We (Mass Market Paperback)

However this version of the book is spoiled by being translated into a very American version of English. This reads very oddly in places with all sorts of Americanisms that seem out of place in a Russian novel.

The introduction is very long winded and doesn't do the book justice. It treats the novel as some kind of historic curiosity rather than a book that's really worth reading. The introduction also makes the cardinal sin of giving away too much of the storyline, which is annoying if like me you read it before starting on the novel itself.

3 stars. Would have been 4 if the book had been translated and packaged better.

The story is related through the diary entries of D-503, a rather important cog in the machine of a future city state which has hermetically sealed itself from the wild and primal outside world that is left after the Two Hundred Years War. The staccato form of the entries makes for rather cumbersome and occasionally confusing reading. The society is strictly regimented, everyone wears the same uniform, and follows set schedules throughout the day, and literally lives in glass houses. The aim of the society is to scientifically manage everyone's time and energy for maximum efficiency and smoothness, a notion Zamiatin extrapolated from the writings of Frederick Winslow Taylor, the founder of modern scientific management principles, who was highly influential in the early part of the 20th century. However, this "perfect" society-where happiness is considered inversely proportional to freedom-has yet to figure out a way to eliminate that most primal of urges, sex.

This achilles heel is what sets things in motion, as D-503, who is the lead engineer in the construction of a rocket ship being designed to expand the society to other worlds, falls for a dishy rebel who has access to the outside world. This sparks emotions and feelings he's not familiar with, the discovery of a soul within him, and wild mood swings within him as he grapples with the implications of all this. Zamiatin seems to be indicating that in our most primal urges are also the last vestiges of our individual souls. Clearly the novel is meant to attack both the rise of modern industrialism, and totalitarianism in general (not Stalin specifically though, he didn't consolidate his position until almost a decade after the book was written). Zamiatin was a revolutionary, and was jailed by the Czar's secret police on several occasions. He never renounced the revolution but did have plenty to say about those who hijacked it and created the world's most brutally efficient police state (for a good short history of that, see Martin Amis's Koba the Dread). Ultimately, this is an important novel, but not a particularly enjoyable one to read.