We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Mirra Ginsburg Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of We
Book Review: A pretty Damn Good Book
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is so good a great Canadain band called the Tea Party wrote a whole album about it called "Transmission". Pick up the book and the CD. They both rock and are a mindasulBook Review: A supremely frustrating, arduous, unrewarding read
Summary: 2 Stars
I had more of a struggle plodding through this book than I have had with any book in years. I love dystopian novels--I've taught Brave New World, 1984, and The Handmaid's Tale in high school courses--and science fiction in general. Having heard that We inspired both Huxley and Orwell, I knew I had to read it. But for some reason, reading it was an experience completely devoid of pleasure for me. Instead, I got increasingly frustrated at the ambiguous language and the narrator's hopping from one topic to another. I don't know if the translation is to blame, but the language of the novel seemed very disjointed to me. And I've read translations of Dostoevsky, so I don't think it's just a difference in writing styles between Russian and English speakers. I came very close to giving up on reading it, but I haven't done that with a book in years, so I forced myself to finish it yesterday. Yes, it is clear that Zamyatin's ideas are precursors for several aspects of 1984 and, to a lesser extent, Brave New World. But trust me: that don't make it fun to read! The only person I can see needing to read this chunky stew of a book is someone writing a scholarly essay on the history of the dystopian novel or something like that. And I can't even see how someone like that would actually enjoy reading We.Book Review: A very good read
Summary: 4 Stars
I have long been a fan of the 'dystopian' genre, and in my opinion this certainly ranks among the best. "We" is often compared to "1984" and "Brave New World", and although I think "We" is slightly inferior to both, I still would not hesitate to heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoyed either of those books. The premise for the society in the book is not the menacing security of Big Brother (although there is certainly some state security), nor is it the drug induced happiness of "Brave New World"'s some, but rather an interesting notion of a mathematically proved happiness whose value is infinity for all people.The book itself is written in quite a different format from either "1984" or "Brave New World"; it is told in a personal diary format. This is part of both the book's strength and weekness. It really makes the book for a quick, exciting, page turning read, but at times it feels like the author has to do a little stretching and straining of the personal narrative in order to convey some of the aspects of the society he is describing. That was probably the biggest problem I had with the book, but it is really something of a trifle, and it doesn't impact the flow of the story that badly. Again, I very much recommend this to fans of "Brave New World" and "1984", and if could give out partial ratings, I would say that this is a closer to a 4.5 star book.
Book Review: An Important and Overlooked Influence
Summary: 3 Stars
The key difficulty in reading this influential dystopian novel is that virtually everyone who cracks the cover, does so having already read 1984 and Brave New World. To a very large degree that is a pity, since this work predates those considerably-Orwell cited it as the key influence on 1984. However, once you've read those, Zamiatin's work has little new to offer, and unfolds in much less readable language. Our book group read it and discussed it with great vigor, but ultimately concluded that we wouldn't recommend it to anyone who had already read Orwell and Huxley's works.The story is related through the diary entries of D-503, a rather important cog in the machine of a future city state which has hermetically sealed itself from the wild and primal outside world that is left after the Two Hundred Years War. The staccato form of the entries makes for rather cumbersome and occasionally confusing reading. The society is strictly regimented, everyone wears the same uniform, and follows set schedules throughout the day, and literally lives in glass houses. The aim of the society is to scientifically manage everyone's time and energy for maximum efficiency and smoothness, a notion Zamiatin extrapolated from the writings of Frederick Winslow Taylor, the founder of modern scientific management principles, who was highly influential in the early part of the 20th century. However, this "perfect" society-where happiness is considered inversely proportional to freedom-has yet to figure out a way to eliminate that most primal of urges, sex.
This achilles heel is what sets things in motion, as D-503, who is the lead engineer in the construction of a rocket ship being designed to expand the society to other worlds, falls for a dishy rebel who has access to the outside world. This sparks emotions and feelings he's not familiar with, the discovery of a soul within him, and wild mood swings within him as he grapples with the implications of all this. Zamiatin seems to be indicating that in our most primal urges are also the last vestiges of our individual souls. Clearly the novel is meant to attack both the rise of modern industrialism, and totalitarianism in general (not Stalin specifically though, he didn't consolidate his position until almost a decade after the book was written). Zamiatin was a revolutionary, and was jailed by the Czar's secret police on several occasions. He never renounced the revolution but did have plenty to say about those who hijacked it and created the world's most brutally efficient police state (for a good short history of that, see Martin Amis's Koba the Dread). Ultimately, this is an important novel, but not a particularly enjoyable one to read.
Book Review: An interesting pre-Orwell dystopia
Summary: 5 Stars
It is said that George Orwell lifted some material for "1984" from this book, and one can truly see the parallels. "We" is a masterpiece; though not always as involving as "1984", it is well constructed and powerful. A fairly quick read, "We" will keep you interested and leave you with an interesting literary history lesson.