We

We

Softcover
3.624

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Description

The chilling dystopian novel that influenced George Orwell while he was writing 1984, with a new introduction by Margaret Atwood and an essay by Ursula Le Guin

In a glass-enclosed city of perfectly straight lines, ruled over by an all-powerful “Benefactor,” the citizens of the totalitarian society of OneState are regulated by spies and secret police; wear identical clothing; and are distinguished only by a number assigned to them at birth. That is, until D-503, a mathematician who dreams in numbers, makes a discovery: he has an individual soul. He can feel things. He can fall in love. And, in doing so, he begins to dangerously veer from the norms of his society, becoming embroiled in a plot to destroy OneState and liberate the city.Set in the twenty-sixth century AD, We was the forerunner of canonical works from George Orwell and Alduous Huxley, among others. It was suppressed for more than sixty years in Russia and remains a resounding cry for individual freedom, as well as a powerful, exciting, and vivid work of science fiction that still feels relevant today. Bela Shayevich’s bold new translation breathes new life into Yevgeny Zamyatin’s seminal work and refreshes it for our current era. 

Book Information

Main Genre
Novels
Sub Genre
Adventure
Format
Softcover
Pages
304
Price
18.50 €

Posts

6
All
3

I can understand why it was banned and how it has influenced so many other scifi writers. It works so well that he does not goes into details in the last chapter... Better let imagination to work it out.

4

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is one of the more challenging books I have read. How it rambled on, despite it's short length really toyed with my attention span but I'm proud of myself for having this classic under my belt. We is a retro-futuristic book set in a dystopian society. The fun part about retro-futuristic books is that they reveal more about the time they were written more than anything else (fantastic how this was pointed out in the foreword). I loved picking apart how wrong almost all the tech were compared to what we have now. But yeah, this book isn't about that. It's just a thinly veiled allegory of a struggle in society that seems to be constant. The society of We was trying to maintain a hive to reach their goals. The problem is that human beings are not bees. As anyone would expect, this will eventually turn into a dumpster fire and it sorta almost did. It's only a matter of time before technology caught up with the needs of the state to reach a perfect hive. I think they are on the precipice of it. I ask myself, is a hive a bad thing if that's all I have ever know? Do we always have too many cooks on earth that is why it is so chaotic all the time? Is a hive our final form as a society? Could it even be ideal? Are human beings inherently masochists? Maybe. Maybe not. What stuck with me that as long as individual thinking persists, there would be no final revolution. This is very true. I also enjoyed the questionable maths in the book. We was not a smooth and fun read for me. I still recommend it for the culture. I loved the narration of the audiobook. It was deliciously retro!

2

Сорри - но это - Бред! 2 звёзды за «время» 1920 - антиутопия! Есть пару интересных идей, но идеям не хватает глубины. Общество которое уже давно функционирует, в котором отказались от эмоций, любви и фантазии. И секс по талонам. При этом у Д503 едет крыша от любви. По ходу не порядок, а какая то кроличья нора. Совершенно не дотягивает до «Этот чудесный мир» и тем более до «1984». Не жалею что прочитал. Но ни кому посоветовать не могу.

3

Being written in 1921, "We" is the predecessor to dystopic novels such as "1984" and "Brave New World". So its an interesting read for fans of the genre. However, the style of writing of "We" was kind of exhausting with its stream of consciousness-style and not finished sentences.

3.5

The blueprint for 1984

This book is essentially 1984. And it did it first. It has recording entries as a writing style and is in my opinion a bit more rough around the edges. Others argue that the number assigned individuals have more depth, i didnt see that. 1984 is thr better adaption for the style and names alone. Glass houses instead of big brother? Declaring anything not in line as a desease and a reason to disqualify their opinion and rights as invalid? If you love to explore this dystopian style even more, have a go! Otherwise, read the more prevelant 1984 to talk about your friends with. The talking points will be almost the same.

4

The Science Fiction series by Penguin really turns out to be a bunch of excellent reads. From the pages of this dystopic story from the 1920s, you can see the reflection of the present time grin up at you distortedly and darkly. I had Love it if we made it by the The 1975 running through my mind the whole time while reading this, especially of course the one line: "Modernity has failed us"

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