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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
http://zimlicious.blogspot.com/
This was the second book we read as a book club, Ex Libris. First I must start with --excuse my French-- bitching about the publisher's introduction: It was way too long and way too detailed. I personally like to read the introductions in the end, after I make up my own mind about the book first. On Kindle, it's a pain in the butt to scroll back so many pages (or I haven't found the better way to do it yet), so I read it first and quickly regretted it.
The book itself, however, I enjoyed a great deal. It's quite crazy how they'll shove Orwell's 1984 down your throat in high school, but nobody even bothers to mention WE. Now that I think about it again, I'm not even sure if they knew about this at all. I do love 1984, and it was very exciting to read the one book that gave birth to it and many others alike.
Since I was so pissed off at the introduction, I'm not going to get into too much detail here. It's a book about "the collectives’ rights to individuals’ souls in the name of revolutions and progress." It's a tiny book that makes you ask big questions that probably were already wandering in the back of your head, and you find yourself questioning the world over and over again. Revolutions give birth to too much sorrow, yet great things come out of them as well. And I honestly believe this book is one of them.
My research showed that the English translation I've read is the most perfected one out there. I found this hard to believe most of the time, though. I of course have no idea how fluent the original writing is, but the translation is cringe-worthy and hard to understand at times. Nevertheless, I believe everyone should give this one a shot.
This was the second book we read as a book club, Ex Libris. First I must start with --excuse my French-- bitching about the publisher's introduction: It was way too long and way too detailed. I personally like to read the introductions in the end, after I make up my own mind about the book first. On Kindle, it's a pain in the butt to scroll back so many pages (or I haven't found the better way to do it yet), so I read it first and quickly regretted it.
The book itself, however, I enjoyed a great deal. It's quite crazy how they'll shove Orwell's 1984 down your throat in high school, but nobody even bothers to mention WE. Now that I think about it again, I'm not even sure if they knew about this at all. I do love 1984, and it was very exciting to read the one book that gave birth to it and many others alike.
Since I was so pissed off at the introduction, I'm not going to get into too much detail here. It's a book about "the collectives’ rights to individuals’ souls in the name of revolutions and progress." It's a tiny book that makes you ask big questions that probably were already wandering in the back of your head, and you find yourself questioning the world over and over again. Revolutions give birth to too much sorrow, yet great things come out of them as well. And I honestly believe this book is one of them.
My research showed that the English translation I've read is the most perfected one out there. I found this hard to believe most of the time, though. I of course have no idea how fluent the original writing is, but the translation is cringe-worthy and hard to understand at times. Nevertheless, I believe everyone should give this one a shot.
"We is the story of D-503, a mathematician working on the building of Integral, OneState’s first ever rocket. A superb citizen, D-503 follows the movement of the Table perfectly. He laughs at the irregularities of ancient music; praises the rhythm of engines and choreographed humanity; respectfully awaits the pink tickets of his assigned partner O-90; is in awe of the “subversive” statements of the poet R-013; and in general lives the expected life of a citizen to a ‘T’. But when the mysterious I-303 enters his life one day, questions and dichotomies begin to arise that throw his world into a state of flux. The fallibilit of OneState slowly dragged into the equation, D-503 becomes more involved than he’d like in activities outside the Green Wall."
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An absolute slammer of a book.
Reading it alongside books like 1984 and Brave New World, I don't think it's necessarily adding anything to the genre that you can't find in them - but obviously this came first.
But, sentence by sentence, this book is such a pleasure to read. Either a fantastic writer or a brilliant translator (or both).
Reading it alongside books like 1984 and Brave New World, I don't think it's necessarily adding anything to the genre that you can't find in them - but obviously this came first.
But, sentence by sentence, this book is such a pleasure to read. Either a fantastic writer or a brilliant translator (or both).
This Soviet dystopia is like a superior 1984. I like 1984, but I love We.
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Was tasked with reading this for one of my history classes and ended up loving the book. It is a shorter read but such an engaging story.
Przyjemne, jednak nie jest to aż tak ciekawa książka. Nie da się nie zauważyć pewnego schematu dystopii, który mógł się otworzyć właśnie przez tą powieść.
Niektóre fragmenty były niejasne, przez co gubiłam wątek. Do tego opisy, które nie dawały pełnego obrazu i nie byłem sobie w stanie czegoś wyobrazić.
Polecam jeśli ktoś jest naprawdę wielkim fanem "1984", "Nowego wspaniałego świata", czy "Limes inferior".
Niektóre fragmenty były niejasne, przez co gubiłam wątek. Do tego opisy, które nie dawały pełnego obrazu i nie byłem sobie w stanie czegoś wyobrazić.
Polecam jeśli ktoś jest naprawdę wielkim fanem "1984", "Nowego wspaniałego świata", czy "Limes inferior".