First published in 1921, I read this 2006 edition translated into English by Natasha Randall. Preceding the more well known English titles like Brave New World and 1984, We is one of the original government control dystopians. Zamyatin envisions a society ruled by rigidity and transformed for better or worse by the belief in the collective, where only the group has “rights” and the individual has “duties.” Things go sideways for our hero when he meets a captivating woman who challenges his steadfast belief in the One State.⁣
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What I loved best was the thoughtful worldbuilding, and the way the protagonist, writing in a journal he anticipates will be read by members of a less advanced society, explains his worldview. The book lost me for a while in the middle; the narrator spirals into an existential crisis and becomes increasingly incomprehensible as he wrestles with new feelings and this uncomfortable opposition to a society he never dreamed could rationally be opposed. I was also generally frustrated by the trope-y relationship between the protagonist and this mysterious woman, who challenges him less with intellectual arguments and more because he’s just recklessly smitten. As the action rises, this book found its footing for me again and I couldn’t put it down as everything roared toward its thought-provoking conclusion. Overall glad I read this one, and excited to discuss.