Status Updates From The Last Man

Slow pace, if the protagonist (Lionel) is the last man, why Shelley too much concern on people around him rather than Lionel?
I am getting ready to Volume 2 (the main story) but it is slow pace, I must not give up..
In Volume 1, Shelley describe the world especially England before it might be vanish.
But I hardly imagine that this is in 2073, I feel like it's still 19th century, they use letters, horse, air balloon?

Honestly, this book is quite hard to consume.. many vocab that I didn;t know, this writing periode is before victorian era. so little bit challenging, the era simillar to my previous read, The Monk and Jane Austen.
still part one, discuss the England political in 2073, has left monarchy. the talk about politics I think unexpected... maybe we must understand the circumstance of England before the plague.