My niece just called and asked about a book. Her description didn't strike any chords, so I thought I'd try the denizens of AskMe.

The theme is a future where noone has a name, only a number. Noone thinks in terms of individuality, and terms like "I" and "me" are not used. The protagonist of the book meets someone who is not bound by those strictures and learns to think like an individual. The last line of the book is something along the lines of "I am" or "I am (somename)".

Ring a bell with anyone?
posted by joaquim on Jan 9, 2004 - 22 answers