WE
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Avon Eos August 1999 (original English translation 1972); $5.99 paperback
232 pp
ISBN 0-380-63313-2

Originally written in 1921-22 just after the Russian Revolution, WE tells
the tale of D-503, a correct and abiding mathematician of the One State, and
his mental battles with his emerging "soul" as he becomes involved with the
corrupt I-330.

This is an interesting, if albeit, a one punch line story, which mirrors and
mocks much of what was transpiring politically in Russia at the time it was
written. In D-503, we get the classically brainwashed drone; a servant of
the One State, a man merrily devoid of original thought, who happily chews
his food 50 times each bite as all others do, who has all facets of his life
prescheduled for him from exercise time to intercourse. But his life and
belief system are thrown into question when he meets the seductive 1-330,
and under her influence he begins to cheat the system.

Slow moving at times and heavily protagonist introspective, this is still an
educational read as it is representative of a time and place not so far
removed from present day western civilization. But alas, too didactic for my
tastes, and the first person perspective is limiting in secondary character
development.