Ratings107
Average rating3.7
We is set into the far-flung future well after a war that had lasted two-hundred years.D-503 lives in the One State, a lone city constructed almost entirely of glass so that the State can keep an eye on the citizens at all times. Life is organized by the hour in order to maximum proficiency and maximum output from every inhabitant. People walk in step with each other and wear identical clothing with badges with their numbers/names for easy identification by the States agents. 'I' is not allowed. Only 'We' exists.People do not have names, they have a serial number.A permit is needed for times to have intimate relationships in order to lower the shades on the glass buildings the city is composed of. There is total surveillance of every person.While the final work to put the One State not only as an Earthbound government but to make it an interstellar one as well, D-503 begins to live a life of rebellion and secrets.He is in a fight against time as the One State has developed a procedure to eliminate Imagination in order to make all the people of the One State more efficient and less distracted.
Reviews with the most likes.
I just can't believe it took me so long to learn of the existence of this book, which has so clearly inspired both Orwell and Huxley in their most famous works.
An absolute fantastic read, specially in this latest, beautifully put together edition.
“There's no final revolution, there's no final number”
Beautiful prose but no idea what it was about!
I've been collecting both recommendations and books that “we should have read” and it's really amazing to find that this book was written in the 1920s, before 1984 and A Brave New World.
The book was originally written in Russian and banned from publication for many decades. The version I've read is apparently a faithful and good translation but I do always wonder if the language has been modified or not (in one section I found a reference to electric toothbrushes - something that was invented some 30 years later).
None the less, the words to this book really are poetry.
The problem I had is that I really wasn't sure where I was in the story. The character thinks he's going insane, but he's actually discovering he has a soul, but often it did read like a madman and hallucinations.
It does end predictably, but only because I've already read the likes of 1984. I can't imagine the impact on a reader reading this back in the late 1920s. It's also worth adding that the writing really does hold up nearly a century later, which is baffling amazing.
So, great stuff for nearly 100 years old, but “just okay” because I struggled to fully follow the character.
Both stunningly brilliant and frightening simultaneously.
I have to respect the impact this book has had. Reading it for the first time, I can see its influence writ large upon many of my favourite dystopias, from Brave New World to 1984. The oppressive controlling state forms the center, a direct challenge to the rising authoritarianism in Bolshevik Russia. The concept that happiness and freedom can directly oppose one another. These are big themes, dealt with in an impressive way.
Surprisingly, a lot of the world and concepts seem very timeless. The glass buildings to remove privacy are eerily reminiscent of modern glass skyscrapers (it brings to mind the Tate Modern in London which overlooks some expensive penthouses where people have been complaining). The rocket ships and surveillance is all very ahead of its time. There is also a very liberal view on sex and sexuality - very enlightened for its time.
The prose itself is on the poetic flowery side, which is not to my personal taste, but I can see it is well constructed and beautifully done. There is a kind of stream of consciousness flow to everything which can be a bit exhausting, but the descent to rebellion is well captured.
This is one of the foundational texts for modern dystopias. It still reads well and powerfully to this day, almost 100 years after it was first written