An Entertaining Page Turner

This book is truly an entertaining page turner. It offers a good dose of melodrama that keeps the readers engaged from start to finish. The dialogue is particularly well-written, especially the exchanges between Yurii and Lara. Their conversations are filled with depth and emotion, adding an extra layer of authenticity to the story.

However, one cannot ignore the fact that there are way too many similes in the text. While similes can enhance the description and make the writing more vivid, an overabundance of them can sometimes become distracting and take away from the overall impact of the story.

The conclusion and epilogue, unfortunately, seem to drag a bit. They feel a bit superfluous and could have been more concise. Despite these minor flaws, the book still manages to earn a rating of three and a half stars.

Overall, it is a great read that I would highly recommend. I am now looking forward to seeing the movie adaptation to see how the story comes to life on the big screen.

From a diary

Who knows why today this book has the connotation of a melancholy nostalgia. Nostalgia for something that has never been lived. The most insidious one.

It's as if this book holds within its pages a hidden world, a world that I can only access through this strange sense of longing. Maybe it's the way the words are arranged, or the way the author describes the scenes and emotions. Whatever it is, it has a powerful grip on me.

I find myself lost in the pages, imagining what it would have been like to experience those moments. The smells, the sounds, the feelings. It's a bittersweet experience, because I know that I can never truly go back in time and live those things. But still, I can't help but be drawn in by this sense of nostalgia.

Perhaps this is the power of a good book, to make us feel emotions that we never thought possible and to transport us to places that we have never been before. And even though this nostalgia may be a bit painful at times, it's also a reminder of all the wonderful things that life has to offer.

"Doctor Zhivago" is a challenging yet outstanding literary work.

The reading difficulty can vary from person to person. For me, it lies in the abrupt scene endings and rapid time jumps. Clearer temporal indicators could have alleviated this issue.

The novel's setting during the 1917 Russian Revolution and Civil War reveals Pasternak's negative view of the revolution's outcome.

Communism brought not only systemic changes but also profound social and individual transformations at a breakneck pace.

The symbolic value of the characters adds depth to the story. Lara represents Russia, Komarovsky the Tsarist regime, Antipov/Strelnikov the revolutionary ideal, and Zhivago Russia's glorious past.

The discussion between Zhivago and Strelnikov in Varîkino is my favorite scene. Their few encounters make it all the more memorable.

In conclusion, "Doctor Zhivago" is a remarkable book that vividly portrays a tumultuous era in Russian history.

The turn of the road was lit
By the unconcerned shimmer of distant stars

Three times I've delved into this remarkable book, and each reading has deepened my sense of wonder at this work of genius. What could it be that lures me back time and again? Years ago, I might have attributed it to the romance or the poetry, which are still incredibly powerful. Now, however, I find myself drawn to the flaws within humankind, to the complex interplay of strength, weakness, and energy within a system that is increasingly dehumanizing. This book, to me, is a tribute to the Russian people, highlighting their remarkable capacity for endurance and adaptation, from the pre-war, revolutionary years to the harrowing Stalinist purges.

Let's consider Tonya. Raised in comfort and luxury, she shows no sign of complaint as her world crumbles around her. Instead, she summons reserves of practicality and fortitude that she never knew she possessed. Her husband, Zhivago (Yury), turns to his work, poetry, and philosophy for solace, while Tonya's focus is on the survival of her family. During a seemingly endless and exhausting train journey to the Urals, she remains consistently brave and cheerful. One assumes that Yury loves her for this, but has appreciation, that tender aspect of love, already become a luxury? When they are separated by war, Yury misses his family, but there is no condemnation of his recourse to Lara. In the context of war and the constant threat of death, one might be forgiven for thinking that their love is born out of necessity, fusion, and the need for survival. But what of Yury's uncle, the philosopher Nikolay Nikolayevich's assertion of "an inward music" that "raises man above the beast"? For Yury, this cannot be an inward-turning; in a lengthy passage about the meaning of death, he insists that "consciousness is a beam of light directed outwards". And Lara, in a passionate and breathless declaration, later denies that there is anything of necessity in their love:

"O, what a love it was, how free, how new, like nothing else on earth!... It was not out of necessity that they loved each other, 'enslaved by passion', as lovers are described. They loved each other because everything around them willed it, the trees and the clouds and the sky over their heads, and the earth under their feet.... never, never, not even in their moments of richest and wildest happiness, had they lost the sense of what is highest and most ravishing – joy in the whole universe, its form, its beauty, the feeling of their own belonging to it, being part of it."

Yury appears selfless, almost disappearing into unselfishness as his consciousness becomes increasingly directed towards Lara, her safety, and that of her child, and later, into his art. I initially wondered about Pasternak's decision to include a lengthy "Conclusion" followed by an "Epilogue", but these sections serve to place us in the snow, watching through a window as "the candle burned", seeing the face of our hero change with the lines of his verse and his body shrink from the countless wounds of war, revolution, and privation. Pasternak, unafraid and unhindered by stylistic expectations, presents us with coincidences worthy of a Victorian novel throughout the book. But in the final scenes of Zhivago's life – I was going to say, "being" – we are forced to our knees before what must be not coincidence but fate, a powerful magnetism, a luminous accord in the face of destruction.

I recently read and reviewed "Eastern Approaches" by Fitzroy MacLean and was greatly impressed by his observations on the psychology of the defendants in Stalin's show trials. Listen to Pasternak:

"It was the disease, the revolutionary madness of the age; that in his heart everyone was utterly different from his words and the outward appearance he assumed. No one had a clear conscience. Everyone had some reason to feel that he was guilty of everything, that he was an imposter, an undetected criminal. The slightest pretext was enough to launch the imagination on an orgy of self-torture. People slandered and accused themselves, not out of terror but of their own will, from a morbidly destructive impulse, in a state of metaphysical trance, carried away by that passion for self-condemnation which cannot be checked once it has been given free rein."

In another speech, Yury the doctor connects this to the "small cardiac haemorrhages" that he and others are experiencing:

"I think its causes are chiefly moral. The great majority of us are required to live a life of constant, systematic duplicity. Your health is bound to be affected if, day after day, you say the opposite of what you feel, if you grovel before what you dislike and rejoice at what brings you nothing but misfortune. Your nervous system isn't a fiction, it's a part of your physical body, and your soul exists in space and is inside you, like the teeth in your head. You can't keep violating it with impunity...."

It is this remarkable compatibility of the whole that is so staggering in the context of the devastation of land, habitation, society, the qualities that make us human, and those human beings themselves. It calls to mind the reassertion of nature in Chernobyl. At first, I found it odd that the epilogue should focus not only on relatively minor characters but also echo Lara's words and sentiments. But that is all I can say about the end, as I'm always cautious about spoiling the story for those who haven't read it.

"Zhivago's Poems" conclude the book. The translators apologize for their decision to translate them literally. I would love to at least attempt to read one or two in Russian and get a sense of how powerful and thrilling they must be in the original. Several of the poems have religious themes, infused with a distinct Russian flavor:

"It was winter.
The wind blew from the steppe
And it was cold for the child
In the cave on the hillside...."

...
The sight of the new star startled the universe

The best-known of the poems is surely "Winter Night":

"Snow swept over the earth,
Swept it from end to end.
The candle on the table burned,
The candle burned."

I can still vividly recall that wonderful scene in the film starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, where Zhivago sits alone, compelled by his poems, at the frosted window of their snow-bound retreat, with the wolves howling outside. He knows that their love, their life together, has already entered a new and profound dimension. Unforgettable, compelling, and magnificent.

Hallelujah https://g.co/kgs/ci9PPde

Eh già Alleluia, ho finitoooooooo!!!!

I started this Russian brick (I and the Russians are not very friendly) just to please a friend.... Fortunately, the audiobook has brought me to the conclusion of this story which, surely my fault, I understood little.

My ignorance of general history and especially that of the East has contributed to the difficulties of understanding.

However, I am glad to have read such an important novel for all world literature.

So, go beyond my complaints and get your dose....

Ah, just so you know, my "friend" didn't even open it, Dr. Zivi.

This experience of reading this Russian novel has been quite a journey for me. Despite my initial reservations due to my not-so-friendly feelings towards the Russians, I pushed through for the sake of my friend. The audiobook was a great help in getting me to the end, but I still feel that I didn't fully grasp the story. My lack of knowledge about history, especially that of the East, really hindered my understanding. Nevertheless, I am happy to have read a work that is so significant in the world of literature. It has broadened my horizons and made me more aware of different cultures and historical contexts. I encourage others to give it a try, despite any initial difficulties. And as for my friend, well, maybe he'll come around and give it a read someday.

“Doctor Zhivago” is everything I expect from a Russian novel, only that those expectations are delivered in the form of a sumptuous opera. On one hand, there is Mother Russia, the revolution, the apocalypse, the meaning of history. All the characters are always willing to engage in philosophical dialogues, the world is mystically permeated, and there is that constant need of Russian writers to offer their vision of Christianity. On the other hand, there is the sticky melodrama, meetings and partings resolved by the finger of fate, characters as embodiments of ideas, and even one of them has a deus ex machina function, all performed against the backdrop of a sumptuous scenery in the form of lush landscapes (I would be more than willing to read a book composed only of Pasternak's descriptions of nature).

Although thematically rich, just as much as the plot is complex, “Doctor Zhivago” has its central theme, which is death and the possibility of overcoming it. Right at the beginning, Uncle Kolya, Yuri Zhivago's guardian, sets a clear framework – man does not live in nature, but in history (although it will later become clear that in Pasternak's world history is not the antonym of nature), and that history itself is begun by Christ and the Gospels (I assume that here Pasternak is under the influence of Berdyaev). And what is history? “History is the establishment of the laws of the age-old work on the consistent anticipation of death and on its future conquest.” The central hero in the novel is set up in such a way that he would conquer death at the end. And he succeeds in this through suffering (assuming the role of Christ) and through love, and the essence of Zhivago's love for the world is realized in writing poetry, because in the end, all things in the world are actually words in a dictionary that need to be rearranged into a poem. The idea of spiritual immortality is carried out literally – people exist as much as their works exist (“Man in other people is the soul of man.”). In the epilogue, it is already clear that Zhivago has continued to live through his poetry and through other people, and thus his life, although it was filled with human weaknesses and marked by failures, has nevertheless triumphed. In the last chapter, composed of 25 poems, we witness this triumph/resurrection through poetry. And, my God, how beautiful those poems are. They are so beautiful that the covers of the book at the end deserve special tenderness when closing it.

Doctor Zhivago is a remarkable novel that takes readers on a journey through the tumultuous times of the Russian Revolution. Set mostly during and after the 1917 (October) Revolution, it follows the life of Yurii Zhivago, a young physician and poet. Zhivago works as an army doctor during WWI and is wounded. It is during this time that he meets Lara Antipova, who nurses him back to health, and he falls deeply in love with her.

The story is filled with passion, turmoil, and political upheaval. Zhivago's life is constantly disrupted by the events of the revolution and the civil war between the Red and White partisans. He is forced to flee with his wife Tonia and their child to the Urals, where he again encounters Lara. Their relationship blossoms, but it is not without its challenges.

The novel was first published in Italy in 1957 and was later awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature to Boris Pasternak. However, the Soviet government forced him to decline the award. It was not until 1987 that the novel was finally published in the Soviet Union. Doctor Zhivago is not just a love story, but also a powerful commentary on the human condition during times of war and revolution.

4,25 stars - Dutch hardcover

This is a Dutch hardcover that has received a rating of 4.25 stars. It seems to have made quite an impression on the readers. However, a detailed review will follow later.

The hardcover format gives it a certain durability and elegance. It's likely that the content within is of high quality as well, considering the relatively high star rating.

Readers are eagerly anticipating the upcoming review to learn more about the specific features and qualities of this Dutch hardcover. Whether it's a work of fiction, non-fiction, or something else entirely, the 4.25 stars suggest that it has something to offer.

Stay tuned for the review that will provide a more in-depth look at this interesting Dutch hardcover.

Cada cierto tiempo, siento la necesidad acuciante de leerme un novelón ruso. Estas obras son melodramáticas y cargadas con un millar de personajes cuyas vidas están marcadas por la tragedia.

Guerra y paz, Anna Karenina, Vida y destino, Crimen y castigo... Todas ellas me ayudaron a comprender mejor la mentalidad rusa y especialmente a desentrañar el terror de su Historia reciente.

Dolor, guerra, revolución, muerte. Todo eso está muy presente en El doctor Zhivago. Esta obra relata las andanzas del doctor a lo largo de su vida, pasando por dos Guerras Mundiales y dos Revoluciones.

La historia me atrapó desde el principio. La primera mitad de la obra la disfruté enormemente. El autor va desplegando una telaraña de personajes que el destino hará que vuelvan a encontrarse una y otra vez. Quizás en la recta final, cuando el romance se vuelve más presente y la tragedia rodea a nuestros personajes, dejé de sentir tanto interés por ellos. Me faltó una mayor presencia de todos estos personajes y una mayor relevancia en sus historias. Pero al final, resultaron ser pequeñas piezas en los recuerdos de Yuri Zhivago.

De todas maneras, y a pesar de ser más tradicional y menos impactante que 'Vida y destino' (por poner un ejemplo), he disfrutado mucho de esta historia y de sus personajes. Y especialmente de esa manera de mostrarnos las atrocidades del comunismo, lo absurdo de la guerra y la mella que todo esto dejó en el pueblo ruso.

Una lectura que, a pesar de sus 700 páginas, me ha resultado ligera, emotiva y emocionante. Un drama romántico pero con un trasfondo crítico muy fuerte, todo ello narrado con la habilidad de un gran poeta.

This is a reread for me. Will I still think it worth five stars?

**********************************

On completion after the second reading:

I ended up really liking some aspects of the book, but not all. This book makes you feel history and what it is to be human. It isn't so much a history book as a way of living through / experiencing life in Russia in the first half of the 20th Century in Moscow and in the Urals. What it was like to live through the Revolution and the subsequent civil war are not depicted with historical events, but rather depicted through starvation, cold, illness and disillusionment. All is movingly told. Places and landscape are exceptionally well drawn.

Sounds great! Right? Except that there are problems. The story builds very slowly and it is hard to follow. There are many characters and Pasternak within one paragraph can refer to the same person with a different name - in one line choosing the patronymic, in the next the surname and then he switches for no reason to a nickname. I don’t usually have trouble with Russian names, but I certainly did here, for the entire first third of the novel. In the first third dialog is practically non-existent. This too makes it difficult to establish a close rapport with any of the characters. They do not mean anything to you; you do not feel empathy for them. (I explain below how I solved this problem.) By the book’s end you certainly do know the characters, but even here I have a bit of a complaint. I don’t understand some of the characters’ choices. This must mean that I lack a thorough understanding of their respective personalities and how they think. I believe I understand why Yuri felt he could not follow Lara to Vladivostok; he felt a loyal duty to do the correct thing in regards to his wife and child, even if his love for his wife was never passionate, but I am not sure. What the book does tremendously well is let the reader feel empathy for the suffering of the characters and the people of Russia.

Why is the book written? What did Pasternak want to achieve? It is not a book to teach you history through fictional characters. As started, historical details are sparse. Supposedly, neither was it meant as a love story, which is what many appreciate it for. (I enjoyed the love story very much, even on my second reading.) What then? I believe Pasternak wanted his readers to palpably and with all of their emotions experience a time and place, what he himself had seen and experienced. Anyhow, there is an Afterword that discusses this question and gives a brief outline of the Pasternak’s life. Yuri, the main character, is Pasternak’s alter-ego. That is clear. I feel that Pasternak was making a political statement against Bolshevism, speaking of the importance of art and literature and finally quite simply showing us how difficult life is. There is no rhyme or reason for what life throws at us. Most importantly, he wants the reader to feel life. He does achieve this marvelously in some sections.

Doctor Zhivago has a great line where he says that you should not lay out philosophizing too thick, but spread it out sparingly; otherwise it is like taking a huge bite of horseradish. Here we see that alter-ego quality. Yet, there are sections that do just that; the philosophical reasoning is at times excessive and other times unclear. Neither do I understand Pasternak’s / Doctor Zhivago’s religious beliefs, although it is clear he opposed anti-Semitism.

Some events are VERY coincidental. Maybe…. real life can be stranger than fiction!

The story ends with poems. They did not speak to me. Occasionally you recognized how they expressed the events of the story. Other poems were completely unrelated to the story. Several have a religious theme and I did not know what was being implied.

John Lee narrates the audiobook. I used to think he was a great narrator. My tastes have changed. I don’t like the sing-song lilt of his voice. He reads clearly and at a good tempo, so the narration is not really a problem, even if I didn’t enjoy it.

So even if I loved enveloping myself in another time and place, and loving another with all my heart, experiencing a starry night with wolves howling, or a blizzard, other aspects of the book left me confused and unconvinced of what Pasternak was saying. I definitely enjoyed reading this – after I had gotten through the first half. There is writing that occasionally just knocks you off your feet. This is a book to experience, but it takes hard work to be able to get to that point.

My next two books will be, as planned, first The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book and then The Wives: The Women Behind Russia's Literary Giants. Had I not enjoyed this book it would have been hard to continue.

***********************************

In part 14:

Oh my, it IS a wonderful love story, just as I remembered. Still reading.

***********************************

Part six completed, part 7 begun, about 1/3 of the book read:

Originally I read the book after having just seen the movie, which I adored. Omar Shariff's eyes.... I was a teenager and my imagination took flight. I simply loved it. I think it helped me to see the movie before reading the book. Now the second time around, the beginning was very difficult for me. This book has a long, slow start. I had immense trouble with the names. When you see a movie you see the characters and glimpse their personality too, by the actors' movements, their clothing and what they say. Pasternak doesn't make it easy to keep characters straight. Every character has at least four names - several nicknames, the given name, the patronymic and the surname. Furthermore the book lacks dialog throughout the first three parts. Dialog slowly creeps in from the fourth part. Dialog helps you understand the personality of the characters. I don't want to be told, but rather shown. Dialog achieves this. The beginning read simply as he did this and she did that. Dry statements relating what occurs. If you are a person like me who wants to know the people, the beginning was tremendously unsatisfying and confusing. The first three parts were a struggle.

I was about to give up, but decided I would see if there was a character list on Wiki. There wasn't, but right smack in the beginning it explains how difficult it is to follow this book because of how Pasternak uses the names, confusing who is who. What Wiki has is an article that summarizes the novel's separate parts. As each new character is introduced the complete name is given. I decided to read the summary of after completion of each part. I managed through the first parts which are definitely the hardest, hardest because these characters mean nothing to you. The tone and writing style changes after part three. Now, by part seven, it reads as a story should. I am beginning to differentiate the characters; I feel I know who they are. There is dialog. I loved how the Russian fighting in Poland (WW1) is described. Now the Russian Revolution has taken place, and you see what life was like for Russians, in particular these Russian characters. With the Bolshevik Revolution the entire society fell apart. Starvation, typhus, consumption. Turning a dream into reality is no simple task. I am totally engaged now. It still is not a love story though. Yuri is a doctor and he is trying his best in a society that is completely new to him. Lara is a nurse, they have met, but each is married to another. So let's call this a slow boiler. The book engagingly depicts the Russian experience at the beginning of the 1900s through the World War One and now the Revolution. It is interesting, it is engaging, but scarcely a love story yet. Not yet!

The Wiki article doesn't give that many details the further into the story you get. Parts 6-9 are clumped together. It is interesting - as the story starts getting deeper, engaging and filled with dialog, Wiki isn't needed any more. So Wiki helped me. I thought I would let others know - maybe how they too can get the most out of this novel or at least how to get through the beginning parts until you know who is who. My idea is to read this and then The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book and The Wives: The Women Behind Russia's Literary Giants.

I am definitely engaged in the book now, while before it was a struggle.

This detailed account of the second reading of Doctor Zhivago offers a comprehensive view of the book's strengths and weaknesses. The author's initial enthusiasm for the story's ability to convey the human experience and the historical backdrop of Russia in the early 20th century is tempered by the difficulties in following the slow-paced narrative, the complex use of character names, and the lack of early dialog. However, the author's perseverance pays off as they begin to engage with the story and characters more deeply in the later parts of the book. The discussion of the book's purpose, Pasternak's possible intentions, and the role of the afterword adds another layer of analysis. The author's comments on the audiobook narration and the ending poems also provide valuable insights. Overall, this review serves as a useful guide for readers considering a second reading of Doctor Zhivago or those who are new to the book and want to understand its challenges and rewards.

What in the name of all the soul-destroying books was this?

It was simply too long! And this assessment comes from someone who has read "War and Peace" twice!

Moreover, it was incredibly boring. In fact, it was as boring as "Vanity Fair"!

Not only were there an excessive number of characters, but the author, in a rather unhelpful manner, alternated the character names between the first, middle, and last name in every other sentence. For instance, Yury Zhivago was referred to as Yury, the Doctor, and Zhivago in three consecutive sentences. When pet-names and women's maiden and married names were added, it all became a fuzzy and confusing stew.

The plot

When you read a novel and reach its 700th page, you wonder if it's really worth all this praise. But when you finish it, you even feel sad for the upcoming parting.

I really liked this novel a lot. Although I spent a long time with it, and in fact, I left it for a while. When I came back to it, I came back with great enthusiasm.

The novel is a perfect example of what wars and revolutions can do in terms of the destruction and chaos of various families. And for those who have no relation to politics, the people who live a very simple life but pay the price.

That wonderful entanglement that Dostoyevsky presented between the characters and how it is possible for a person who seems worthless to make a difference in life without being accounted for.

Love and war... this contradiction that combines the two together in one space. They kill each other.

If war and peace is a heroic epic, then this novel is no less in its own way.

Note: You may encounter difficulties with proper names. The Russians use names in the plural form, another in the singular, and also names for reference, which causes confusion for the Arab reader.

I think this is the main reason that made me stop many times, but I tried hard and really liked what I did. It has been a journey worth the praise.