and possesses great knowledge but his greatest wish is to die. However, his programming does not allow him to commit suicide as he has to stick around to serve the very last human.
Paul has taught himself to read, a skill long forgotten by humans, and Spofforth spots his potential and gives him a job interpreting old movies.
However, Paul goes through an awakening and becomes rebellious. He meets a free thinking girl called Mary Lou who lives 'off grid' at the zoo (which is full of robot animals).
Paul and Mary Lou fall in love like people from the old fashioned movies. He teaches her to read and she teaches him to be defiant of the robots. They stop taking their sedatives which are prescribed to all humans.
Mary Lou gets pregnant and Paul gets sent to prison for the crime of reading. Spofforth moves in with Mary Lou and looks forward to being a surrogate father of the child.
OK I won't spoil the ending but there are numerous more subplots and the book is an exploration of what can happen when humans give up their world for robots to run everything for them. In some ways the book can be seen as a dystopian warning of how we can sleep walk into a world where we are of little purpose. On the other hand it can be read as how human resilience and resistance can triumph. Also, what about poor old super robot Spofforth? He reaches the pinnacle only to wish for death.
An unsettling and thought provoking book.
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