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Life Ever After
Tech City: Society is obsessed with relentless progress and the possibility of eternal life. A woman and a man meet in waiting room, anticipating a procedure that will incorporate the latest science and technology into their minds and bodies, heightening their awareness and increasing their productivity. Years pass, their relationship deepens and fades, and they grow increasingly uncertain where the AI stops and where they begin. A romantic drama exploring the potentiality of transhumanism, Life Ever After is a rich listening experience that is at once naturalistic and poetic.
Playwright Carla Grauls was awarded a commission through the Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund, an initiative dedicated to developing innovative original plays driven by language and voice. As an Audible commissioned playwright, she received funding and creative support to develop Life Ever After.
Playwright Carla Grauls was awarded a commission through the Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund, an initiative dedicated to developing innovative original plays driven by language and voice. As an Audible commissioned playwright, she received funding and creative support to develop Life Ever After.
1 pages, Audiobook
First published June 27, 2019
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307 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 214 reviews
August 4, 2020
No amount of production value could change the fact that this was just two people arguing for an hour.
July 12, 2020
The narration in this sci-fi was phenomenal! Wish it were longer!!!
July 6, 2020
Really neat short audiobook about a future where humans can replace failing body parts with mechanical ones to become cyborgs... but then have to decide how far they want to go. I really liked the way this one was produced. Narration was split between the two main characters, with a separate narrator for each. Everything is done as if it was either dialogue or an internal monolog, and for this story it really worked.
July 12, 2020
A short story about how advancing technology allows people to be wired in, enhanced, integrated with AIs that make decisions for them, even feel for them, and still struggle to be their own person. A man and a woman repeatedly meet at the clinic to get the next set of enhancements, or undo the last one. They have relationships, break up, reverse roles, and generally have a lot of emotional drama.
Not quite transhumanist, and very light on the sci-fi, with pretty good voice acting.
Not quite transhumanist, and very light on the sci-fi, with pretty good voice acting.
September 6, 2022
Interesting concept but not really fully achieved. It was okay especially in light of the fact that it was free.
September 21, 2020
There's a review I read before I listened to this audio book. Something along the lines of '2 hours of two robots arguing'. And . . . yeah, this is an hour and a half of 2 robots arguing. Or, in a way, if Siri and Alexa dated.
Right, so, two people - a voice that sounds more manish and a voice that sounds more womanish - live in the future adding electronic stuff to themselves (in the opening, the woman argues with herself if she should select human for herself, or other; she choices other because of the electronic stuff). They, I think, date (they slept together at least once, but did they date? No idea - it really is basically just an hour and a half of 2 robots arguing without actually including non-arguing stuff).
Heh - to a certain extent it is more two people standing next to each other yelling insults at each other rather than actual arguments.
The man always sounded depressed and angry. The woman always sounded angry and . . . a different type of depressed.
This also is a horror story. A overly controlling man who needs to always be, literally inside the woman's mind; while the woman wants to not be merged/with him in her head. hehe - I've read books/seen films etc. with this theme. From like the 1970s. The wife who feels like she has no identity, no separate identity, and suddenly wants to 'find herself'. And the husband who is blissfully unaware of the issue until they are slammed with it when the woman implodes. And the man undermines the woman; doesn't understand; etc.
hahaha - [woman] 'Why do you need me?' [Man] 'Because I'm afraid of the dark.' That's . . . such a great reason to be together.
This probably would have worked better for me if I liked audiobooks more. This wouldn't have worked as a word only book, though.
February 21 2020
Right, so, two people - a voice that sounds more manish and a voice that sounds more womanish - live in the future adding electronic stuff to themselves (in the opening, the woman argues with herself if she should select human for herself, or other; she choices other because of the electronic stuff). They, I think, date (they slept together at least once, but did they date? No idea - it really is basically just an hour and a half of 2 robots arguing without actually including non-arguing stuff).
Heh - to a certain extent it is more two people standing next to each other yelling insults at each other rather than actual arguments.
The man always sounded depressed and angry. The woman always sounded angry and . . . a different type of depressed.
This also is a horror story. A overly controlling man who needs to always be, literally inside the woman's mind; while the woman wants to not be merged/with him in her head. hehe - I've read books/seen films etc. with this theme. From like the 1970s. The wife who feels like she has no identity, no separate identity, and suddenly wants to 'find herself'. And the husband who is blissfully unaware of the issue until they are slammed with it when the woman implodes. And the man undermines the woman; doesn't understand; etc.
hahaha - [woman] 'Why do you need me?' [Man] 'Because I'm afraid of the dark.' That's . . . such a great reason to be together.
This probably would have worked better for me if I liked audiobooks more. This wouldn't have worked as a word only book, though.
February 21 2020
July 6, 2020
Oh boy, yet another tale about the ~evils of techology~, how original. At least it's mildly interesting to see how the characters and their differing opinions interact and how those opinions change. I didn't realize until I was nearly finished listening that this story is divided into tracks/chapters - the characters go through six procedures - but there is no indication of this at all in the audio. That would have been extremely helpful in understanding when scene changes and time skips were happening.
December 31, 2020
Life ever after is a long way from being everlasting, being an hour and a half of rapid-fire dialogue connected by brief bits of stream of consciousness. It’s innovative though I can’t say it grabbed me.
This seems more about weirdly dysfunctional relationships than the big questions it asks for which I could only discern shallow answers. I suppose I might’ve missed something in this whirlwind of a production. The author makes an effort at giving a sense of the passage of time, decades go by, but it feels rushed.
Much is made of the fact that one of the characters has a mechanical heart as if that had anything to do with whether or not she could feel deeply. (That would be the figurative heart, people.) All I could think was how, in all the time that was supposed to have passed, they hadn’t come up with something better than a glitchy mechanical heart?
In the end, this felt like little more than a confusing Black Mirror episode.
This seems more about weirdly dysfunctional relationships than the big questions it asks for which I could only discern shallow answers. I suppose I might’ve missed something in this whirlwind of a production. The author makes an effort at giving a sense of the passage of time, decades go by, but it feels rushed.
Much is made of the fact that one of the characters has a mechanical heart as if that had anything to do with whether or not she could feel deeply. (That would be the figurative heart, people.) All I could think was how, in all the time that was supposed to have passed, they hadn’t come up with something better than a glitchy mechanical heart?
In the end, this felt like little more than a confusing Black Mirror episode.
July 3, 2020
I loved the audiobook voice actors but the story was a little confusing ! I still didn’t get it !
July 18, 2020
AI Enhanced Humans
Review of the Audible Originals audiobook (June 2019)
Maybe it was the robotic delivery of much of the text here, which admittedly was in keeping with the theme of humans gradually converted and enhanced into immortal beings, but I just could not get engaged with this 90 minute Audible Theatre audiobook. A couple meets while undergoing enhancement procedures at various stages in their lives and debates about it. There just didn't seem to be much drama or suspense.
Life Ever After is one of the 2018 Audible Emerging Playwrights commissions. As with the other commissions released to date, it is a studio recording rather than a live theatre performance.
Life Ever After was originally released in June 2019 and was also one of ten Audible Originals available free for members for the month of July 2020. It is available to everyone for a standard price.
Review of the Audible Originals audiobook (June 2019)
Maybe it was the robotic delivery of much of the text here, which admittedly was in keeping with the theme of humans gradually converted and enhanced into immortal beings, but I just could not get engaged with this 90 minute Audible Theatre audiobook. A couple meets while undergoing enhancement procedures at various stages in their lives and debates about it. There just didn't seem to be much drama or suspense.
Life Ever After is one of the 2018 Audible Emerging Playwrights commissions. As with the other commissions released to date, it is a studio recording rather than a live theatre performance.
Life Ever After was originally released in June 2019 and was also one of ten Audible Originals available free for members for the month of July 2020. It is available to everyone for a standard price.
July 10, 2020
It's about two robots meeting each other and then basically wanting to live different lives.
Honestly, Life Ever After was confusing and a bit boring. It had potential to be pretty good but I just feel like things were just rushed for me. I also feel like important information was just skimmed over or never mentioned at all. It would've been great to have learned all of what happened behind the scenes.. but I guess I'll just go with whatever this little novella had in it.
Honestly, Life Ever After was confusing and a bit boring. It had potential to be pretty good but I just feel like things were just rushed for me. I also feel like important information was just skimmed over or never mentioned at all. It would've been great to have learned all of what happened behind the scenes.. but I guess I'll just go with whatever this little novella had in it.
September 30, 2020
here's a story of two people having the same argument over and over again. they shouldn't be together, but they keep crossing paths, and technology could be bad or it could be great or who even knows.
I just think this could've been way better. not a terrible concept. not highly original, but still. well produced and acted, but not the best. like a weak black mirror episode.
I just think this could've been way better. not a terrible concept. not highly original, but still. well produced and acted, but not the best. like a weak black mirror episode.
August 6, 2019
This really could be a great episode of Black Mirror!
Also, the plot reminded of some life moments and, although short its grasp went a little further... I liked but because of this, I might not return to it.
I do recommend it!
Also, the plot reminded of some life moments and, although short its grasp went a little further... I liked but because of this, I might not return to it.
I do recommend it!
July 9, 2020
Chronicles a Dystopian couple as they move through “upgrades” and their relationship struggles. Glad it was short.
July 10, 2020
Reminded me a little of The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind when they started erasing each other from their memories.
January 23, 2022
Quick/fun/interesting
July 15, 2020
2.5 Mildly interesting. Glad it was free. I did like the narrators.
September 8, 2020
An audible original, this story is more like a play. Lots of dialog. It takes a while to get into it, but then some pretty serious themes come into play. An interesting read.
September 30, 2020
Fascinating and weird. Definitely gives more questions than it answers. What does it mean to be human? How can AI and machines change us? Well acted as well on Aubible.
August 8, 2020
Sweet and melancholy story about romance during the age of super high tech, where both cities and humans are being constantly improved through technology. How much improvement is too much, and where does one stop? This short story would have made (or maybe soon will make?) a great episode on Black Mirror! Great narration; the story is told strictly through the dialogue of the 2 main characters.
August 10, 2020
Seriously the 3 stars is for the narrators. The story is one long fight the level of philosophy reminded me of 1 year philosophy discussions at varsity. I outgrew this plight once faced with real life. And anybody in a relationship can tell you unequivocally that the inner dialogue is all too human. The characters that is questioning their feelings.....wondering what is real vs what is AI? Please.
The voices though. Amazing.
The voices though. Amazing.
July 14, 2020
Short. Interesting. Not my favorite.
July 9, 2020
Biotechnology and data drive vision of our future. An Audible tale in which humans can choose to live forever if the agree to give up their memory and become bionic/robots that never age. Based on questions one answers on a computer survey and an interview with a female non-human. A rather negative thinking human is totally changed into a happy, healthy, revitalizing version of himself who choose to live forever but remembers nothing of his past. This science fiction tale offers humans the right to choose between eternal life with no physical aging or compassionate ending to one’s life. It is a Faustian bargin for the modern man.
August 25, 2025
I cannot unrecommend this audiobook enough. Aside from just being weird, the cadence, volume, and phrasing was really bad. It felt like someone writing a book trying to sound artsy and it was not my cup of tea. The last 10 minutes of the book was actually thought provoking and insightful….but it did not make up for the rest of the book.
August 30, 2020
Este es uno de los Originales de Audible que tengo muertos de risa en mi app. No sé porqué me da pereza escucharlos.
Lo mejor de este es, sin duda, la narración. Es una producción “teatral” así que incluye música y efectos de sonido. La historia es interesante aunque, como suele ser en estos casos, muy corta.
Lo mejor de este es, sin duda, la narración. Es una producción “teatral” así que incluye música y efectos de sonido. La historia es interesante aunque, como suele ser en estos casos, muy corta.
February 11, 2022
3.5- A short story about two people changing because of technology. It made me think.
October 12, 2020
The narrators do a fantastic job and the selection is well-written, but the storyline is sometimes hard to understand, making it difficult to follow.
It is about a man and a woman who decide to prolong their lives by upgrading to become half human/half cyborg. The woman decides to upgrade because of childhood heart problems, she needs an artificial heart in order to survive. The man decides to upgrade because he is unhappy, depressed, and longs for the ability to connect with others.
Immediately after the upgrade, they simultaneously fall in love with each other and stay together for several years.
The AI part of themselves makes all the decisions for them based on the best interest of them individually, eliminating their ability to choose anything anymore. However,, they do have the ability to switch off be AI part of themselves for short periods of time, it is during one of these “off times” that the woman decides that she no longer wants to be with the man because she’s tired of the man knowing her every thought before she can express it. The man is crushed because he has finally learned how to love and connect with her and the world around him. He doesn’t want to lose her, but she wants her freedom to be more human and ultimately they separate.
Over the years that follow, whenever one goes in for an upgrade, the other one is there and they’re able to visit about their lives, but they are never again on the same path.
While this has a unique premise and interesting conversational prose, I believe it only merits 2.75 stars, but if you are a big AI fan, you’ll probably enjoy it more than I did.
It is about a man and a woman who decide to prolong their lives by upgrading to become half human/half cyborg. The woman decides to upgrade because of childhood heart problems, she needs an artificial heart in order to survive. The man decides to upgrade because he is unhappy, depressed, and longs for the ability to connect with others.
Immediately after the upgrade, they simultaneously fall in love with each other and stay together for several years.
The AI part of themselves makes all the decisions for them based on the best interest of them individually, eliminating their ability to choose anything anymore. However,, they do have the ability to switch off be AI part of themselves for short periods of time, it is during one of these “off times” that the woman decides that she no longer wants to be with the man because she’s tired of the man knowing her every thought before she can express it. The man is crushed because he has finally learned how to love and connect with her and the world around him. He doesn’t want to lose her, but she wants her freedom to be more human and ultimately they separate.
Over the years that follow, whenever one goes in for an upgrade, the other one is there and they’re able to visit about their lives, but they are never again on the same path.
While this has a unique premise and interesting conversational prose, I believe it only merits 2.75 stars, but if you are a big AI fan, you’ll probably enjoy it more than I did.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2020
This has a lot of sound effects in the beginning of this audiobook which is interesting, but it frequently overwhelms the dialogue, leaving you struggling to hear and make sense of anything. It does get better, periodically, if you hang in there, but it’s still really hard to consume the story with all the aggressive noise. I know I missed a lot, even with frequent rewind.
Basically, I like the idea of the production but hate the execution.
As far as I could tell, there was no action or emotional resonance. It seems to mostly be 2 people bickering and info dumping for 90 minutes with aggressive sound effects. The dialogue style frequently has a clipped feel that I found unsatisfying.
Basically, I like the idea of the production but hate the execution.
As far as I could tell, there was no action or emotional resonance. It seems to mostly be 2 people bickering and info dumping for 90 minutes with aggressive sound effects. The dialogue style frequently has a clipped feel that I found unsatisfying.
July 10, 2020
A cautionary tale about the evils of technology and how being “connected” can ultimately be detrimental. Both voice actors have great voices, but the constant intensity of their conversations became difficult to listen to for the duration of the piece. More levels might have made this piece more impactful.
September 13, 2020
Stilted Dialogue
Stilted dialogue is difficult to listen to and made it hard to finish this story. This story tries very hard to be deep and thought provoking but really it is just an hour and a half of telling the listener what to think instead of letting us draw our own conclusions regarding the subject matter.
Stilted dialogue is difficult to listen to and made it hard to finish this story. This story tries very hard to be deep and thought provoking but really it is just an hour and a half of telling the listener what to think instead of letting us draw our own conclusions regarding the subject matter.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 214 reviews