"We" First Impressions “No Spoilers”

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Come talk about your initial, general impressions!

Please save all discussion of particulars, details from the story, character choices, plot questions, etc. for the full spoilers thread.

Content warnings for those who want them: (view spoiler)[ Racism, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny (hide spoiler)]

User-submitted content warnings on Storygraph:
https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/e...

(More about CWs here.)

2020 Buddy Read link

[Winter]

About 20% in. This is a challenging read. I don't know if it's a translation issue or if it's supposed to feel this erratic or it's just a me thing, but I'm finding the journaling style hard to follow a lot of the time.

What I do understand is very interesting and sometimes quite thought provoking, though.

[Alistair]

For some reason I was convinced the book was shorter.

[Becky]

Alistair wrote: "For some reason I was convinced the book was shorter."

You are not alone! I seem to recall it being very short also. LOL

[Netanella]

Time dilation rears its ugly head again. (Usually I just experience it is the bar lol)

[CBRetriever]

I kept feeling like I was missing important events

[Alistair]

CBRetriever wrote: "I kept feeling like I was missing important events."

Welcome to my life.

It might be useful to link the buddy read for the book from 2020.

[Melanie, the neutral party]

Negligent mod here. I am supposed to search for Buddy Reads before making threads ... and I didn't.

There's a link on post 1 now. Thanks for letting us know about it.

[Alistair]

Oh, but I wasn't pointing out any faults.

[Matthew]

Winter wrote: "About 20% in. This is a challenging read. I don't know if it's a translation issue or if it's supposed to feel this erratic or it's just a me thing, but I'm finding the journaling style hard to fol..."

Me too. I'm having to reread paragraphs several times. I'm not sure how much of that I can attribute to my attention span being frazzled by living in 2026, and how much is because it's actually quite hard to follow. Not giving up yet though.

[CBRetriever]

I made it through, so don't give up

[SuS]

My copy arrives tomorrow and am looking forward to starting it. Good to know it is challenging but am also interested in reading it for its historic value.

[Brandon]

I read this one for a Russian literature class in college. I don't remember too much about it except that it was better than most assigned reading and that it felt a little like Anthem by Rand.

[Kaia]

I'm about 40 pages in, and even though I've also found that I have to read more slowly and only do a few chapters at a time, I do think it's quite interesting. I have the English translation by Natasha Randall - I looked for the most recent translation available through my library - so I don't know if that makes a difference.

[CBRetriever]

this is the one I read:

Bela Shayevich’s bold new translation (2020) breathes new life into Yevgeny Zamyatin’s seminal work and refreshes it for our current era.

We

here are the other options:

2020 Bela Shayevich Ecco
2019 Kristen Lodge Broadview
2017 Hugh Aplin Alma Books
2006 Natasha Randall Modern Library
1993 Clarence Brown Penguin
1972 Mirra Ginsburg Harper
First English translation: 1924 Gregory Zilboorg

[SuS]

Oh no. I got the first translation - Gregory Zilboorg. If it is too much of a struggle, I will try to find the Shayevich translation. THANK YOU for this info.

[Becky]

dr.e. wrote: "Oh no. I got the first translation - Gregory Zilboorg. If it is too much of a struggle, I will try to find the Shayevich translation. THANK YOU for this info."

If you have Hoopla, the Shayevich is available on audio and ebook there. :)

[CBRetriever]

Becky wrote: "dr.e. wrote: "Oh no. I got the first translation - Gregory Zilboorg. If it is too much of a struggle, I will try to find the Shayevich translation. THANK YOU for this info."

If you have Hoopla, th..."

it was on sale on Amazon - I paid $1.99 for it on May 17th, but it's now $8.99 in Kindle format

[CBRetriever]

and if you want it for free, gutenberg.org has the Gregory Zilboorg version

[SuS]

Thanks all! I really prefer physical copies when at all possible so I will see if I can hunt down these various options (or my local library) if the Zilboorg translation is too rough. Excited to get started on this.

[HeyT]

Looking back at the buddy read thread, I read the Ginsburg translation and I don't remember having a problem with it. I'd probably reread that copy if I can figure out where the safe place I put it is lol

[SuS]

I started the Zilboorg translation last night. I read the first three chapters and have had no problems with it. I read a lot of translated 19th C. Russian literature, and this translation feels on par if not slightly better than a lot of what I have read. The story feels a bit stilted, but I think that is the style and satire of the story and not a problem with the translation.

[Banshee]

I have had some problems with the text so far and it turns out it's the very first translation. So I'm going to try something else. I got a hold of a Polish translation and will see, if that works better. Since Russian and Polish are in the same linguistic family, maybe even the translation would be more faithful.

[Aga]

Banshee wrote: "I have had some problems with the text so far and it turns out it's the very first translation. So I'm going to try something else. I got a hold of a Polish translation and will see, if that works ..."

I’m reading bilingual, because after a few chapters of Polish translation I got curious about how some stuff was handled in English translation. Really weird feeling… Like reading two different books. Don’t get me wrong, the scenes are the same, but the terms used have totally different connotations., so the meaning seems totally different at several times. I have no idea which translation is that, there is no info.

But it’s the Australian Kindle edition.

[Becky]

That's cool! I would really love to be able to read in more than English... though I suppose I could if I put in the work. I have only myself to blame for my lack of multi-linguality. (The lyrics to Sublime's 'Caress Me Down' come to mind: "Learn Spanish". LOL)

But, back on topic, that makes me wonder how "accurate" any of the translations are - each translator would bring their own "interpretation" to the text, and they might be slightly different in nuance or tone. Each version might be a different reading experience. Plus, I listened to the audio, which would have an additional layer of interpretation on top. Hmmm... fascinating!

[Alistair]

In that case, I think it's due mainly to the different languages of translation.

I've had similar experiences reading, say, Italian and English translation from a third language, such as Russian or Japanese: the content is the same, but the prose and even tone might differ greatly (English translators generally take more liberties).

[CBRetriever]

the worst translations are usually reserved for poetry

[Alistair]

As Tomas Tranströmer said, we must act as though the translation of poetry was possible.

[Lisa]

I’m reading a 2019, Kindle version. I’m not sure who it was translated by.

I’m 17% through at the minute and really enjoying it. It is a bit hard to picture and understand how the ‘world’ works at the minute, but I like how its is being explained. It is also becoming clearer as the book goes on and I am intrigued to see how it all develops and learn more about it.

[DivaDiane]

I just finished today, so I will head over to the spoiler thread in a minute.

I just wanted to say I listened to the audio narrated by Jonathan Keeble, which was wonderful. He really brought it to life!

[Paula W]

Hi guys! I joined today specifically to read this book and discuss with others. I have had it on my tbr for a very long time. Happy reading!

[Bonnie]

Thanks for the information on the translations. I poked around for a while looking at different ones, ended up choosing that latest, translator Bela Shalevich.

Also, I enjoy the gigantic eyeball:

[Bonnie]

Winter wrote: "About 20% in. This is a challenging read. I don't know if it's a translation issue or if it's supposed to feel this erratic or it's just a me thing, but I'm finding the journaling style hard to follow..."

I find this sometimes too. He is quite descriptive yet sometimes, when I'm in a certain mood or something, I find the story a little slippery / hard to follow.

That led to - horror - sometimes not really wanting to pick it up again. In these cases I sometimes search for a study guide, and "We" has one! I read over the themes, and can look over the chapter (or Log, or Record...) summary as I read along.

Chapter 1:
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/we/reco...

Study Guide for We:
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/we

[Amyiw]

Bonnie wrote: "...
That led to - horror - sometimes not really wanting to pick it up again. ..."

LOL yep

Thanks for those links, it helps.