I have just completed reading the manuscript for the book titled We by Yevgeny Zamyatin and would like to recommend that the book should be published for a number of reasons. First, the book is a dystopia, that is, it explains a state of things that is possible but not an ideal one.
The author lays value not in the possibility that what he writes will eventually come to pass, but rather in the fact that by bending reality, or expressing it in a satirical manner, it permits us to see it from another angle. Zamyatin gives us the picture of the actual difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ societies, arguing that the good ones are built on people, with focus being on the people.
A second reason why the book should be published is its fight against oppression of the people. The book clearly depicts the eventual threat of Stalinism and the Dictatorship regime that emerged in Russia after the revolution. The novel gives a plain picture of a world in which authorities come down on any free thought and the people live in fear with no freedom.
He writes, “I’ve read and heard a lot of unbelievable stuff about those times when people lived in freedom – that is, in disorganized wildness” (Zamyatin 13). Despite the hard times, the author gives the readers hope that by looking past their sufferings, they can come out of such oppression. He writes, “… I hope we’ll win. More – I’m certain we’ll win. Because reason has to win” (Zamyatin 225).
Despite my recommendation, I must point that the book has some flaws too. For instance, its pace was a little slow in the early parts while other parts are not easy to comprehend given its complex setting. As an example, one of the key metaphors used in the book are the glass houses, however, the reader is never sure whether the houses referred to are actually made out of large glass blocks or the walls are lined with glass.
Secondly, since the book is written in sharp imagery and fluid prose, it appears intermittent in some instances with the reader becoming isolated from the events in the book and this leads to confusion as the reader is unsure of the ongoings in the book. In conclusion, the book is a nice read.
Works Cited
Zamyatin, Yevgeny. We, Clarence Brown (trans.), New York: Penguin Books, 1993. Print.