Customer Reviews

Dr. Zhivago (in Russian Language)

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This is a gripping story about life, love, and the tragedy of war. Yuri Zhivago is a doctor in Russia during the tumultuous times of the Russian Revolution and civil war. Zhivago is both a skilled MD and a compassionate man, both of which are in short supply in war-ravaged Russia. Events separate Zhivago from his wife and children, and at times from his mistress Lara. Like so many others, Zhivago's life is largely controlled by fate and larger events, yet he retains his humanity and love of life. Probably the book's strongest part concerns the love affair played out in an abandoned home during winter - with the civil war never far away. English-speaking readers may need a few pages to warm up to the author's style (including dual names for the characters), but this powerful book is well worth reading.

Author Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) was named 1958 Nobel Prize winner for this stunning effort - an award the Soviet Government ordered him not to accept due to Pasternak's critical look at the Bolshevik Revolution. This is not an easy read at first, but it is an enduring and powerful one.

Dr. Zhivago is one of those rare stories with a main character that is marred in several ways. Fluctuating in philosophy and love, Yury is frustrating yet captiving. So is the novel. The details, the way Boris describes the first night Yury and Tonya fell in love was brilliant. His message of pacifism is made obvious, too much so in my opinion, and the poetry of Dr. Zhivago allows the reader a great insight into his mind. However, I found the ending flat. After Tonya flees, it seemed to drag on too long before the book actually reaches closure. I loved the first four hundred pages, but went through the last hundred by sheer will. This book is considered a classic and is very fitting of such a category. It's detail, it's splendor, it's tales of Russian history are unparallaled, but the ending is very anti-climatic and leaves somewhat of a bitter taste after an otherwise beautiful literary work