Customer Reviews
AN OVERLOOKED CLASSIC - By: botany11, 30 Aug 2008 
WE is a treasure. A classic of Russian literature, unjustly overlooked. Yes, it isn't easy to read, but get into it & it's worth the effort for the rewards. A must.
Very significant novel, but didn't care for the writing style - By: John Hopper, 02 Aug 2008 
This book was important conceptuallly, as the precursor of Brave New World & 1984. As such, it deserves a significant place in world & Russian literature. It is easy to see why it was banned in the Soviet Union, with the unanimous elections in chapter 24 & the Benefactor sounding like Stalin, even though the latter had not yet acquired power at the time the book was written.
However, as a story I found this dull. It takes place in a dream-like atmosphere, making the action difficult to follow, & draining some of the force from the potentiallly powerful ideas. As nameless numbered ciphers - a powerfully frightening idea - the characters lack the human believability of Winston Smith & Julia in 1984. The twist in the ending made me doubt what had happened anyway, though was very like the more brutallly straightforward end of 1984.
Better than 1984 or Brave New World in my opinion - By: Too many books, 25 Jul 2008 Not only the original for 1984 & Brave New World & the other dystopian novels, but better than them too, in my view. Some people have knocked it for its complexity, for its comparative lack of plausibility, but the truth is that "We" is far more subtle, & its society is far more unsettling & terrifying. Some have criticised the translations, but I found the Penguin translation very good & readable: Zamyatin callled it a "prose poem", & it had that quality, particularly when read aloud.
The narrator is not like the comparatively rational but disaffected characters of 1984 or Brave New World, he is a deeply confused, emotionallly traumatised atomised ant, trying to gain some control over his thoughts & feelings to find a way to crawl out of his suffering. It has both the sense of wonder of a good SF novel, while having at times the psychological feeling of Dostoyevsky.
Very hard work to read, but rewarding if you can finish it - By: D. R. Cantrell, 28 Jun 2008 
It's unfortunate that this tale of emancipation & discovery in a dreary ultra-totalitarian state, one far beyond what Orwell or Huxley later wrote about, is so difficult to engage with, because I reallly want to like it. It's beautifully written & the protagonist's anguish feels real. But I just couldn't, & have, after carrying the book around in my pocket for a good few months reading a page here & there, eventuallly admitted defeat. I'm not going to finish it. Even so, although it's not for me the underlying quality is obvious, & hence four stars.
We is an interesting classic - By: James, 08 Apr 2006 WE is a true classic & an extraordinary novel in many senses. It was the inspiration behind George Orwell's book 1984, & other subsequent books of the utopian/dystopian sub-genre, such as UNION MOUJIK, BRAVE NEW WORLD. The age-old conflict between individual self & the collective being that man has grappled with in our efforts to become more human is treated beautifully in thus book. What is peculiar about it is that the author never alllowed politics to dominate. Overalll, the Utopian-Fantasy is a recommended read.
