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bwood95's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
kcrouth's review against another edition
4.0
I finally got to read the remaining novel of the classic dystopian trifecta "Brave New World, "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and "We". This is a nicely written, visionary, and insightful novel that was written in Russia in 1922, after the Bolshevik Revolution, and banned from publication there until 1988! The writing uses creative and compelling imagery as it tells the tale of a Utopian society of the future where happiness mandated and not a choice. It creatively weighs the tension between technology and humanity, and offers wisdom related to the dangers of having one without the other. Though not published in Russia, it was published in 1924 in New York, and as can be seen, was influential to both Huxley and Orwell in their classic works mentioned above. This one was worth the searching and waiting to get to read, i recommend reading it to complete the dystopian trifecta.
psoglav's review against another edition
3.0
UKUPNA OCENA ★★★✫ 3.5/5
1. Ideja ★★★★ 4
2. Priča ★★★ 3
3. Stil ★★✫ 2.5
UTISAK - Preteča Vrlog novog sveta i 1984. Distopijsko društvo gde postoji samo kolektivno "MI" i gde nema individualnosti. Društvo gde su svi srećni jer nema želja, sažaljenja ili ljubavi... Stil pisanja mi nije legao ali poruka i kraj knjige dovoljno nateraju čitaoca na razmišljanje.
1. Ideja ★★★★ 4
2. Priča ★★★ 3
3. Stil ★★✫ 2.5
UTISAK - Preteča Vrlog novog sveta i 1984. Distopijsko društvo gde postoji samo kolektivno "MI" i gde nema individualnosti. Društvo gde su svi srećni jer nema želja, sažaljenja ili ljubavi... Stil pisanja mi nije legao ali poruka i kraj knjige dovoljno nateraju čitaoca na razmišljanje.
kattbiff's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
margot14's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
manoushp109's review against another edition
3.5
read for my russian modernism class: i personally don’t love dystopias but i thought this was an interesting read. def got bored even tho it’s pretty short. no idea what was happening throughout the last like 35 pages
tatt_mucker's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
strategineer's review against another edition
5.0
The much more interesting but lesser known dystopian novel that inspired George Orwell's 1984.
Not as prophetic as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World but it's more consistently well written and has mostly aged better.
It's more open to interpretation than I was expecting.
The translation I'm reading by Mirra Ginsburg is based on an older version of the text (potentially censored in some way).
I'd love to read a more recent translation if only to see how they deal with the racist black caricature character and other stuff.
I'm about three quarters of the way through the text, so far so good.
I doubt it was the intention hehe but reading it as a specifically trans story is interesting. The main character D-503 lives in a dystopian society based on 1920s Soviet Russia. A society that is built upon conformity and unity of action, it expects people to act as identical cogs in the machine.
Why does a trans reading work IMO? Throughout the novel, our protagonist D-503 begins to diverge from this uniformity through some means outside of his control (he gets a soul) and also begins to experience a form of body dysmorphia (and also his hairy palms).
Great works of art can be re-interpreted and re-evaluated throughout time. Art does not exist in a vacuum, art exists and manifests itself within the experience of the person experiencing the art.
My recent foray into slav sci fi (Stanislaw Lem's Solaris and The Futurological Congress, Strugatsky Brothers's Roadside Picnic and Yevgeny Zamyatin's We) has been quite fruitful. I've vibed with these works in a bunch of different ways. They've tended to be shorter works that don't waste time and are more than just a sequence of events like a lot of modern sci fi seems to be these days.
Low key goated. It's a great book, highly recommend this and I REALLY want to read another translation of the text.
Not as prophetic as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World but it's more consistently well written and has mostly aged better.
It's more open to interpretation than I was expecting.
The translation I'm reading by Mirra Ginsburg is based on an older version of the text (potentially censored in some way).
I'd love to read a more recent translation if only to see how they deal with the racist black caricature character and other stuff.
I'm about three quarters of the way through the text, so far so good.
I doubt it was the intention hehe but reading it as a specifically trans story is interesting. The main character D-503 lives in a dystopian society based on 1920s Soviet Russia. A society that is built upon conformity and unity of action, it expects people to act as identical cogs in the machine.
Why does a trans reading work IMO? Throughout the novel, our protagonist D-503 begins to diverge from this uniformity through some means outside of his control (he gets a soul) and also begins to experience a form of body dysmorphia (and also his hairy palms).
Great works of art can be re-interpreted and re-evaluated throughout time. Art does not exist in a vacuum, art exists and manifests itself within the experience of the person experiencing the art.
My recent foray into slav sci fi (Stanislaw Lem's Solaris and The Futurological Congress, Strugatsky Brothers's Roadside Picnic and Yevgeny Zamyatin's We) has been quite fruitful. I've vibed with these works in a bunch of different ways. They've tended to be shorter works that don't waste time and are more than just a sequence of events like a lot of modern sci fi seems to be these days.
Low key goated. It's a great book, highly recommend this and I REALLY want to read another translation of the text.
max_lemuz's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75