Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Canongate Books Ltd (2011), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 352 pages
Description
Jacob Marlowe has lost the will to live. For two hundred years he has wandered the world, enslaved by his lunatic appetites and tormented by the memory of his first and most monstrous crime. Now, the last of his kind, he contemplates suicide -- until a violent murder and an extraordinary meeting plunge him straight back into the desperate pursuit of life -- and love.
User reviews
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan is a roller coaster ride of violence, romance, action and adventure. While outlining the protocols, manners and habits of the werewolf, Duncan delivers a story of a 200 year old werewolf, weary of it all and ready to die, until he is given a reason to fight for his
Relying on many of the tried and true myths of werewolf-vampire hostility, wooden stakes, silver bullets, and the lure of the full moon, the author also adds an erotic earthiness that some may find offensive but I felt helped to pull the reader into Jake’s lonely, persecuted life. A killer that isn’t always comfortable in the role that nature has given him, Jake journals his life in a wry and cynical manner and adds touches of philosophical musings on the nature of his existence.
This is a page turner that will have the reader laughing at one moment, being grossed out the next, and at times actually feeling empathy for this strange, angst-ridden creature. Raw, visceral, and erotic, this will not be a book for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it’s original, adult take on the werewolf legend.
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survival.Relying on many of the tried and true myths of werewolf-vampire hostility, wooden stakes, silver bullets, and the lure of the full moon, the author also adds an erotic earthiness that some may find offensive but I felt helped to pull the reader into Jake’s lonely, persecuted life. A killer that isn’t always comfortable in the role that nature has given him, Jake journals his life in a wry and cynical manner and adds touches of philosophical musings on the nature of his existence.
This is a page turner that will have the reader laughing at one moment, being grossed out the next, and at times actually feeling empathy for this strange, angst-ridden creature. Raw, visceral, and erotic, this will not be a book for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it’s original, adult take on the werewolf legend.
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LibraryThing member msf59
“Jake Marlowe is a monster…”
Jake is also very wealthy, smokes like a fiend, has a sex addiction and is a philanthropist.
Once a month, he becomes a werewolf and since he’s been doing this for over 200 years, he is showing signs of depression and weariness.
Over the years, werewolves have been
This is a terrific update to the werewolf legend: loaded with wry humor, sex and violence galore, all presented in a smart fast-paced narrative. This might not be for all readers, but if you’re willing to take a stroll on the dark side, this should fit the bill.
Jake is also very wealthy, smokes like a fiend, has a sex addiction and is a philanthropist.
Once a month, he becomes a werewolf and since he’s been doing this for over 200 years, he is showing signs of depression and weariness.
Over the years, werewolves have been
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systematically tracked down and exterminated and Jake suddenly finds himself, the last of his kind. He has become a “trophy”, a tool between factions. After someone close to him is brutally murdered, Jake realizes he wants to survive, but the odds are quickly dwindling.This is a terrific update to the werewolf legend: loaded with wry humor, sex and violence galore, all presented in a smart fast-paced narrative. This might not be for all readers, but if you’re willing to take a stroll on the dark side, this should fit the bill.
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LibraryThing member Bookaliciouspam
The Last Werewolf isn’t a pretty tale, it isn’t a fairy tale, but it is better to scare you with, my dear. Vicious and haunting, Duncan paints the most violent scene in brilliant primal colors with his lyrical prose. If you had told me a year ago that Knopf (who published the recipient of the
Jake is strong, very alpha male and incredibly gruff. Sick of life and running he decides to let the local van Helsing types kill him and end his suffering. He is however the last of his kind and circumstances give him a reason to fight.
The plot is slow and sensuous, grotesque and shocking. The Last Werewolf is not for the faint of heart but I have faith that those who are brave enough to open the pages and peer inside this monstrous tale will come out at the other side amazed at the brilliant turn of phrase and rumination Duncan showcases in this novel.
Vibrant and epic, gore and blood, this book has it in spades. What it also has is nuances of humanity, the feelings and ideas we all think and feel as we grow towards and through middle age. Jake is a beacon of deep thought and voilent tendencies although he isn’t the most likable character it hardly matters, after all how does one like a character that ate his newly pregnant wife?
I promise you that if this is the only werewolf novel you ever read, it will in fact be the most sophisticated. Lycanthropy has never been so philosophical.
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Orange Prize this year) would be publishing a literary werewolf novel I would have laughed out loud. Probably while pointing and laughing at you.Jake is strong, very alpha male and incredibly gruff. Sick of life and running he decides to let the local van Helsing types kill him and end his suffering. He is however the last of his kind and circumstances give him a reason to fight.
The plot is slow and sensuous, grotesque and shocking. The Last Werewolf is not for the faint of heart but I have faith that those who are brave enough to open the pages and peer inside this monstrous tale will come out at the other side amazed at the brilliant turn of phrase and rumination Duncan showcases in this novel.
Vibrant and epic, gore and blood, this book has it in spades. What it also has is nuances of humanity, the feelings and ideas we all think and feel as we grow towards and through middle age. Jake is a beacon of deep thought and voilent tendencies although he isn’t the most likable character it hardly matters, after all how does one like a character that ate his newly pregnant wife?
I promise you that if this is the only werewolf novel you ever read, it will in fact be the most sophisticated. Lycanthropy has never been so philosophical.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JackieBlem
This is a sophisticated, philosophical, sexy, violent and completely entrancing book. The story is told by Jake Marlowe, a 201 year old
werewolf who is just tired of living, though he really has another 200 years in him. When he finds out that he is, indeed, the last werewolf
in existence, he decides
the deep thoughts of a man at the end of his life, his joys, his regrets, etc. It would be dull if Glen Duncan wasn't an amazingly
talented writer with the ability to make sentences into masterpieces--this is seriously some of the best writing I've ever encountered. But the second half--it's non-stop action, violence and intrigue that will keep any reader at the edge of their seat late into the night (with the doors locked and the shades pulled--there's a lot to fear in the dark of Duncan's world). This is a bloody novel, and it is not for the faint of heart. But for those of us who love smart horror with a philosophical twist, it's darn near perfect.
werewolf who is just tired of living, though he really has another 200 years in him. When he finds out that he is, indeed, the last werewolf
in existence, he decides
Show More
he'll make it easy for the hunters who have been chasing him all of his life. The first half of the book involvethe deep thoughts of a man at the end of his life, his joys, his regrets, etc. It would be dull if Glen Duncan wasn't an amazingly
talented writer with the ability to make sentences into masterpieces--this is seriously some of the best writing I've ever encountered. But the second half--it's non-stop action, violence and intrigue that will keep any reader at the edge of their seat late into the night (with the doors locked and the shades pulled--there's a lot to fear in the dark of Duncan's world). This is a bloody novel, and it is not for the faint of heart. But for those of us who love smart horror with a philosophical twist, it's darn near perfect.
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LibraryThing member GCPLreader
Completely ridiculous, yet so well written I didn't care. I understood Jake. I loved Jake and I wanted him to survive. For 200 years, he's lived as a lonely, rich, sex-driven man 353 days a year. But oh, those other 12 days. The delicious details and the amazing twist revealed in the 2nd half were
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so good that I easily overlooked some of the over-the-top plotting (did we really need vampires thrown into the mix?!). If you've not tried literary horror, then you need to smack yourself on your wrist and give this a go. Too much fun! Show Less
LibraryThing member katiekrug
A wonderfully engaging and entertaining read, especially if one is not bothered by a lot of sex and violence. I read The Last Werewolf on a flight from LA to Hong Kong, and it just ate up the hours. The beginning was a bit slow, but it quickly picked up and turned into a manic ride through a
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contemporary world in which werewolves and vampires exist and are not quite the romantic heroes Stephanie Meyer would have us believe. TLW is beautifully written with lush, voluptuous language even when describing the down and dirty doings of our beastly protagonist. Very enjoyable but not for the faint of heart. 3.75 stars Show Less
LibraryThing member porch_reader
My kids are somewhat inflexible. If they are expecting something (like a trip to the ice cream shop), and it doesn’t happen, they are outraged, even if the trip is replaced with something even better (like a trip to the amusement park). After much reflection (and several pointed hints from my
And so I had a rough start to [The Last Werewolf]. I went into this book without knowing much except what is relatively evident by the title. Jake Marlowe is the last living werewolf. I’ve had a busy few weeks, so I was ready for a light, easy read – a typical werewolf story if you will. But what Duncan has written is much more than a typical werewolf story. It took a few chapters to readjust my expectations, but once I did I realized that I was in for an unexpected treat.
First, the writing is beautiful. I’ve heard the book described as literary, and I’d definitely agree. This is not to say that [The Last Werewolf] is dense or unexciting. The plot moves fast. The twists and turns kept me turning the pages faster and faster. Jake Marlowe is a reflective character, often pontificating on the wisdom that is the product of his many, many years. His insights on the experience of being a werewolf are sometimes surprising. The book is sexually explicit and violent in places, but if you can move beyond that, The Last Werewolf is a phenomenal read.
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husband), I’ve realized that they got this trait from me. When I have something set in my mind, a deviation often causes me much distress. We’re all trying to learn to enjoy a little serendipity. And so I had a rough start to [The Last Werewolf]. I went into this book without knowing much except what is relatively evident by the title. Jake Marlowe is the last living werewolf. I’ve had a busy few weeks, so I was ready for a light, easy read – a typical werewolf story if you will. But what Duncan has written is much more than a typical werewolf story. It took a few chapters to readjust my expectations, but once I did I realized that I was in for an unexpected treat.
First, the writing is beautiful. I’ve heard the book described as literary, and I’d definitely agree. This is not to say that [The Last Werewolf] is dense or unexciting. The plot moves fast. The twists and turns kept me turning the pages faster and faster. Jake Marlowe is a reflective character, often pontificating on the wisdom that is the product of his many, many years. His insights on the experience of being a werewolf are sometimes surprising. The book is sexually explicit and violent in places, but if you can move beyond that, The Last Werewolf is a phenomenal read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member elliepotten
I bought this book in the middle of a tide of rave reviews from my fellow book bloggers - and happily, the hype turned out to be justified. It isn't the best book I've ever read, but it IS beautifully written, deftly plotted and extremely compelling.
It is written in the form of an ongoing memoir
If you pick this book up looking for teen romance and high-school thrills, you'll be sorely disappointed. This is literary fiction all the way - and definitely for the adult reader! It's bloody, provocative and downright filthy, yet it's written in the most exquisite, poetic language that flows like water. The only thing I didn't like was the repeated use of the 'c' word, not because of any moral objection, but because in sexual references it just sounds so horrible. A male-writer thing, perhaps. That aside, this is a fantastic, gripping read that expertly walks the fine line between gritty and gorgeous to build a novel that really sets itself apart from the supernatural pack (*groans*). Highly recommended.
It is written in the form of an ongoing memoir
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belonging to Jake Marlowe, and begins at the moment he discovers another of his kind has just been killed, officially making him the last living werewolf on earth. Throughout his life the Hunt has been gradually chasing them down, one by one, and now, 200 years old, lonely and sick of the endless running and monthly bloodbath, Jake is ready to give up and go willingly. But before the next full moon arrives, when he plans to walk into his own death at the hands of the Hunt's top agents, everything is turned upside down. His friend is murdered, devious supernatural schemes start to surface, and he falls in love for the first time in his werewolf life. Suddenly he has something to live for - and he'll do anything to hold onto it. After all, life is all there is...If you pick this book up looking for teen romance and high-school thrills, you'll be sorely disappointed. This is literary fiction all the way - and definitely for the adult reader! It's bloody, provocative and downright filthy, yet it's written in the most exquisite, poetic language that flows like water. The only thing I didn't like was the repeated use of the 'c' word, not because of any moral objection, but because in sexual references it just sounds so horrible. A male-writer thing, perhaps. That aside, this is a fantastic, gripping read that expertly walks the fine line between gritty and gorgeous to build a novel that really sets itself apart from the supernatural pack (*groans*). Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member AHS-Wolfy
After the death of The Berliner, Jacob Marlowe finds himself the last of his kind. The Hunt will now turn its full attention to his extermination and after 200 years of life Jake believes he is ready for an end of things. Fate, however, has other ideas. WOCOP (World Organisation for the Control of
This is a literary horror story that brings the werewolf trope bang up to date. It examines what it's like to have to kill a human being each time the full moon rises and how justification sits just as uneasily as the flesh he's devoured. It is written in the form of Jacob's journal so the reader gets up close and personal with the man and his thought processes. We learn of his making and of the woman he loved. He certainly doesn't shy away from the gory details of the bedroom or the kill scenes. The language is choice and colourful as well as often beautiful but those of delicate sensibilities need not apply to become a Glen Duncan devotee. Having now read three of his novels I'm happy to be known as such.
While the first half of the book is almost melancholic in its reverie the second shifts pace into top gear and doesn't let up until the final climax. I'm happy to report a sequel is due out next year and a third book apparently to follow the year after.
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Occult Phenomenon) want the last hunt to be memorable and set out to rile him up and make a fight of it. Then there are the Vampires that seem to have taken an unhealthy interest in Jake as well. What plans do they have for him?This is a literary horror story that brings the werewolf trope bang up to date. It examines what it's like to have to kill a human being each time the full moon rises and how justification sits just as uneasily as the flesh he's devoured. It is written in the form of Jacob's journal so the reader gets up close and personal with the man and his thought processes. We learn of his making and of the woman he loved. He certainly doesn't shy away from the gory details of the bedroom or the kill scenes. The language is choice and colourful as well as often beautiful but those of delicate sensibilities need not apply to become a Glen Duncan devotee. Having now read three of his novels I'm happy to be known as such.
While the first half of the book is almost melancholic in its reverie the second shifts pace into top gear and doesn't let up until the final climax. I'm happy to report a sequel is due out next year and a third book apparently to follow the year after.
Show Less
LibraryThing member nbmars
Note: There are no spoilers in this review.
Usually I pick up a book involving the paranormal when I want a light break. I was astonished to discover that this book is more like a China Mieville story than a fluff piece. (Mieville is a brilliant English fantasy fiction writer.) It is quite literary
Jacob (“Jake”) Marlowe has been alive 201 years. He is believed to be the last werewolf in existence. Once a month, when the moon is full, he is overtaken by a hunger for human flesh, the sating of which cannot be avoided, and morover arouses a frisson of sexual fulfillment. But he tries to do as little harm as possible by the act:
"Two nights ago I'd eaten a forty-three-year-old hedge fund specialist. I've been in a phase of taking the ones no one wants."
An organization called WOCOP (World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena) is dedicated to the total elimination of all paranormal beings, and WOCOP’s head hunter (double entendre there) - a vigilante Van Helsing type, is after Jake with a vengeance. In addition, the vampires have come to believe that a wolf bite can confer immunity to the sun, and thus they are also after Jake. Jake and his human protector Harley can barely keep up with all the threats to Jake. In fact, Harley himself is struggling with Jake, because Jake is tired of the utter sameness and repetitiveness of life, and just wants to give in and die.
The characters in this book pose so many fascinating questions: What role do monsters play in the collective imagination? Do we mainly talk about vampires and werewolves as romantic characters now because we no longer have need of the monstrous in the imagination? (I.e., we provide sufficient examples of our own monstrousness in real life, what with genocides and terrorist acts, etc.). How far have humans actually evolved from the beasts from which we descended? In light of the beastliness of human behavior, what could the meaning of life possibly be, or is there no meaning? If there is no meaning, is there no God? Jake and Harley continuously ponder these questions, and there are some very intriguing ideas bandied about on their resolution.
One area of inquiry – the beast in the man – is answered in part by the emphasis on sex in Jake’s life. This book has a lot of sex, and much of it is what the characters themselves might define as “beast-like.” I should digress a bit to admit that one of my favorite things to do after reading a book full of outré sex scenes is to plague my husband with questions such as, “Why are male authors always talking about x, y, and z? Did YOU ever do that?” (Depending on his mood, his response is either to laugh uproariously or to pull out the batteries from his hearing aids.) If you too like to play this game, this book will give you plenty of material. The sex may be raunchy to some, but the language is glorious, viz.:
"…six carnal hours had passed. … Now we lay on the bed like starfish. It’s one of the Platonic forms, lying with someone on a hotel bed after transcendent sex.”
"[after meeting someone new]: “These, I knew, were the high-octane minutes, days, weeks, when anything she does can pluck the phallic string.”
It’s not just sex that inspires the author to flights of felicitous prose. He talks about the first time he sees another paranormal:
"I remembered the days when seeing someone move through the air like that would have been a thrilling shock, the days before we’d all seen it countless times in the movies. Modernity’s mimetic inversion: You see the real and are struck by how much it looks like a tediously seamless special effect.”
Ennui itself may be tiresome, but the observations it elicits by the characters are far from it:
"There’s a reason humans peg-out around eighty: prose fatigue. It looks like organ failure or cancer or stroke but it’s really just the inability to carry on clambering through the assault course of mundane cause and effect. If we ask Sheila then we can’t ask Ron. If I have the kippers now then it’s quiche for tea. Four score years is about all the ifs and thens you can take. Dementia’s the sane realization you just can’t be doing with all that anymore.”
"Life, like the boring drunk at the office party, keeps seeking you out, leaning on you, killing you with pointless yarns and laughing bad-breathed in your face at its own unfunny jokes.”
Oh, and listen to the beautifully crafted commentary of Jake's driving trip across Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah:
"Those unritzy states of seared openness, giant arenas for the colossal geometry of light and weather. Here the main performance is still planetary, a lumbering introspective working-out of masses and pressures yielding huge accidents of beauty: thunderheads like floating anvils; a sudden blizzard. Geological time, it dawns on you, is still going on.”
Trenchant and witty cultural references pepper the story. Talking about his preference for younger victims on which to feed when the moon is full, Jake observes: “Nothing like the blood and meat of the young. You can taste the audacity of hope.” …”I was in Europe when Nietzsche and Darwin between them got rid of God, and in the United States when Wall Street reduced the American Dream to a broken suitcase and a worn-out shoe.” Clever references (even direct quotes!) and parallels to Nabokov's Lolita fill the second half of the book. And the pièce de résistance, the absolute best line in the book is a mutation of one of the best lines in Jane Eyre that I won’t spoil for you. But it alone makes the price of the book worthwhile!
Discussion: This is an erudite, thoughtful book with a riveting plot in addition to a contemplative bent. While interrogating moral decency, the author savages it with a complicated choreography of biological compulsion and media-informed indifference. He excoriates people who live in “the opaque plastic bubble of television and booze,” while nature’s magnificence goes unnoted:
"We lay near each other but not touching, silent recipients of Pan’s globally ignored dawn suite, a soft exhalation through turf and leaf, the whirr of small wings, the introspective clambering of beetles, the shiver of water. The world…is oozing, teeming, crawling with miracles.”
He writes about being stuck with what you are, “the lousy furniture you can’t change” – in this case, having a lycanthropic heart.” Is there a hell then? Or is it a fiction we inherit to maintain control over behavior? Or is hell something else; is it life that has gone on too long? Could it simply be life without love?
There are some truly inspirational uses of language in this book, as when, in Wales, Jacob travels through “the vowel-starved hills”; when he, musing on the absence of God, sees the night sky “like an abandoned warehouse of stars”; when he characterizes a scene as like “an eighties album cover”; or when he characterizes himself – half monster, half man, as “a cocktail of contraries.” Even while the story may be bestial and sometimes brutal, the often luminous language is worth celebrating.
Evaluation: Any drawbacks of this book were more than offset for me by the glorious use of language by the author, and his exposing of how much of the beast all of us have within us. The characters are remarkably likeable, in spite of their various eccentricities and predilections. A truly impressive piece of literature.
Usually I pick up a book involving the paranormal when I want a light break. I was astonished to discover that this book is more like a China Mieville story than a fluff piece. (Mieville is a brilliant English fantasy fiction writer.) It is quite literary
Show More
and the prose evinces considerable intelligence and skill. I would in fact conjecture that the author wanted to tackle the subject of weltschmerz but figured you would need a long-lived person to do the feeling justice: thus, a werewolf. (A werewolf is a much more appealing trope for this purpose than a vampire, since a vampire never goes back to being "human" and feeling what he or she used to feel, whereas a werewolf reverts to human form on all days except those when the moon is full). Jacob (“Jake”) Marlowe has been alive 201 years. He is believed to be the last werewolf in existence. Once a month, when the moon is full, he is overtaken by a hunger for human flesh, the sating of which cannot be avoided, and morover arouses a frisson of sexual fulfillment. But he tries to do as little harm as possible by the act:
"Two nights ago I'd eaten a forty-three-year-old hedge fund specialist. I've been in a phase of taking the ones no one wants."
An organization called WOCOP (World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena) is dedicated to the total elimination of all paranormal beings, and WOCOP’s head hunter (double entendre there) - a vigilante Van Helsing type, is after Jake with a vengeance. In addition, the vampires have come to believe that a wolf bite can confer immunity to the sun, and thus they are also after Jake. Jake and his human protector Harley can barely keep up with all the threats to Jake. In fact, Harley himself is struggling with Jake, because Jake is tired of the utter sameness and repetitiveness of life, and just wants to give in and die.
The characters in this book pose so many fascinating questions: What role do monsters play in the collective imagination? Do we mainly talk about vampires and werewolves as romantic characters now because we no longer have need of the monstrous in the imagination? (I.e., we provide sufficient examples of our own monstrousness in real life, what with genocides and terrorist acts, etc.). How far have humans actually evolved from the beasts from which we descended? In light of the beastliness of human behavior, what could the meaning of life possibly be, or is there no meaning? If there is no meaning, is there no God? Jake and Harley continuously ponder these questions, and there are some very intriguing ideas bandied about on their resolution.
One area of inquiry – the beast in the man – is answered in part by the emphasis on sex in Jake’s life. This book has a lot of sex, and much of it is what the characters themselves might define as “beast-like.” I should digress a bit to admit that one of my favorite things to do after reading a book full of outré sex scenes is to plague my husband with questions such as, “Why are male authors always talking about x, y, and z? Did YOU ever do that?” (Depending on his mood, his response is either to laugh uproariously or to pull out the batteries from his hearing aids.) If you too like to play this game, this book will give you plenty of material. The sex may be raunchy to some, but the language is glorious, viz.:
"…six carnal hours had passed. … Now we lay on the bed like starfish. It’s one of the Platonic forms, lying with someone on a hotel bed after transcendent sex.”
"[after meeting someone new]: “These, I knew, were the high-octane minutes, days, weeks, when anything she does can pluck the phallic string.”
It’s not just sex that inspires the author to flights of felicitous prose. He talks about the first time he sees another paranormal:
"I remembered the days when seeing someone move through the air like that would have been a thrilling shock, the days before we’d all seen it countless times in the movies. Modernity’s mimetic inversion: You see the real and are struck by how much it looks like a tediously seamless special effect.”
Ennui itself may be tiresome, but the observations it elicits by the characters are far from it:
"There’s a reason humans peg-out around eighty: prose fatigue. It looks like organ failure or cancer or stroke but it’s really just the inability to carry on clambering through the assault course of mundane cause and effect. If we ask Sheila then we can’t ask Ron. If I have the kippers now then it’s quiche for tea. Four score years is about all the ifs and thens you can take. Dementia’s the sane realization you just can’t be doing with all that anymore.”
"Life, like the boring drunk at the office party, keeps seeking you out, leaning on you, killing you with pointless yarns and laughing bad-breathed in your face at its own unfunny jokes.”
Oh, and listen to the beautifully crafted commentary of Jake's driving trip across Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah:
"Those unritzy states of seared openness, giant arenas for the colossal geometry of light and weather. Here the main performance is still planetary, a lumbering introspective working-out of masses and pressures yielding huge accidents of beauty: thunderheads like floating anvils; a sudden blizzard. Geological time, it dawns on you, is still going on.”
Trenchant and witty cultural references pepper the story. Talking about his preference for younger victims on which to feed when the moon is full, Jake observes: “Nothing like the blood and meat of the young. You can taste the audacity of hope.” …”I was in Europe when Nietzsche and Darwin between them got rid of God, and in the United States when Wall Street reduced the American Dream to a broken suitcase and a worn-out shoe.” Clever references (even direct quotes!) and parallels to Nabokov's Lolita fill the second half of the book. And the pièce de résistance, the absolute best line in the book is a mutation of one of the best lines in Jane Eyre that I won’t spoil for you. But it alone makes the price of the book worthwhile!
Discussion: This is an erudite, thoughtful book with a riveting plot in addition to a contemplative bent. While interrogating moral decency, the author savages it with a complicated choreography of biological compulsion and media-informed indifference. He excoriates people who live in “the opaque plastic bubble of television and booze,” while nature’s magnificence goes unnoted:
"We lay near each other but not touching, silent recipients of Pan’s globally ignored dawn suite, a soft exhalation through turf and leaf, the whirr of small wings, the introspective clambering of beetles, the shiver of water. The world…is oozing, teeming, crawling with miracles.”
He writes about being stuck with what you are, “the lousy furniture you can’t change” – in this case, having a lycanthropic heart.” Is there a hell then? Or is it a fiction we inherit to maintain control over behavior? Or is hell something else; is it life that has gone on too long? Could it simply be life without love?
There are some truly inspirational uses of language in this book, as when, in Wales, Jacob travels through “the vowel-starved hills”; when he, musing on the absence of God, sees the night sky “like an abandoned warehouse of stars”; when he characterizes a scene as like “an eighties album cover”; or when he characterizes himself – half monster, half man, as “a cocktail of contraries.” Even while the story may be bestial and sometimes brutal, the often luminous language is worth celebrating.
Evaluation: Any drawbacks of this book were more than offset for me by the glorious use of language by the author, and his exposing of how much of the beast all of us have within us. The characters are remarkably likeable, in spite of their various eccentricities and predilections. A truly impressive piece of literature.
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LibraryThing member ChelleBearss
Jake Marlowe is a 201 year old chainsmoking, whiskey drinking, sex-addict werewolf who has just been told he is now the last of his species. An organization called WOCOP has been working away at their goal of depleting the paranormal population and they have succeded at reducing the werewolf
I usually turn to paranormal books when I need a fun, light read. This definintely did not fit that pattern!
I found this book facinating as it is different than any other paranormal books that I have had the pleasure to read. This book is very much literary fiction with a twist. Some parts were difficult to follow only because of the language he uses is almost poetic. I found I was rereading parts to try and understand the point being made. Once I got into the book it didn't matter though, I was hooked on Jake!
4.5*
“There’s always someone’s father, someone’s mother, someone’s wife, someone’s son. This is the problem with killing and eating people”
“Two nights ago I’d eaten a 43-year-old hedge fund specialist,” Marlowe offers with trademark insouciance. “I’ve been in a phase of taking the ones no one wants.”
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population completely and have made a game of letting Jake know that at the next full moon they will be taking him out. Meanwhile the Vampire population wants Jake kept alive for their own selfish reasons. I usually turn to paranormal books when I need a fun, light read. This definintely did not fit that pattern!
I found this book facinating as it is different than any other paranormal books that I have had the pleasure to read. This book is very much literary fiction with a twist. Some parts were difficult to follow only because of the language he uses is almost poetic. I found I was rereading parts to try and understand the point being made. Once I got into the book it didn't matter though, I was hooked on Jake!
4.5*
“There’s always someone’s father, someone’s mother, someone’s wife, someone’s son. This is the problem with killing and eating people”
“Two nights ago I’d eaten a 43-year-old hedge fund specialist,” Marlowe offers with trademark insouciance. “I’ve been in a phase of taking the ones no one wants.”
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LibraryThing member ken1952
Absorbing literary horror novel that had me gasping for breath. Jake is the last living werewolf and ready to call it a night after having lived for two hundred years. And Grainer, his arch nemesis, is only too willing to make Jake's wish come true. But complications arise as they always do in
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stories like this. Glen Duncan takes us on an incredible journey of love, lust and lupine life. Not for the squeamish! Show Less
LibraryThing member cinnamonowl
I loved the fact that Jake, and all werewolves in this book, were "real" werewolves- ones with sharp teeth and no nobility, werewolves that chomp and chew and is the nightmare version of a werewolf. Sure, Jacob was my favorite character in Twilight (Team Jacob!) but I didn't really like the tidying
That being said, the book was kind of slow for me. It trudged along, like Jake's 200 some years of existence, and maybe that was how Duncan intended us to feel- the length and weight of those days and years in Jake's soul. He had given up at the start of the book, and was ready to throw in the towel -but then something happens to rekindle his interest in sticking around. I don't want to ruin it so I won't say more on that topic. The book became very exciting midway through, which is good since I was almost bored to death the first 45 pages- it was all Jake and sex with prostitutes it seemed like. But it started to shape up after page 45-50ish, and then really picked up steam midway through. I started out disliking Jake, and then began to really like him!
This book was hard core werewolf enough for me, and I love horror books- my only wish is that it had just a bit more action and excitement.
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up of the supernaturals in that series. Which seems to be the trend now. And sometimes that is fine too. I just appreciated a real, honest to goodness werewolf. That being said, the book was kind of slow for me. It trudged along, like Jake's 200 some years of existence, and maybe that was how Duncan intended us to feel- the length and weight of those days and years in Jake's soul. He had given up at the start of the book, and was ready to throw in the towel -but then something happens to rekindle his interest in sticking around. I don't want to ruin it so I won't say more on that topic. The book became very exciting midway through, which is good since I was almost bored to death the first 45 pages- it was all Jake and sex with prostitutes it seemed like. But it started to shape up after page 45-50ish, and then really picked up steam midway through. I started out disliking Jake, and then began to really like him!
This book was hard core werewolf enough for me, and I love horror books- my only wish is that it had just a bit more action and excitement.
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LibraryThing member picardyrose
Crude and gory, but well-constructed world and some lovely writing.
LibraryThing member tapestry100
Words commonly used to describe The Last Werewolf: "sexy", "quirky", "brilliant", "glorious", "witty,"... the list goes on and on, and I'm left wondering if I actually read the same book as everyone else. There wasn't one thing that I found in the book that made me think this was something even
Jake is the last werewolf alive, and after nearly 200 years of living, and knowing he is now the last of his kind, he's ready to die. He is being hunted by an organization that wants to see him dead, and he's ready to let them have their way. The ennui in this book practically drips off the page, and I actually found myself wishing he'd just commit suicide and save everybody, me included, the trouble of having to finish the story. The first part of the book was absolutely tedious reading, but I stuck with it, thinking there was something that was going to grab me and pull me in, since so many people are just batshit over this book.
Unfortunately, it wasn't until the last 1/3 of the book that anything picks up, and by that point, I just didn't give a shit what happened to Jake anymore. I found the ending fairly predictable and nothing shocked me about it.
Needless to say, I don't know that I'll be picking anything by Glen Duncan up any time soon. I'm giving the book 2 stars, only because if the first 2/3 of the book were written like the last 1/3, I think I may have enjoyed it more. Maybe.
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remotely warranted the kind of praise listed above. Jake is the last werewolf alive, and after nearly 200 years of living, and knowing he is now the last of his kind, he's ready to die. He is being hunted by an organization that wants to see him dead, and he's ready to let them have their way. The ennui in this book practically drips off the page, and I actually found myself wishing he'd just commit suicide and save everybody, me included, the trouble of having to finish the story. The first part of the book was absolutely tedious reading, but I stuck with it, thinking there was something that was going to grab me and pull me in, since so many people are just batshit over this book.
Unfortunately, it wasn't until the last 1/3 of the book that anything picks up, and by that point, I just didn't give a shit what happened to Jake anymore. I found the ending fairly predictable and nothing shocked me about it.
Needless to say, I don't know that I'll be picking anything by Glen Duncan up any time soon. I'm giving the book 2 stars, only because if the first 2/3 of the book were written like the last 1/3, I think I may have enjoyed it more. Maybe.
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LibraryThing member edgeworth
This novel got a lot of buzz when it was released back in 2011, when I was working in a bookstore, and I recall filing it away on the TBR pile but have only just got around to reading it now. I timed it as my Halloween read, as part of my general pleasure at living in the northern hemisphere where
Anyway, The Last Werewolf isn’t really a horror novel. Glen Duncan is more well-known as a literary author, dipping his toe in the pool of genre fiction (see also – Justin Cronin and The Passage), and The Last Werewolf contains more philosophy than frights. Jake Marlowe is the titular last of the kind, two hundred years old, wealthy and world-weary, spending his days as a human guzzling scotch and having sex with expensive escorts, and his full-moon nights as a werewolf killing and eating people. The Last Werewolf doesn’t romanticise this; Jake is a monster and he knows it, and the only reason he remains a relatively likeable character is because Duncan does such a great job of making him such a witty, civilised narrator. Informed of the death of the second-last werewolf at the hands of the Hunt division of WOCOP (the World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena), and the personal vendetta the chief of the Hunt has against him, Jake learns that he has less than a month to live – the hunter wants the beast, not the man, and will wait for the full moon. Tired of life after two centuries of killing (a “concentration camp heap” of victims stretching into his past), he decides to accept his fate and return to Snowdonia, where he was first stricken with lycanthropy in the early 19th century. Of course, there are other things afoot, and Jake is soon embroiled in a globetrotting adventure across Wales, London, France, Greece and the United States, giving The Last Werewolf more than a touch of spy thriller to it. Combined with a weird acronym organisation for an antagonist and Jake’s taste for cigarettes, fine scotch and classy hotels, it’s a borderline James Bond vibe.
I greatly enjoyed the first half of The Last Werewolf. Above all else, Duncan is an excellent writer, sending Jake through wonderfully atmospheric places (snowy London streets, a book-filled Earl’s Court mansion, a peaceful Greek island) while he speaks to the reader in his fantastic narrative style: a sort of baroque Gothic rumination, belying his actual time of birth, which has been modernised and accrued yet more wisdom and cynicism as Jake has grown up through the ages, into the world of mobile phones and the internet. It’s eminently readable and a lot of fun.
It does, however, begin to wear a bit in the second half of the novel, not helped by a plot twist which leads the book to some annoying places. Love at first sight might be technically feasible, within the novel’s horror/fantasy parameters, but that doesn’t make it any less irritating. There’s also a lot of sex and violence; I’m no prude, it’s just that too much of anything gets tedious, much like Jake’s initially fascinating monologues once he starts to cover the same ground in them. And the conclusion is a messy game of cat and mouse, full of abductions and double-crossing, which leans far too heavily into Jason Bourne territory. There are two sequels to The Last Werewolf, and while I would have been open to reading them if I thought they’d reflect the character of the first half, the resolution of the plot makes it pretty clear they’d be more like the second, so I’m not sure I will.
That all sounds fairly negative, but actually I liked The Last Werewolf a lot; I just always find it disappointing when a cracking novel goes downhill. It’s still one of the best books I’ve read this year. If you heard about it when it got all that press upon release but never bothered to read it, I recommend giving it a try; it’s not for everyone, but it’s worth your time to check it out.
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the seasons actually correspond to the dates I subconsciously think they’re “supposed” to, after growing up on European and American culture. Probably this will wear off, but at the moment I’m trying to theme almost all my reading; I can’t imagine how one could bear to read a book set in summer when there’s rain drizzling down the windowpanes and the sun sets at 4pm.Anyway, The Last Werewolf isn’t really a horror novel. Glen Duncan is more well-known as a literary author, dipping his toe in the pool of genre fiction (see also – Justin Cronin and The Passage), and The Last Werewolf contains more philosophy than frights. Jake Marlowe is the titular last of the kind, two hundred years old, wealthy and world-weary, spending his days as a human guzzling scotch and having sex with expensive escorts, and his full-moon nights as a werewolf killing and eating people. The Last Werewolf doesn’t romanticise this; Jake is a monster and he knows it, and the only reason he remains a relatively likeable character is because Duncan does such a great job of making him such a witty, civilised narrator. Informed of the death of the second-last werewolf at the hands of the Hunt division of WOCOP (the World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena), and the personal vendetta the chief of the Hunt has against him, Jake learns that he has less than a month to live – the hunter wants the beast, not the man, and will wait for the full moon. Tired of life after two centuries of killing (a “concentration camp heap” of victims stretching into his past), he decides to accept his fate and return to Snowdonia, where he was first stricken with lycanthropy in the early 19th century. Of course, there are other things afoot, and Jake is soon embroiled in a globetrotting adventure across Wales, London, France, Greece and the United States, giving The Last Werewolf more than a touch of spy thriller to it. Combined with a weird acronym organisation for an antagonist and Jake’s taste for cigarettes, fine scotch and classy hotels, it’s a borderline James Bond vibe.
I greatly enjoyed the first half of The Last Werewolf. Above all else, Duncan is an excellent writer, sending Jake through wonderfully atmospheric places (snowy London streets, a book-filled Earl’s Court mansion, a peaceful Greek island) while he speaks to the reader in his fantastic narrative style: a sort of baroque Gothic rumination, belying his actual time of birth, which has been modernised and accrued yet more wisdom and cynicism as Jake has grown up through the ages, into the world of mobile phones and the internet. It’s eminently readable and a lot of fun.
It does, however, begin to wear a bit in the second half of the novel, not helped by a plot twist which leads the book to some annoying places. Love at first sight might be technically feasible, within the novel’s horror/fantasy parameters, but that doesn’t make it any less irritating. There’s also a lot of sex and violence; I’m no prude, it’s just that too much of anything gets tedious, much like Jake’s initially fascinating monologues once he starts to cover the same ground in them. And the conclusion is a messy game of cat and mouse, full of abductions and double-crossing, which leans far too heavily into Jason Bourne territory. There are two sequels to The Last Werewolf, and while I would have been open to reading them if I thought they’d reflect the character of the first half, the resolution of the plot makes it pretty clear they’d be more like the second, so I’m not sure I will.
That all sounds fairly negative, but actually I liked The Last Werewolf a lot; I just always find it disappointing when a cracking novel goes downhill. It’s still one of the best books I’ve read this year. If you heard about it when it got all that press upon release but never bothered to read it, I recommend giving it a try; it’s not for everyone, but it’s worth your time to check it out.
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LibraryThing member queencersei
Jacob Marlowe is a two hundred years old werewolf. He's been everywhere, seen everything and is basically suffering antipathy from too much life. And once a month he eats people. He is fully aware of what he is doing, while he is doing it. He isn't the good guy and he knows it. Recent stories of
The Last Werewolf takes things back to their basics. Glen Duncan's werewolf lives a desperate, violent life with very few attachments. Jacob faces a lavish, though stripped down existence, unable to really form meaningful relationships and ready to finally end his lonely existence. A secret order dedicated to the eradication of werewolves is only too happy to assist Jacob with his final wish. But as they say, life is full of surprises, even for a creature who has lived through so much of it.
Readers who want their horror monsters with bite and blood will be happy for a good old fashioned werewolf who is unapologetic (mostly)about his lifestyle.
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werewolves paint werewolves as basically good, soulful, handsomely brooding, romantic creatures.The Last Werewolf takes things back to their basics. Glen Duncan's werewolf lives a desperate, violent life with very few attachments. Jacob faces a lavish, though stripped down existence, unable to really form meaningful relationships and ready to finally end his lonely existence. A secret order dedicated to the eradication of werewolves is only too happy to assist Jacob with his final wish. But as they say, life is full of surprises, even for a creature who has lived through so much of it.
Readers who want their horror monsters with bite and blood will be happy for a good old fashioned werewolf who is unapologetic (mostly)about his lifestyle.
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LibraryThing member KatyBee
Not for the faint of heart. What a great story, brooding and bloody, with complex moral questions and unforgettable characters. What an amazing writer, erudite and fearless. This is not for teen readers but for intelligent readers looking for dark, unique literature. Perfect reading for October...
LibraryThing member thejohnsmith
Literary Fiction, Horror and a touch of Eroticism combine in this novel to make it a really good read. The world's last werewolf has seemingly given up on life and the need to evade hunters, both human and vampire. But things change and his outlook with it. This is definitely an adults only tale
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and a good one too. Show Less
LibraryThing member arielfl
I picked this book because it was recommended by my favorite pop culture magazine Entertainment Weekly. This was called the thinking person's werewolf story much as Deborah Harkness book A Discovery Witches was hailed as the antidote to the dumbing down of vampires by Twilight. Fans of the
The Last Werewolf purports to be the journal of one Jacob Marlowe who at the beginning of this novel finds out that he is the last of his kind. As you read, you can't help but notice that the pages have been soaked in "blood" (nice touch) though whose blood is not revealed until chapter 50. From his "journal" we learn that Jacob ate his wife Arabella and unborn child back in the 1800's shortly after he was changed from man into beast. The guilt has been his constant companion (for a really long time, werewolves live 400 years) and he has vowed never to love again. He send his days killing, drinking, smoking, and slutting around with prostitutes as he is pursued by the WOCOP other wise known as the World Organization for the Control of Occult Phenomena . The WOCOP was an off shoot of the Catholic church. Years ago they made a deal with the vampires that if they kept their numbers to 500 and paid them then they would be left alone. Now a days the WOCOP tries to exterminate the last of the werewolves and have almost succeeded. Jacob has grown bored with life and is just about to commit suicide via the WOCOP. His last friend is a man name made Harley whom he rescued years ago. Harley begs him to reconsider but Jacob is determined. To ensure that Jacob comes to them the WOCOP serves up Harley's head in a bag. Jake is kidnapped and learns that the vampires have figured out that if they get bit by a werewolf they can overcome the curse of the sun so there is interest in keeping him alive after all. Jake escapes and then everything changes three weeks later. He has a chance encounter with an extremely rare and thought not to exist female werewolf named Talulla and it's love at first sight. Jake learns that "there is something better than killing the one you love, it's killing with the one you love". Suddenly Jake is no longer alone and he has something worth living for. More kidnapping ensues, secrets are revealed and it all comes to a final bloody conclusion.
The Good: This is a more contemporary adult take on the werewolf story that is loaded with action, especially towards the end. I like how the author tries to reinvent the vampire from the super rich, beautiful, sexual beings we see in so many books. There is also a good set up at the end for a sequel.
The Not so Good: The author named his werewolf Jacob, really? He could not have been unaware that there was already an iconic werewolf named Jacob. He couldn't come up with something original? Also I could have done without the smoking, smoking, smoking. So great to know that smoking does not hurt a werewolf's lungs but did the author really have to make his novel in to a product placement for Camel cigarettes. Finally Jacob is captured, a lot! For someone who knows that he is on everyone's hit list he takes surprisingly few precautions and is often caught unaware. This seems to be in direct contrast to the way you would think an intelligent person would act. After all he survived two hundred years but doesn't have the sense to check a peep hole before opening a hotel room door.
I found this to be a quick and exciting read that would translate well onto the big screen. The Last Werewolf is a recommended read.
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paranormal Discovery of Witches will probably enjoy this as well though last Werewolf has more violence and gore. The Last Werewolf purports to be the journal of one Jacob Marlowe who at the beginning of this novel finds out that he is the last of his kind. As you read, you can't help but notice that the pages have been soaked in "blood" (nice touch) though whose blood is not revealed until chapter 50. From his "journal" we learn that Jacob ate his wife Arabella and unborn child back in the 1800's shortly after he was changed from man into beast. The guilt has been his constant companion (for a really long time, werewolves live 400 years) and he has vowed never to love again. He send his days killing, drinking, smoking, and slutting around with prostitutes as he is pursued by the WOCOP other wise known as the World Organization for the Control of Occult Phenomena . The WOCOP was an off shoot of the Catholic church. Years ago they made a deal with the vampires that if they kept their numbers to 500 and paid them then they would be left alone. Now a days the WOCOP tries to exterminate the last of the werewolves and have almost succeeded. Jacob has grown bored with life and is just about to commit suicide via the WOCOP. His last friend is a man name made Harley whom he rescued years ago. Harley begs him to reconsider but Jacob is determined. To ensure that Jacob comes to them the WOCOP serves up Harley's head in a bag. Jake is kidnapped and learns that the vampires have figured out that if they get bit by a werewolf they can overcome the curse of the sun so there is interest in keeping him alive after all. Jake escapes and then everything changes three weeks later. He has a chance encounter with an extremely rare and thought not to exist female werewolf named Talulla and it's love at first sight. Jake learns that "there is something better than killing the one you love, it's killing with the one you love". Suddenly Jake is no longer alone and he has something worth living for. More kidnapping ensues, secrets are revealed and it all comes to a final bloody conclusion.
The Good: This is a more contemporary adult take on the werewolf story that is loaded with action, especially towards the end. I like how the author tries to reinvent the vampire from the super rich, beautiful, sexual beings we see in so many books. There is also a good set up at the end for a sequel.
The Not so Good: The author named his werewolf Jacob, really? He could not have been unaware that there was already an iconic werewolf named Jacob. He couldn't come up with something original? Also I could have done without the smoking, smoking, smoking. So great to know that smoking does not hurt a werewolf's lungs but did the author really have to make his novel in to a product placement for Camel cigarettes. Finally Jacob is captured, a lot! For someone who knows that he is on everyone's hit list he takes surprisingly few precautions and is often caught unaware. This seems to be in direct contrast to the way you would think an intelligent person would act. After all he survived two hundred years but doesn't have the sense to check a peep hole before opening a hotel room door.
I found this to be a quick and exciting read that would translate well onto the big screen. The Last Werewolf is a recommended read.
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LibraryThing member jorgearanda
The first half of the book, roughly, is wonderful. Great voice, great premise, promising plot. But the second half is unhinged and problematic, repetitive, and even slightly ridiculous. This is disappointing: the earlier material showed so much promise.
LibraryThing member hairball
An entertaining werewolf tale--why should vampires get all of the attention? I especially enjoyed the attention paid to the way Jake navigates the moral burden of a couple of centuries of killing people.
Be sure to read Nick Cave's over-the-top jacket blurb to see what real literary hyperbole looks
Be sure to read Nick Cave's over-the-top jacket blurb to see what real literary hyperbole looks
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like. Show Less
LibraryThing member jmchshannon
In a world where many are looking for some method of living forever or staying young as long as possible, Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf explores the dark side of eternal life. Through Jake Marlowe's struggles for survival, the reader gets an idea of just how far one is willing to compromise his
In Duncan's world, there is nothing remotely sexy or enticing about being a werewolf. Completely animalistic and necessarily cruel, these are the predatory half-man, half-wolf creatures of old. Designed to kill, their whole being revolves around the lunar cycle and the one night per month that the wolf can be unleashed in all its glory and horror. In spite of the gore and emotional trauma of what occurs each full month, what occurs when a werewolf is in human form is even more horrific. Duncan manages to make the human form one of pure torture and agony, surviving as best as possible until the next full moon. It is a rather effective image that does much to remove the romance around werewolves, as established by other paranormal novels.
Told in a journalistic narrative, the reader is taken through the gamut of Jake's emotions. From his disgust over his own actions performed in the name of survival to his wonder and astonishment at the turns life takes, even after 200 years, the reader is along for the ride. Jake's apathy oozes from each page, and his philosophical questions about existence and a desire to live make The Last Werewolf a difficult novel. However, the reader cannot help but savor each page, as Jake's malaise provides much food for thought.
Halfway through the novel, a plot twist occurs that with hindsight is not so surprising but manages to turn Jake's world upside-down, tumbling the reader into a reading frenzy. The action takes off at breakneck speed, and everything the reader previously knew about Jake changes as well. It is an intriguing turn of events that transforms this thoughtful novel into one of action and suspense. There still remains that thoughts on survival, but they take a backseat to what is actually occurring. The juxtaposition is extremely effective.
In spite of, or because of, the brutal and unapologetically feral aspects of being a werewolf, The Last Werewolf is a surprisingly human story of love and loss, survival and death, and friendship and loneliness. Similarly, Marlowe is extremely sympathetic as the last one of his species, and the reader cannot help but extrapolate what other animals have felt, if anything, as they faced extinction. Fans of the genre or myth will enjoy this very adult and more realistic view of werewolves.
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or her values to achieve such a life. Gritty, stark, blunt, and reverentially existential, this is not a typical werewolf novel and nor is it for teens. In Duncan's world, there is nothing remotely sexy or enticing about being a werewolf. Completely animalistic and necessarily cruel, these are the predatory half-man, half-wolf creatures of old. Designed to kill, their whole being revolves around the lunar cycle and the one night per month that the wolf can be unleashed in all its glory and horror. In spite of the gore and emotional trauma of what occurs each full month, what occurs when a werewolf is in human form is even more horrific. Duncan manages to make the human form one of pure torture and agony, surviving as best as possible until the next full moon. It is a rather effective image that does much to remove the romance around werewolves, as established by other paranormal novels.
Told in a journalistic narrative, the reader is taken through the gamut of Jake's emotions. From his disgust over his own actions performed in the name of survival to his wonder and astonishment at the turns life takes, even after 200 years, the reader is along for the ride. Jake's apathy oozes from each page, and his philosophical questions about existence and a desire to live make The Last Werewolf a difficult novel. However, the reader cannot help but savor each page, as Jake's malaise provides much food for thought.
Halfway through the novel, a plot twist occurs that with hindsight is not so surprising but manages to turn Jake's world upside-down, tumbling the reader into a reading frenzy. The action takes off at breakneck speed, and everything the reader previously knew about Jake changes as well. It is an intriguing turn of events that transforms this thoughtful novel into one of action and suspense. There still remains that thoughts on survival, but they take a backseat to what is actually occurring. The juxtaposition is extremely effective.
In spite of, or because of, the brutal and unapologetically feral aspects of being a werewolf, The Last Werewolf is a surprisingly human story of love and loss, survival and death, and friendship and loneliness. Similarly, Marlowe is extremely sympathetic as the last one of his species, and the reader cannot help but extrapolate what other animals have felt, if anything, as they faced extinction. Fans of the genre or myth will enjoy this very adult and more realistic view of werewolves.
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LibraryThing member TonyaJ
I devoured it, no pun intended. It ain't your Granma's Twilight, rich prose, great take on a well-used genre. Best book I've read in recent years, besides China Mieville's novels.
LibraryThing member TheLostEntwife
I have a bone to pick with this book. I want to know why books described as “literary horror” need to contain some of the most crude, disturbing, disgusting, grossly graphic acts of sexual perversion. Why? It’s not needed and over and over I found myself pulling away from the book and putting
This book was not enjoyable. It’s a shame as well, because it had elements of the gothic feeling that I love and the story was a fascinating one, once one muddled through all the filth surrounding it. That filth was so incredibly distracting though it makes it hard to say anything else about the book.
This is one that’s talked about a lot online. The title is catching and people are bound to talk about a title, a book subject and a binding like this (the edges of the pages are trimmed with red, imitating blood). It’s very much one you want to check out before buying, especially if you are squeamish and prudish like me about graphic sexual acts.
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it down, thoroughly disgusted both with what I was reading and myself for actually reading it.This book was not enjoyable. It’s a shame as well, because it had elements of the gothic feeling that I love and the story was a fascinating one, once one muddled through all the filth surrounding it. That filth was so incredibly distracting though it makes it hard to say anything else about the book.
This is one that’s talked about a lot online. The title is catching and people are bound to talk about a title, a book subject and a binding like this (the edges of the pages are trimmed with red, imitating blood). It’s very much one you want to check out before buying, especially if you are squeamish and prudish like me about graphic sexual acts.
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Awards
Shirley Jackson Award (Nominee — Novel — 2011)
RUSA CODES Reading List (Shortlist — Horror — 2012)
Lord Ruthven Award (Fiction — 2012)
Language
Original publication date
2011
Physical description
352 p.
ISBN
1847679447 / 9781847679444
Local notes
Meet Jake. A bit on the elderly side (he turns 201 in March), but you'd never suspect it. Nonstop sex and exercise will do that for you--and a diet with lots of animal protein. Jake is a werewolf, and after the unfortunate and violent death of his one contemporary, he is now the last of his species. Although he is physically healthy, Jake is deeply distraught and lonely.
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