We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Mirra Ginsburg Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of We
Book Review: We: Must Reading for Everyone with a Soul
Summary: 5 Stars
WE is highly recommended for anyone with a soul; anyone, that is, who feels singular in a society without intellectual and emotional diversity. WE addresses the political climate of early 20th century Russia, but asks more disturbing questions (and possibly makes predictions) upon the logical outcome of our own societal direction.Book Review: What am I like?
Summary: 4 Stars
First in the well known "Dystopian Triad", that further includes Brave New World (A. Huxley), and, 1984 (G. Orwell), where-within-which the reader is assaulted and ridiculed for believing in a "perfect society".Math100 commands the spaceship "Freedom", as his conquerous mission befells planet after planet, civilization after civilization, and the benign after the benign.WHO AM I?WHAT AM I LIKE?DO I HAVE A FATHER?Math100's compassion saves some, but it's his new, free, intellect that persuades others. Even in death.Very depressing. Be so lucky to advance our own civilization; tyranne the lessers; become the star of persuasion, introduce logic..... instead we regress, decompensate, and implode. I wonder why?Did Zamyitan (sp.?) forsee Hitler?How?"Those who forget the past, are doomed to repeat it", G. Santiana.Still! WHO AM I?Book Review: Wow
Summary: 5 Stars
This 1920 book is a powerful example of prototype dystopian science fiction. It exists on more than just one or two levels. Impeccable math and science (Zamyatin was a Naval architect), religious imagery, jokes (that's right), and of course, scathing political prophecy are all present in this melting pot. Not to mention it's actually a fun read! The influence of this novel cannot be overstated in the political history of the world and in the science fiction genre. The amount of subtleties in this book that aren't shoved down your throat will guarantee your continued (and renewed) enjoyment of successive reads; there's something new on every round. Clocking in at a modest 232 pages for the paperback edition, it won't take you that long, though you may find yourself spending a lot of time in thought after finishing it. I've heard that there are better translations than this one. It's all a matter of preference, really, and this is the one that's most widely available. If you fancy yourself a science fiction fan or politically aware, this is more than worth your time.
Book Review: barely competent dystopia, bad Scifi.
Summary: 2 Stars
I found that the stream-of-consciousness was difficult to read; this was possibly due to translation.
You can see the seeds of ideas which were better-explored by later literature, including 1984, Brave new World, THX-1138, and others, but they are poorly fleshed out in this novel. It only deserves points because it was before those others. At best it is a bland description of an impossible world: Glass tenaments, marching queues of citizens, copulation tickets, forced surgery, schoolchild indoctrination, assemblys, a single ruler, pre-decided elections, gas chambers, etc.
Part of SciFi though is to pay attention to details and try to create believability and some drama. Even if the world is one that obeys different rules, SciFi should set up a consistant system of rules and how they are then obeyed or disobeyed. This novel does nothing of the sort. It is a tragedy, but you don't feel sympathy with the protagonist. You don't know (or care) who is a good guy and who is a bad guy. It is completely unbelievable that the simple-minded protagonist is a highly technical designer of a spaceship. The size of the city-state is unbelievably small. The ride in the ship is anticlimactic. The comparisons of life with mathematics are juvenile and no one with a 6th-grade math education would buy them. Even if there were an oppressive rule, this world could not exist.
Book Review: it was mindblowing
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't like typing much, so I'm not going to write a review( I dislike computers)