“Doctor Zhivago” is not just an ordinary novel; it is an epic in every sense of the word. It encompasses a wide range of themes, including revolution, love, pain, betrayal, thought, philosophy, illness, socialism, classes, war, the people, hunger, blood, martyrs, sacrifices, power, the party, history, death, suffering, children, interests, exploitation, struggle, and the true face of Russia.

The novel begins in the early 20th century (1900) and follows the life of Yuri Andreevich Zhivago, a doctor, poet, thinker, and human being, from his childhood until his death. It traces all his relationships, his ideas, and the development of his personality and thought over the years, as well as the impact of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution on him.

We also see how the people's sons are conscripted to participate in World War I and how the Bolshevik Revolution took place two years before the end of the war. When the people revolt after years of slavery, oppression, poverty, and torture, they become like a volcano that destroys everything in its path.

Before the revolution, we see Zhivago strongly supporting the ideas of freedom, equality, and justice, and he is one of the most ardent supporters of the revolution. He believes that he should enjoy a sumptuous meal while the people around him are starving and sick.

However, after the revolution, and the outbreak of the civil war between the Whites (supporters of the previous regime) and the Reds (the Bolsheviks or the Communists), the destruction of cities, the burning of villages and fields, the killing of people, and all this horror, we see Zhivago changing his beliefs about this revolution.

He tells one of the Bolsheviks: “You are a Bolshevik, and yet you cannot deny that what is happening now is not life – it is madness, a dream without meaning.” “But I think now that there is nothing that can be achieved by brute force. The people must be led to the good by the good.”

There is no doubt that this novel reveals to us the other and true face of the Bolshevik Revolution, which most people thought that life under socialism would be the expected and rosy life. But what happened here shows the opposite.

“That period proved the truth of the old saying: ‘Man is a wolf to man.’ The traveler fled from the face of the traveler, and the stranger killed the stranger for fear of being killed. And there were no lack of incidents of people eating each other. The laws of civil humanity were no longer the norm. And the law of the jungle came into effect, and man dreamed of what the cavemen had dreamed of.”

We come to the other part of the novel, which is the relationship between Yuri Zhivago and Lara Antipova.

Larisa Feodorovna Guishar or Lara Antipova (her name after marriage) is the face of the Russian woman in that period of history. The beautiful young woman (Russia in the prime of her youth, purity, beauty, and innocence), the woman who was seduced and her innocence exploited by the tyrannical power (represented by Komarovsky). But Lara did not submit to this situation and refused to do anything but resist and overcome it with her love and her endless sacrifices. She was an example of the loving wife, the visionary mother, the educated and giving teacher, and the enthusiastic nurse in her work.

As for Yuri, he believed that he had never loved anyone in his life but Lara, whose image remained in his mind since he first saw her when he was a child. His relationship with Tonya was one of habit, and his relationship with Marina was one of need. So his relationships with them were a mixture of unconditional love and endless pain.

“What kind of love was this... free, rare, without equal on earth! Their thoughts were as similar as the songs of others. They loved each other without the pretext of need, nor under the influence of the spark of desire that has always been described as love by mistake. They loved each other because everything around them wanted them to. The trees, the clouds, the sky above their heads, and the earth beneath their feet. And perhaps the world around them, the strangers they met on the street, the vast space they saw in their travels, and the rooms where they lived or met, rejoiced in their love more than they did.”

Lara is one of the most influential female literary models on the personal level.

And what makes me happier is that I found my favorite quote always in this novel, which also shows that it refers to Lara:

“She read not as if reading raised a human activity, but as if it were the simplest thing in life.”

“Doctor Zhivago” is an epic, poetic, and historical novel that is worth reading. Its only flaw is the abundance of digressions and details that, if deleted, would not have affected the plot of the story, and the multiplicity of character names, especially at the beginning. But with continued reading, you will remember them all easily.

“To live life to the end is not an easy thing.”

I have watched the movie based on the book, Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, countless times, and each viewing reveals something new. However, I have only now delved into the original book. I have, though, read several books about this one, such as The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book and Lara: The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago. These were both captivating and provided a wealth of additional background.

This epic narrative about the impact of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath on a bourgeois family was prohibited from publication in the Soviet Union until 1987. One consequence of its release in the West was Pasternak's total ostracism by the Soviet authorities. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958, he was forced to decline it. Nevertheless, the book swiftly became an international bestseller.

Dr. Yury Zhivago, Pasternak's alter ego, is a poet, philosopher, and physician whose life is upended by the war and his love for Lara, the wife of a revolutionary. His artistic temperament renders him vulnerable to the brutality and harshness of the Bolsheviks. The poems he composes are some of the most exquisite writing in the novel. I noticed that many parts of the book were familiar from the movie, as anticipated. But the sequence of those events seemed to be displaced in time compared to the order I remembered from watching the film.

This has led me to wonder how much the movie adaptation may have altered the original story's pacing and emphasis. It also makes me eager to explore further how the book's themes and characters are developed in greater depth than what was presented on the screen.

A Challenge to the Revolution?

Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak is widely regarded as one of the most highly acclaimed Russian novels. Spanning approximately 25 years, it chronicles the life of Yuri Andreievitch Zhivago, the central character, and his complex relationship with Larissa (Lara) Guichard, whom he ultimately falls for and then abandons. Their stories unfold against the backdrop of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the subsequent Civil War, pulling them in both emotionally straining and poignant directions.

I was eager to read this book as it is considered a classic and essential for understanding Russia. The setting is both exciting and horrifying. However, to my surprise and disappointment, I did not enjoy this book. I found the plot overly convoluted and the writing confusing, much like a Le Carre novel, where one can read a page and still be unsure of what is happening. I had to study the book intently to get through it, which made the reading experience more of a slog than an enjoyable pursuit.

I also found one of the main criticisms of the book to be valid, namely that too much is left to convenience and chance. For example, Victor Komarovsky's interaction and backstory with both main characters, or Zhivago's strange and rather unrealistic relationship with his brother, felt forced and like shock moments the author was trying to impose on the reader.

This book is neither a straightforward love story nor a great epic of historical fiction. Zhivago begins his affair with Lara while his wife Tonya, his childhood sweetheart, is pregnant with their child. Pasternak never intended the book to be simply a love story or a political statement, but it became one when it was first published in Italy in 1957. Pasternak was even pressured in Russia to decline the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Despite my difficulties with the book, there are some powerful moments. One of the most moving parts is when Yuri returns home from the war to find his childhood home requisitioned by the Bolsheviks. His family is crammed into one room of the once-illustrious town house, sharing it with other families, and he is treated as a traitor. This was a real and unthinkable experience during that time, and the book portrays it well. Some of the descriptions offer a genuine glimpse into what life was like during those动荡的 times.

Ultimately, I found the writing style extremely challenging, and it took me a long time to read the book. I had to constantly go back and reread pages to understand the plot. This, of course, is not ideal for a novel. The writing should be engaging and accessible, and in the end, I simply wanted to finish the book. The story, for me, was not amazing. It was okay, but too convoluted and relying too much on coincidences to advance the plot. It left me with the feeling of "what was the point?" However, this is just my personal opinion, and there were some parts that I did enjoy reading.

At the time of writing, Pasternak was residing in the artists and writers colony just outside Moscow, accompanied by his wife.

Occasionally, he would visit his mistress, who had been settled a short distance away, on the far side of a small bridge over a stream.

The experience of walking down to spend time with her and then returning to his wife was reimagined in the character of Zhivago traveling between his wife and Lara when they are all in Varykino.

If you approach the book after seeing the film, which was rather bizarrely shot in Spain with wax substituting for snow, the substantial and really obvious difference is that the story is told largely from Zhivago's point of view.

The novel is the tale of a man who loves two women. Tsarist and revolutionary Russia serve as a convenient backdrop and a framework to offer a more or less believable explanation for the movements, separations, and meetings of the main characters.

The extent to which Zhivago actually has to confront the reality of loving two women is conveniently limited by being swept away to war, escaping to Siberia, or being inconveniently commandeered by partisans (the most memorable section of the book for me).

This is not "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The consequences of his love do not reach an inevitable conclusion.

One of the more curious reasons to respect Pasternak's literary achievement is to compare him with, say, Solzhenitsyn or Grossman, even Sholokhov. There, the influence of Dostoevsky and particularly Tolstoy as the exemplar of Russian epic novel writing is present and sometimes, especially with Solzhenitsyn, enthusiastically embraced.

Pasternak's Zhivago is not rooted in an authorial vision of 'Russianness'. If Siberia offers a hope of renewal, it is only because the characters believe it is so remote that they can escape the civil war - but oh how innocent and naive of them.

Nor is this a political novel. Pre-revolutionary Russia is no ideal, but post-revolutionary Russia does not seem to hold out any grand hope of a better future for the Doctor's divided affections either.

It is a book that seems to be turning inwards, away from either the epic canvas or epic concerns. Human happiness, it repeatedly demonstrates, is near impossible to achieve, and if we can't get that right, what chance have we with the big abstract stuff like justice or nation, which is the implicit argument of the novel.

Governments come and go. Life goes on, but unhappily. Perhaps the children will get things right.

Pasternak's novel is like a precious piece of antique cut crystal. It is carefully taken out from its tattered felt sleeve and polished with a soft chamois cloth. Then, it is gently placed on a table, waiting for the curious gaze of the sun. When the indolent light shines at the perfect, unerring angle, the liquid twist of sculpted glass bursts into a riot of fragmented colors. This is pure perceptive chaos - brilliant, bold, sharp, and insanely vibrant, almost too much for the eye to handle.

It is extremely difficult to keep track of all the elements in this story. Pasternak's poetic mind pays little attention to the narrative. He is not simply telling or showing the fury of the Russian Revolution. Instead, he is injecting the experience directly into your awareness. Character is his syringe, along with Nature, God, Movement, and Ideas that perhaps should have remained as ideas without the power to transform into Policy. Zhivago, on the surface a physician, a poet, a husband, and a father, is in reality a will o'the wisp in his nation's upheaval, drifting from person to person, location to location, and event to event. Lara, the love of his heart, is met and lost several times as Russia violently spasms, expanding and contracting through the merciless abrasion of its cultural tectonic plates. There is misery, atrocity, and stupidity here, but also great beauty and the meaningful living of life.

This is a very particular kind of literary encounter. Just as there are those who don't think highly of what the sun ignites through the prism of a piece of Baccarat, Lalique, or Steuben glass, there are also those who will dismiss what Pasternak has managed to offer regarding his revolution. Nevertheless, by anyone's standard, Doctor Zhivago stands as a bright and blazing work of art.

No single man makes history. History is an intangible entity, much like the growth of grass that goes unnoticed. Wars, revolutions, kings, and figures like Robespierre are all integral agents of history, the catalysts that drive change. However, revolutions are often led by fanatical individuals with a single-minded focus, those who possess the genius to limit themselves to a specific field. In a matter of hours or days, they can overthrow the old order, and while the entire upheaval may take a few weeks or at most years, the fanatical spirit that fuels these upheavals is revered for decades and even centuries to come.

None of this can have any meaning for you. You simply couldn't understand it. You grew up in a different world, one of suburbs, railways, slums, and tenements. A world filled with dirt, hunger, overcrowding, and the degradation of both workers and women. And then there was the world of the mother's darlings, of smart students and rich merchants' sons, a world of impunity, of brazen and insolent vice. A world where the rich laughed or shrugged off the tears of the poor, the robbed, the insulted, and the seduced. It was a reign of parasites, whose only claim to distinction was their complete lack of concern for anything, their refusal to give anything to the world, and their leaving nothing behind. But for us, life was a campaign. We moved mountains for those we loved, and even if we brought them only sorrow, they did not hold it against us because in the end, we suffered more than they did.

During this reading, I had the great honor of it being my first ever buddy read with my friend Celise. Below is a link to her Goodreads page. my link text

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak is a classic novel that can be both cumbersome and complex. Its narrative is uneven, and its use of formulas can be trite, easily frustrating even the most experienced readers. However, beneath its flaws lies a wealth of examples that justify its place among the great works of Russian literature.

Let's start with the book's flaws. An uneven depth and a wide variety of characters are not uncommon in Russian classics. However, Pasternak's eccentricity in referring to a single character by multiple names, including possible nicknames, without any indication that he is talking about the same person can be quite irksome, especially in a large cast of characters. This can make it difficult to follow the plot, which at times is uneven and suffers from stagnation.

Despite these flaws, if readers are willing to look beyond them and explore the philosophy and story that Doctor Zhivago is telling, it can be a rewarding read. The novel takes place between the early 1900s and World War II, a tumultuous time in Russian history as the country transformed from Tsarist rule to communist upheaval. The plot follows the life of Yuri Zhivago as he witnesses historical events and questions the true purpose behind each political action.

Zhivago, a member of the wealthy intelligentsia, is initially comfortable with the status quo in Tsarist Russia. However, as he witnesses the revolutionary idealism that leads to the sacrifice of individualities for a so-called "greater good" under a totalitarian state, he begins to question its value. His status as a doctor and a philosopher constantly puts him at odds with the growing power of the Communist Party.

Behind the political backdrop, the story also explores Yuri's love life, or rather the tragedy of it. He becomes involved with at least three different female characters throughout the book, with Lara being the one he perhaps loves the most. However, Yuri's constant need for female attention and validation gives him a "tragic hero" persona, as he seems to be constantly seeking to reclaim what he lost as a young boy when his mother passed away.

There is much more to unpack in Doctor Zhivago, with its dozens of characters and historical events. Some readers may find it difficult to follow without knowledge of late 1800s-early 1900s Russian history, but for those who are willing to invest the time and effort, this book can be truly satisfying. Once the final page is turned and the meaning behind it presents itself, readers will discover a rich and complex work of literature that explores themes of love, loss, revolution, and the human condition.

Rating: 3.5/5

This book presented a significant challenge for me due to Boris Pasternak's extensive knowledge, much of which was foreign to my understanding. He frequently mentions poets like Aleksandr Blok and other Russian elite minds. Boris, being a poet himself, had to cease writing his risqué poems and instead made a living translating Shakespeare and other works when he could no longer publish his own. He and other writers of that era resided in housing areas for writers, and he became acquainted with many.

I can understand why the Soviet Union initially considered publishing this book but then ultimately denied it. Fortunately, he had the good fortune of a visitor who took his transcript and had it published in Italy! I had seen the movie years ago and loved it, yet there were many questions that remained unclear to me. Despite the first third of the book being difficult, I persisted in reading because it truly interested me, and I wanted to discover what the author had to say that the movie had left out.

About halfway through the book, I thought the movie was surely going to win, which is a very unusual thought for me since movies often pale in comparison. However, I'm extremely glad I continued reading as I was rewarded with a wonderful literary experience that rightfully deserved the Pulitzer Prize, which Boris had to decline while living in the USSR.

I was reading early one Monday morning and nearing the end when tears streamed down my face. (I'm not typically a big crier, but when something deeply moves me, it's easy for the emotions to surface.) It was when Yuri, a once shining star who had lost his luster and was a broken man, was asking for water from his landlord, who had known him since boyhood and was familiar with his life. The landlord continuously ridiculed and verbally abused Yuri every time he came to get another bucket filled. Each time, the landlord became harsher and harsher, and it made me sad to witness what had happened to this brilliant doctor and all he had endured over the years due to the unwanted turns his life had taken, leading him further away from his desired achievements.

The book tells the story of many people, with the main characters being Doctor Yuri Zhivago and Lara (Larissa). Doctor Zhivago is from the middle class, while Lara is from a poor background. Their paths cross early in life, unbeknownst to Lara, but once Yuri sees her, his life is forever changed. They both marry other people, yet fate keeps entangling them. The story begins before World War 1 and extends to after World War 2. It's interesting to note how the Russian people could fight together during WW1 and then soon find themselves on opposite sides. Both sides were cruel and unrelenting towards each other. Doctor Zhivago is called up for WW1, and after returning home to his wife and child, whom he has never seen, they need to escape Moscow due to living in poverty and being answerable to the state because of their social status. After fleeing Moscow and settling in the countryside, Yuri is captured and made to serve in the Red Army, where he witnesses many horrors.

This story is about a man's spirit and his individual desire to live life and his thoughts during this tumultuous period. Religion is a prominent theme throughout the story. Man does not live by bread alone; he also needs his spiritual light to find fulfillment. He requires something that gives his life meaning and purpose, whatever that may be for him. He is distinct from his fellow human beings, and his soul is affected when he is forced to conform and his ideas or needs are suppressed. There is so much depth to this story, with many sad passages, and although it is fiction, it has a nonfiction aspect that shows us a small part of life and human nature during this time.

"Marxism and science? To argue about that with a man I hardly know is imprudent, to say the least. But come what may. Marxism has too little control of itself to be a science. Sciences are better balanced. Marxism and objectivity? I don’t know of a movement more isolated within itself and further from the facts than Marxism. Each of us is concerned with testing himself by experience, but people in power, for the sake of the fable of their own infallibility, turn away from the truth with all their might. Politics says nothing to me. I don’t like people who are indifferent to truth.”

“The remaking of life! People who can reason like that may have been around, but they’ve never once known life, never felt its spirit, its soul. For them existence is a lump of coarse material, not yet ennobled by their touch, in need of being processed by them. But life has never been a material, a substance. It is, if you want to know, a continually self-renewing, eternally self-recreating principle, it eternally alters and transforms itself, it is far above your and my dim-witted theories.”

“This time justified the old saying: Man is a wolf to man. A wayfarer turned aside at the sight of another wayfarer; a man would kill the man he met, so as not to be killed himself.”

“No one makes history, it is not visible, just as it is impossible to see grass grow. Wars, revolutions, tsars, Robespierres—these are its organic stimulants, its fermenting yeast. Revolutions are produced by men of action, one-sided fanatics, geniuses of self-limitation. In a few hours or days they overturn the old order. The upheavals last for weeks, for years at the most, and then for decades, for centuries, people bow down to the spirit of limitation that led to the upheavals as to something sacred.”

A surprisingly fast read, this work is very talky, just like many older Russian writers. They don't engage in much internal exploration as modern characters do; instead, all thoughts come out as dialogue. However, wow, Pasternak is so in tune with nature and its feelings and effects. I never thought of him as a nature writer. Strangely enough, he's sort of like Kerouac in that way. But many of his plot devices are a little heavy-handed. One doesn't enter into the characters as deeply as one does with the greats. It's flawed, but it's absolutely worth reading.

The story unfolds with a certain charm, despite its flaws. The dialogue-driven nature gives it a lively feel, but at times, it can seem a bit excessive. Pasternak's descriptions of nature are truly beautiful and add a unique dimension to the narrative. It's as if he has a special connection with the natural world and is able to convey its essence in a profound way. While the characters may not be as fully developed as those in some of the greatest works, they still manage to draw the reader in and keep them engaged. Overall, this is a book that has its strengths and weaknesses, but it's definitely a worthwhile read for anyone interested in Russian literature or nature writing.

This book sapped all my energy. It was deathly dull, like a never-ending loop of boredom. I seriously considered writing a review, but I had already wasted far too long on the mind-numbing Yuri. It was truly awful, just awful.

However, I have to give a shoutout to my buddy-slog with Jemidar. I couldn't have endured it without you! You were my saving grace during this torturous reading experience.

Even though the book was a total disappointment, the company of Jemidar made it a little more bearable. We shared our frustrations and吐槽 the lackluster plot and characters.

In the end, I'm just glad it's over and I can move on to something more interesting. Maybe next time I'll be more careful when choosing a book to read.

"I don't like those who haven't fallen, haven't sinned. Their virtue is dead and has little value. The beauty of life has not been revealed to them."



A book with a heavy historical background hidden behind its publication. A banned book that we, the lovers of literature (especially Russian/Soviet literature), can now enjoy. It is of "substantial" size. It is wonderful from its cover to the "Doctor Zhivago" inside and even to the back cover. In one word, it is a masterpiece!


The language is extremely poetic in some places, making you fall in love with its lines. Images leap onto every page. It is well-known that poets have a particular and characteristic elegance of language, and here Pasternak proves it.



"It wasn't the same one but something more general than the one who was crying. He was crying inside with tender and bright words that shone in the darkness like phosphorus. And together with his soul that was crying, he himself was crying. He was sorry for himself."



(I had also encountered this love in the writing of Bronzky, which if you haven't read... hurry up!)



The theme of the book stems from the bloody revolution, love, and why not, even from philosophy. A book that lacks nothing and can satisfy even the most demanding readers. Here it should be noted that the details regarding the revolution are countless, and those who don't know about that era will gain a lot of information. Also, the characters are impeccably psychoanalyzed. Their portrayal on paper is done in an excellent way. If I were wearing a hat, I would take it off in honor of Pasternak.



One comment that I definitely want to make is how dynamic and admirable the character of the author himself was. At the beginning of the book, there are eulogistic comments about Vladimir Mayakovsky, which reveal Pasternak's pride and made me appreciate him even more. (Of course, he also praises Alexander Blok!!!)






The rest, Pasternak will tell you!

“Hay que vivir sin imposturas, vivir de modo que con el tiempo nos lleguemos a ganar el amor del espacio, y oigamos la voz del futuro.” This profound statement encapsulates the essence of Boris Pasternak's masterpiece, "Doctor Zhivago." I am reading this novel for the second time, and it truly lives up to its reputation as a literary gem.

The synopsis sets the stage for a captivating story. Yuri Andréyevich can never forget the first time he saw Larisa Fiódorovna in that decadent hotel room. The young Zhivago is overcome by an unknown force that grips his heart. Their encounters will lead to a tumultuous relationship, a love that is impossible, tragic, and passionate, set against the backdrop of a Russia torn apart by the 1917 Revolution and the advent of a new order.

My impressions of the book are extremely positive. It has been a wonderful reading experience. I was fortunate to have read it years ago, so neither the synopsis nor the memory of the movie misled me. The love story between Yuri and Lara is an important part of the plot, but it is not the only or the central element. The beautiful cinematographic adaptation by David Lean has done more harm than good to those readers who approached the book hoping to relive that sad but intense romance through the written word.

The plot is difficult to summarize in a few words. It is not just a book about the revolution, nor can it be said to be counter-revolutionary. We experience the transformation of Russian society from 1905 to the end of World War II through the eyes of the protagonist, Yuri Andréyevich, the doctor Zhivago. Yuri, who belongs to the comfortable bourgeoisie, is a romantic intellectual. He feels that Russia must evolve and initially welcomes the changes. However, he soon becomes disillusioned with the inefficiency and later the horror of indoctrination and unitary thinking. Parallel to this, he struggles between his love for his wife, Tonia, and his passion for Lara.

There are many characters in the novel, and the relationship chart at the end of the book is very helpful. Each character represents a distinct figure, an archetype of Russian society, whether they are main or secondary characters. Pasternak's prose is brilliant. The descriptions of the places, the grandeur of the landscape, the travels, the climate, the war, and the misery and privations are exceptional. It is not a book with many dialogues, but those that it has are pure reflection. Philosophy, literature, and above all, the way each character conceives life and how to live it. The passages of pure lyricism, poetry made into prose, stand out.

The end and especially the epilogue leave no doubt about what Pasternak thought were the fruits of the revolution. The figure of Tania, the daughter of Yuri and Lara, so different from her parents, is representative in itself. In conclusion, "Doctor Zhivago" is a masterpiece of literature. It should be read slowly, savoring every word and with full attention. It is highly recommended, a must-read, but not for any moment.

“En la vida es más importante perder que ganar. La simiente no germina si no muere. Hay que vivir sin dejarse llevar, mirar hacia adelante y alimentarse de aquellas provisiones vivas que tanto el olvido como el recuerdo elaboran.”

As I've already mentioned, this book has been sitting on my bookshelf since I was around thirteen. That was the year my mother gave me a copy for Christmas. She talked to me about the story, the movie, and her adoration of Omar Sharif because of the said movie. But being a punk kid back then, I never bothered to sit down and read it.

Years passed, and I tried to read it a couple of times but never got past a page or two. I always had something more important going on in my life, or so I thought. Now, at thirty-two, it finally felt like the right time. And this time, not only did I make it through the first couple of pages, but I couldn't put it down at all.

One of the reasons I may have had a hard time getting into the book earlier was because people referred to it as "the greatest love story of all time." As a punk kid, I didn't think I needed that. My mom also talked to me about other aspects of the book, like how it covered the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Russian Civil War that followed a year later. But if she did, I don't remember. It just didn't register with me at the time.

Even as an adult, when I started getting into Russian literature, this was always the one book that seemed to stare at me. It was as if Pasternak was saying, "Hey, it's okay. I'll be here when you're ready." And in my imagination, Pasternak is much nicer to me than Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, who has these bitter eyes.

I've written down more passages from Doctor Zhivago in my journal than from any other book I've read recently. The writing is so elegant, and some of the passages really struck a chord deep within me. I don't even particularly like reading about illicit love affairs because I always feel someone is going to get hurt. But in this case, it was different.

Now that I've read the book, I can finally watch the movie and see if I also have a thing for Omar Sharif, or if my love for the story was the only thing my mom passed on to me. Reading Doctor Zhivago has reminded me of all the reasons I love literature and books. It's not just about the words on the page; it's about the experience, the emotions, and the memories that come with it. And it's because of this that I probably will never manage to have an e-reader.

For me, books are more than just something to read. They are gifts, and this particular book is even more special because it was a gift from my mom. It may be a mass market paperback, but it means the world to me. It's a story that she read at a young age and that took her away and made her love life and literature. And now, it's done the same for me.

So, here's to Doctor Zhivago, and to all the books that have touched our lives and made us who we are.