The Humans: A Novel Audiobook

Publisher Description

The bestselling, award-winning author of The Midnight Library offers his funniest, most devastating dark comedy yet, a silly, sad, suspenseful, and soulful (Philadelphia Inquirer) novel thats full of heart (Entertainment Weekly). When an extra-terrestrial visitor arrives on Earth, his first impressions of the human species are less than positive. Taking the form of Professor Andrew Martin, a prominent mathematician at Cambridge University, the visitor is eager to complete the gruesome task assigned him and hurry home to his own utopian planet, where everyone is omniscient and immortal. He is disgusted by the way humans look, what they eat, their capacity for murder and war, and is equally baffled by the concepts of love and family. But as time goes on, he starts to realize there may be more to this strange species than he had thought. Disguised as Martin, he drinks wine, reads poetry, develops an ear for rock music, and a taste for peanut butter. Slowly, unexpectedly, he forges bonds with Martins family. He begins to see hope and beauty in the humans imperfection, and begins to question the very mission that brought him there. Praised by The New York Times as a novelist of great seriousness and talent, author Matt Haig delivers an unlikely story about human nature and the joy found in the messiness of life on Earth. The Humans is a funny, compulsively readable tale that playfully and movingly explores the ultimate subjectourselves. Download and start listening now!

Quotes

Matt Haig is a novelist of stunning talent, with a laser eye for the absurd and endless reserves of compassion. – Parade Funny, poignant, and full of heart. – Entertainment Weekly The Humans is by turns silly, sad, suspenseful, and soulful.Haig managesto burrow beneath clichs as he explores the meaning of sentimentality, loyalty, love, and mortality.Haigs insights are often compelling. – Philadelphia Inquirer This is a tender, funny novel about the often irrational ways humans behave, written in accessible prose and invites comparison with Mark Haddon and Patrick Ness. – Independent on Sunday (London) A literary virtuosoMatt Haig is a supreme talent and a writer to cherish, and The Humans is undoubtedly his magnum opus. – Guardian (London) A novel with an enormous heart, infused with a sense of gratitude for everything that makes us who we are. – Daily Express (UK) Haigs unexpectedly raw tale of love, belonging, and peanut butterIts funny, clever and quite, quite lovely. – Sunday Times (London) Great idea, great plot, and superb comedy, especially from the aliens puzzled analyses of primitive human ways. – Daily Mail (London) A funny and touching tale about an alien who visits and experiences the weird and often frightening beauty of being human. – Shelf Awareness A surprisingly touching and often hilarious taleHaig elevates the premise with his deft, humor-rich storytelling skills. A reverence for mathematics and history also runs through the book, cutting through some of the sentimentality with a healthy dose of intellectualism. The Humans is an engaging summer read. – BookPage Haig strikes exactly the right tone of bemusement, discovery, and wonder in creating what is ultimately a sweet-spirited celebration of humanity and the trials and triumphs of being human. The result is a thought-provoking, compulsively readable delight. – Booklist (starred review) Funny, touching and written in a highly appealing voice. – Joanne Harris, award-winning author of Chocolat Troubling, thrilling, puzzling, believable and impossible. Matt Haig uses words like a tin-opener. We are the tin. – Jeanette Winterson, award-winning author of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Lovely stuff. So heartfelt, touching and funny. – Patrick Ness, author of The Crane Wife Narrator Mark Meadows portrays the alien visitor at the heart of this fascinating story, adroitly vocalizing the creatures evolution. A native from the utopian planet Vonadoria is sent to Earth to take the place of a math professor and bury his discovery: the solution to a mathematical conundrum that promises to elevate humansto the detriment of the rest of the universe. As voiced by Meadows, the ersatz professor, Andrew Martin, at first speaks with a clipped British accent as he describes what repulses him about humanity. But as he slowly goes native, his speech becomes, well, more human, including instances of slang and profanity. This production examines what it means to be human, and Meadows does a remarkable job of humanizing its extraterrestrial protagonist. – AudioFile