Title: I Am Legend
Author: Richard Matheson
Narrator: Robertson Dean
ASIN: B000V5QJC2
Audiobook Length: 5 hours, 19 minutes
Genre: Horror
Origins: Mine. All mine.
Release Date: 1954
Bottom Line: Contemplative and powerful
Synopsis:

“Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth…but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville’s blood.

By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn.

How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?”

Thoughts: Robertson Dean has a creepy voice. It is a bit like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, waffling between anger and despair. When he yells or raves, it is exceedingly uncomfortable, but therein lies the point. Robert Neville is a man on the edge, walking a fine line between insanity, despair, and hope. Mr. Dean showcases Robert’s precarious balance, adding to the poignancy of the story as Robert struggles to mentally survive his isolation. A short audiobook, Mr. Dean brings a reader to that very same edge as Robert and keeps him there with his powerful performance.

I Am Legend is a classic. It may be science fiction, but the story it has to tell about one man’s fight for survival in the face of hopeless odds is timeless. The story is written in such a way that it could occur in any time period while the lessons to be learned apply to anyone anywhere. It is a surprisingly philosophical story which transcends the vampires and germ theory that comprise a majority of the novel and leaves a reader contemplative about the true monster in any given scenario.