We: A Novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Reviewed by: Melissa Friedlund, Reference Specialist
Genre: Dystopian Science Fiction
Suggested Age: Adult
What is the book about? Hundreds of years into the future, after war and turmoil, humans live regimented lives “safe” from the outside world surrounded by a green glass wall. People don’t have names, they have numerical designations. D503 is the lead builder of an ambitious project to send a flying craft, the Integral, to other worlds to spread the peace and happiness of this society where individual freedom is quashed and imagination is threat. D503 is writing a log to be included in the items sent on the Integral. Initially, he extols the magnificence of his life, but after an encounter with a mysterious woman, D503 descends into a dizzying world of self-doubt, paranoia, and frenetic rationalizations…all because she awakened his imagination. Is this a turning point for him? Will he find true happiness by rejecting all that he has ever known and embracing individual freedom?
My Review: This book was written in 1920 by a Russian author who didn’t live to see his work published in his native language, which didn’t happen until 1988. I listened to the audiobook of a new translation of this book, with a forward by Margaret Atwood and contributions from George Orwell and Ursula K. Le Guin. I liked the format of a log being written by the main character. It was clear that D503 was coming unhinged after being confronted with ideas that went against how he was taught to think. This is a cautionary tale about the dangers of suppressed individuality and a totalitarian society. It was an intriguing read that deserves a wider audience. George Orwell wrote his well-known dystopian novel 1984 after reading a French translation of We in the 1940s. His review of this book from 1946, included after the story, compares it to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World from 1932.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Provocative, Unsettling, Cautionary
Give This a Try if You Like…1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Rating: 5/5
