Reviews

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

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jmrich's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

jordandotcom's review against another edition

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2.0

I enjoyed the theological and philosophical justifications for the society, and how it was structured on what appeared to be complete transparency - you could not act without being a part of a whole system of others. what i hate about this is that it falls into the same issues a lot of others do: lack of an economic system, the how of the society, and the why. It makes sense that there would be controls over who could have sex and when (this was even suggested in Plato’s Republic) but there was no reasoning to explain why they were paired in such ways, what the purpose of this was, and how one could switch or revoke their pairing. We know the pink coupons exist but there’s no explanation given to all other parts of the society - there obviously has to be some kind of economic system involved, but this is never clarified. The reason that the narrator develops a “soul” is basically because he had good sex with the dystopian version of a manic pixie dream girl. while reading this, i could not think of one trait I-330 had, except for her spontaneity in rebelling against the system. this is exactly what i hated about 1984 as well. I-330 is merely a conduit for the narrator to have a development in character, and that falls really short to me as an explanation. This book was also supremely racist in its treatment and describing of R-13, which became especially clear in “repulsive and agile as a gorilla”. Also, @Yevgeny, what the fuck are “Negroid teeth”? Like yes I know pseudoscience was developed to try and establish biological differences between races in order to push biological inferiority, but. Come on.

Overall, I know I just focused on nit-picky things but it’s due to the fact that they ruined the book for me. While I enjoyed the philosophical basis for their society and an exploration of all that, I pretty much hate everything that followed once he met I-330.

Essentially, I wholeheartedly skimmed the last 100 pages and didn’t really find anything that made me want to truly read it. I just really wanted them to discuss the economics of this system, man!!!

alexj_f's review against another edition

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4.0

I really enjoyed this book actually the first dystopian I think I’ve read which is quite fitting it being the first of the genre. I think I was lucky to have read this before reading others. I really liked it my main qualm was with the characterization which was hard to grasp but there is a part of me that feels even the things that don’t make sense in this book add to the concept. I love the fact that it’s so absurdly hard for me to imagine this story and this world and these characters because that’s kind of the point. This is a book I need to give a second read and pull out some quotes from but yeah really enjoyed it loved the ending.

avasimpson's review against another edition

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3.0

Good but a bit difficult to follow at some points when the metaphors got crazy. I suppose this is necessary to follow the characters mental state though.

craigmaxwell's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 but not quite a 4.

It started off brilliantly, with great quotes, and a real understanding of the society. However, about 3/4 of the way through I got lost, there was too much in depth writing about scenes and over use of metaphors that the core storyline for me became convoluted.

None the less a great classic novel that I am really glad I read, showing exceptional imagination for the time it was written! It has inspired me to root out some more classic novels.

dlberglund's review against another edition

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3.0

I wish this book had gained a wider audience, and I had been able to read it before reading other, more modern distopian novels. Orwell stated (somewhere) that this novel influenced his writings.After reading more modern, similarly themed books, however, it is hard to feel as much of an impact from this one. I also wonder how much is lost in the translation, and retranslation of the novel.