5 ms·

When life imitates art: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel)

sudosteph 8y ago
In case anyone is wondering: not worth the read unless you're just interested in the history of dystopic fiction. The characters are boring and everything drags on far too long.
- sixstringtheory 8y ago
  I’ll agree it can get boring at times, but it was incredibly creative and a lot of the descriptions of the world in the book are unlike any other I’ve read about and were quite poetic, while at the same time mathematic and scientific. Still, it’s a pretty short read and should be of much interest to those into scifi and dystopias.
  - dpau 8y ago
    I agree, incredibly creative. Definitely worth the read for anyone who enjoyed 1984, Brave New World, etc. I don’t recall it being boring in the least, perhaps the translation is partly to blame.
    - sudosteph 8y ago
      It wasn't the translation, I just hated all of the characters - especially the protaganist and his faux-philosophical rants about his hatred the square root of negative one. The world that that the author built was actually interesting, and if that's the only thing a reader cares about, then I can see the appeal. But the storytelling as a whole just sank the whole thing for me. And this coming is from someone who loved 1984 and Brave New World and was eagerly looking forward to reading "We" at one point.
  - sudosteph 8y ago
    Perhaps our interpretations of those descriptions where our disagreement lies then. I found the protaganist's obsession with romanticizing everything in terms of math to be incredibly repetitive and even cringeworthy at times (the imaginary number thing especially). It's not that I think loving math in a poetic way is not possible, but the protagonist's manner of thinking about it just made no sense, and it was sprinkled through everything in a way that added little value and distracted from the meat of the story. I suppose that may be what the author intended, but it was not enjoyable to read or poetic in my view. I also judge it harshly for the way the author wrote the only female character as an obvious object of wish-fulfillment rather than a coherent individual with reasonable motivations. I do indeed give it credit for being an early scifi dystopia, but every other dystopia I've read was far better, and I can't help but feel that "Brave New World" surpassed "We" in every possible way. Still not recommending this book to anyone who doesn't just want to learn about dystopic novels.
  - EthanHeilman 8y ago
    I found it quite the page turner. I'm not saying sixstringtheory is wrong, reading excitement is certainly a matter of opinion, but I would invite people to give it a try. They might be surprised by how much they enjoy it.
- Brockenstein 8y ago
  Well the wikipedia synopsis is pretty kind in that regard.
gojomo 8y ago
And, another novel about living under oppressive conditions from a Russian-born author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_the_Living https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_the_Living
- benatkin 8y ago
  Just FYI this is an Ayn Rand book, so if you've already explored that I'll save you the click.

In case anyone is wondering: not worth the read unless you're just interested in the history of dystopic fiction. The characters are boring and everything drags on far too long.

sixstringtheory 8y ago
I’ll agree it can get boring at times, but it was incredibly creative and a lot of the descriptions of the world in the book are unlike any other I’ve read about and were quite poetic, while at the same time mathematic and scientific. Still, it’s a pretty short read and should be of much interest to those into scifi and dystopias.
- dpau 8y ago
  I agree, incredibly creative. Definitely worth the read for anyone who enjoyed 1984, Brave New World, etc. I don’t recall it being boring in the least, perhaps the translation is partly to blame.
  - sudosteph 8y ago
    It wasn't the translation, I just hated all of the characters - especially the protaganist and his faux-philosophical rants about his hatred the square root of negative one. The world that that the author built was actually interesting, and if that's the only thing a reader cares about, then I can see the appeal. But the storytelling as a whole just sank the whole thing for me. And this coming is from someone who loved 1984 and Brave New World and was eagerly looking forward to reading "We" at one point.
- sudosteph 8y ago
  Perhaps our interpretations of those descriptions where our disagreement lies then. I found the protaganist's obsession with romanticizing everything in terms of math to be incredibly repetitive and even cringeworthy at times (the imaginary number thing especially). It's not that I think loving math in a poetic way is not possible, but the protagonist's manner of thinking about it just made no sense, and it was sprinkled through everything in a way that added little value and distracted from the meat of the story. I suppose that may be what the author intended, but it was not enjoyable to read or poetic in my view. I also judge it harshly for the way the author wrote the only female character as an obvious object of wish-fulfillment rather than a coherent individual with reasonable motivations. I do indeed give it credit for being an early scifi dystopia, but every other dystopia I've read was far better, and I can't help but feel that "Brave New World" surpassed "We" in every possible way. Still not recommending this book to anyone who doesn't just want to learn about dystopic novels.
- EthanHeilman 8y ago
  I found it quite the page turner. I'm not saying sixstringtheory is wrong, reading excitement is certainly a matter of opinion, but I would invite people to give it a try. They might be surprised by how much they enjoy it.
Brockenstein 8y ago
Well the wikipedia synopsis is pretty kind in that regard.

gojomo 8y ago

And, another novel about living under oppressive conditions from a Russian-born author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_the_Living https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_the_Living

benatkin 8y ago
Just FYI this is an Ayn Rand book, so if you've already explored that I'll save you the click.