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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Here's an utopia under a bell jar. After some great war, the world has been distilled and cleansed of all chaos, nature and humaneness to create droplets of civilization. The world is almost mathematical - pure and predictable precise.
Yevgeny Zamyatin scripts the original recipe for the utopian (dystopian? whats the difference!) novel - totalitarian government, loss of individualism, everyone working for the One state.
"Happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There is no third alternative." People live in glass cells, have pre-assigned tasks, schedules to follow. There is no burden of choice. There is happiness.
So it appears. D-503 soon discovers that he may be suffering from a "soul". And he's not the only one. He soon becomes mixed with a group of revolutionaries plotting to overturn the One state.
What struck me the most was that that today's world would brand these revolutionaries as terrorists and that's a scary proposition. What separates these two? This is a sad reflection of our current world politics. I think the rise in nationalistic movements of last couple of years has made the totalitarianism appear the 'norm'.
Yevgeny Zamyatin scripts the original recipe for the utopian (dystopian? whats the difference!) novel - totalitarian government, loss of individualism, everyone working for the One state.
"Happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There is no third alternative." People live in glass cells, have pre-assigned tasks, schedules to follow. There is no burden of choice. There is happiness.
So it appears. D-503 soon discovers that he may be suffering from a "soul". And he's not the only one. He soon becomes mixed with a group of revolutionaries plotting to overturn the One state.
What struck me the most was that that today's world would brand these revolutionaries as terrorists and that's a scary proposition. What separates these two? This is a sad reflection of our current world politics. I think the rise in nationalistic movements of last couple of years has made the totalitarianism appear the 'norm'.
Really good. Found some of the writing challenging but in an enjoyable way.
Phenomenal. I read this because I was interested to see what could inspire both the vastly different takes on dystopia--both the carrot and stick versions. I was expecting it to be like reading Dracula or Lud-in-the-Mist, which are both charming and influential, but are distinctly timebound.
Not at all here.
This is exceptional in its envisioning of a future that seems so current. A hundred years ago, this guy had free love (well, free love free of freedom), rockets (indeed the MC is the head engineer on a spaceship!), women in positions of power, fat positivity, people who "read" as being Black (I'm not sure if this is true, but that's how it read to me) and when they're not being portrayed in a positive light, it's clear that the change is due to envy rather than a feeling of superiority.
So, this Russian man envisioned a world post-racism, post-sexism A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. He grapples with base instinct, with higher reason, with (an astonishingly atheist take on) religion. A hundred years ago.
And then? He also had the nerve to write it well and fluently!! Even though it's full of math metaphors! Now, some of this must be the translation, which is the newest one I believe and is actually based on his original and fully published Russian version (which took awhile because of censorship), and yes of course some things are a bit dated in how they converse and so on, but not terribly so, and often beautifully. There's a haunting surreality as this narrator loses and finds himself, multiple polyglot puns, and a really modern storytelling technique.
I mean I'm really just astounded. I'm adding this to one of the books I must own.
Not at all here.
This is exceptional in its envisioning of a future that seems so current. A hundred years ago, this guy had free love (well, free love free of freedom), rockets (indeed the MC is the head engineer on a spaceship!), women in positions of power, fat positivity, people who "read" as being Black (I'm not sure if this is true, but that's how it read to me) and when they're not being portrayed in a positive light, it's clear that the change is due to envy rather than a feeling of superiority.
So, this Russian man envisioned a world post-racism, post-sexism A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. He grapples with base instinct, with higher reason, with (an astonishingly atheist take on) religion. A hundred years ago.
And then? He also had the nerve to write it well and fluently!! Even though it's full of math metaphors! Now, some of this must be the translation, which is the newest one I believe and is actually based on his original and fully published Russian version (which took awhile because of censorship), and yes of course some things are a bit dated in how they converse and so on, but not terribly so, and often beautifully. There's a haunting surreality as this narrator loses and finds himself, multiple polyglot puns, and a really modern storytelling technique.
I mean I'm really just astounded. I'm adding this to one of the books I must own.
need some credit for coining ideas that were later picked up by orwell etc. it's good! better than a lot of later famous dystopias
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Reread this one for the meeting with my dear reading group at university and I still think it is immensly smart and should be taught more often. George Orwell basically stole everything from this weird sci-fi dystopia with space ships, sexy ladies luring you into the resistance, walled of nature, forbidden sex and a hilarious yet sometimes hard to decipher diary of a member of the public who starts to join the resistance. I loved the way mathematics shaped the protagonist's understanding of the world, life, and sex, and it was fascinating to see how he by mistake joins the resistance just because he couldn't keep 'it' in his pants. The novel is also incredibly funny at times and deciphering all the references to science, Russian politics, etc. is beyond me. Brilliant book, very nice and short, yet hard to understand sometimes because the narrator is really part of his time and society and does not really help the reader understand. Especially funny were the parts where he makes fun of our society now, how backwards we are!
4.5 stars
4.5 stars
An interesting forefather to later dystopian novels. Though some of the themes seem simple when compared to later, similar works by Orwell and Huxley in particular, it is sophisticated enough to make you forget that it was written in the 1920s. An interesting combination of the fears of collectivization in 1984, and concerns about a postindustrial society. Well worth the read to fans of the genre.
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated