Doctor Zhivago

by Boris Pasternak

book data

3,016 ratings, 3.82 average rating, 307 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		30%
4		34%
3		24%
2		7%
1		2%

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published

November 26th 1991 (first published 1957) by Everyman's Library

binding

Hardcover, 544 pages

isbn

0679407596 (isbn13: 9780679407591)

description

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

In the grand tradition of the epic novel, Boris Pasternak’s masterpiece brings to life the drama and immensity of the Ru...more

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10/05/07

andea rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: anyone who doesn't mind slogging through the confusion of Russian Names

An epic tragic tale spanning the tumultuous life of a poetic dissenter during the Russian Revolution and early era of communism. The story moves along disjointedly depicting moments in Zhivago’s life beginning with the funeral of his mother at age 4 to his growing up on Moscow among relatives while going to school, his family life with his wife/companion from childhood, his involuntary experiences in WWI and the revolution, and the timeless tale of his love affair with Lara, the woman he look...more

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2 comments

01/11/08

Amy rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

Read in February, 2002

recommended to Amy by: I knew on my own I had to read it
recommends it for: everyone

You can not miss this book! If you get the chance, you MUST read it.

Not only because it's a great historical and literary addition to one's memory bank, but also for what it (and all Russian novels, by the way) teaches you about human nature.

Antonia is Dr. Yuri Zhivago's wife, his partner and clearly his biggest fan. Lara is Zhivago's mistress--sort of by accident. She's there for him when Antonia isn't or cannot be, like when Zhivago gets deathly ill miles from home. She...more

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4 comments

06/15/08

Erin rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

bookshelves: classic-russian-authors, fiction

Read in September, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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03/24/08

Griffin rated it:

(review of isbn 0345307593)

bookshelves: read---fiction

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: patient readers who enjoy rich settings as much as (or more than) tight narratives.

My first reading of Dr. Zhivago was in high school. At 15, the book was a chore. Impenetrable and numerous Russian names (often for the same character) and endless description of the Russian landscape left me exhausted and unimpressed. After rereading and enjoying a few other high school assignments, I came across Dr. Zhivago on my bookshelf and wondered if I would find more appreciation for Mr. Pasternak's novel ten years later.

Yes, I did. And no, I didn't.

Ten more y...more My first reading of Dr. Zhivago was in high school. At 15, the book was a chore. Impenetrable and numerous Russian names (often for the same character) and endless description of the Russian landscape left me exhausted and unimpressed. After rereading and enjoying a few other high school assignments, I came across Dr. Zhivago on my bookshelf and wondered if I would find more appreciation for Mr. Pasternak's novel ten years later.

Yes, I did. And no, I didn't.

Ten more years of life, a wife and a job gave me more of a connection with the characters. I better understood the way that life can pull a person in strange directions and drop them into unexpected and unwanted situations. I understood that sometimes people are swept into and out of the place they want to be - and why they stay where things are bad and leave where things are good. Dr. Zhivago is at its heart a love story. No 15 year old understands the kind of love Pasternak puts in his character's hearts. Ten years on, I understand Yuri far better than I did in High School. I also had a far greater appreciation for Pasternak's obviously loving descriptions of his homeland.

That said, the things that drove my dislike of Dr. Zhivago the first time were still still there. The sprawling story and unending task of keeping all the characters straight still detracted from the novel as a whole. I don't know if the problem with character names springs from the fact that, being Russian names, they are unfamiliar to my mind or if Pasternak simply failed to rein in his cast of thousands. Unresolved plot lines rarely bother me but, when combined with extensive background on what ending up being minor characters, Dr. Zhivago felt a bit as if Pasternak let the narrative get away from him. Maybe that was the point. Sometimes life just gets away from you. After all, he's the one with a Nobel Prize. Who am I to criticize?

While I actually liked the novel this time, I feel as if I should have liked Dr. Zhivago more than I did. Maybe it's that I can't escape my first impression.

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02/11/08

nanto rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

bookshelves: buku-dan-film, history-and-sociology, novel, somewhere-out-there-lib

Soal cerita tentang buku ini semua pasti semestinya tau. Semestinya yah! Walau ternyata ada yang bikin saya ngenes karena pernah mendengar celetukan seseorang. Dia menganggap Zhivago yang karangan Pasternak yang Rusia itu sebuah buku kiri. Waduh mbok kabeh seko Rusia kui mesti kiri opo? Opo Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn pengarang Gulag yang Rusia Nasionalis itu itu juga nantinya jadi kiri?

Buat sebuah negeri seperti Indonesia yang pernah dicekam horor "komunisme" oleh sebuah rej...more Soal cerita tentang buku ini semua pasti semestinya tau. Semestinya yah! Walau ternyata ada yang bikin saya ngenes karena pernah mendengar celetukan seseorang. Dia menganggap Zhivago yang karangan Pasternak yang Rusia itu sebuah buku kiri. Waduh mbok kabeh seko Rusia kui mesti kiri opo? Opo Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn pengarang Gulag yang Rusia Nasionalis itu itu juga nantinya jadi kiri?

Buat sebuah negeri seperti Indonesia yang pernah dicekam horor "komunisme" oleh sebuah rejim, celetukan itu patut dimaafkan karena hanya orang yang senang nyerempet bahaya yang akan mencari buku yang seringnya dilarang. Memang semua yang berbau kiri akan dilarang pada jaman dahulu, tetapi bagaimana seseorang itu tau ini buku kiri, lah wong dia tidak pernah cari-cari buku yang dilarang. Lagi pula buku Pasternak yang ini padahal tidak pernah menerima bintang jasa pelarangan oleh Kejaksaaan Agung loh! Kok masih kena label kiri sama seseorang itu yah?

Kenapa saya menolak label kiri bagi buku ini. Alasan utama saya adalah bagaimana Pasternak mencoba menyuarakan ideologinya melalui si tokoh protagonisnya, Dr. Zhivago. Penggambaran sosok dokter humanis yang mencintai Rusia yang tengah diamuk badai revolusi merupakan gambaran yang masih kabur buat menempatkan garis ideologisnya. Namun bagaimana dia mengutarakan perasaan sentimentilnya dalam lirik-lirik puisi di tengah sebuah revolusi yang menistakan perasaan individual dan lebih memuja "sastra untuk rakyat". Bagaimana anda menilai posisi orang sedemikian di tengah rejim yang akan dengan mudahnya menghilangkan mereka yang tidak sejalan?

Zhivago dalam cerita Pasternak buat saya adalah sosok yang kehirauannya pada ketimpangan pada era Feodalisme Tsar sejalan dengan kaum Bolshevis namun implementasi dan kemudian langkah dia dan kaum Bolshevis bersimpang jalan. Zhivago jelas korban dari hilangnya hak privat pasca-Revolusi Bolshevik. Termasuk hak untuk sentimentil hehehe (Kalau jaman itu Sheila on7 sudah hidup tentunya lagu "generasi patah hati" bakal dilarang tuh, dan semua kaum Ungu-isme dan Kangen-isme tentunya).

Gambaran lebih lengkapnya tentunya dengan membaca karya Pasternak yang lain. Posisi Pasternak menempatkan hak pribadi penyair untuk dapat mengemukakan lelangut dirinya tanpa mengabaikan persoalan sosial kirannya bukan sebuah garis Bolshevis.

Akhir kata, meski Rusia hampir sepanjang tahun diselimuti salju, bukan tak ada hikmah dibalik itu. Tanyakan pada orang Rusia, tentunya mereka yang akrab diselimuti salju akan dapat memberikan pada anda betapa warna putih ternyata beragam. Pun bagi kita yang tadinya dari kejauhan menganggap Rusia itu sama, kini bisa lebih melihat mereka sebagai sebuah bangsa yang beragam. Dengan membaca karya dari Rusia tentunya.(less)

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01/15/08

Birrells rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

I found this book in my grandma's library. I actually read it 2 summer's ago. While I'm a fast reader, this book took me nearly 3 months to read on and off. I've always wanted to read it. It was definitely the most difficult book I've ever read. I learned alot about the era of time the book was set in. I also learned alot about the history of Russia and surrounding countries and the government upheavel. It's interesting considering what I learned in World History and the view from our text books...more

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03/08/09

CaterinaAnna rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

bookshelves: bookcrossing

Read in January, 2009

Can't find the ancient edition I have in the list, so have picked this one instead.

I was disappointed in this: not because of the film - I remember little of that except for a few scenes with plot and dialogue missing - but because it seemed to fall between the broad historical novel and the romance without being either thoroughly.

As with War and Peace, I learnt some Russian history from it, but there was more underlying assumption that one already knew the history affec...more

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01/03/09

Laurie rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

Read in January, 2005

Reviewing a classic is always difficult business. Most people are likely familiar with the storyline, if only from the Omar Sharif film. Pasternak tells the story of an elite doctor and his family whose lives are thrown into turmoil by the Russian Revolution. During the revolution Zhivago loses his connections to his family and his wealth. But weaving throughout this undeniably tragic tale is the real focus, Zhivago's blossoming relationship with a young woman, Lara. The two come in and out of c...more

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09/14/08

Wayne Shorey rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

bookshelves: will-read-again

I have always found it difficult to answer those "favorites" questions: "What is your favorite movie/ ice cream flavor/ etc.?" Being an obsessive reader, I would have expected that naming my favorite book would be the hardest thing in the world, much harder than naming my favorite flavor of ice cream. But suddenly one day I realized that Dr. Zhivago is exactly that; my favorite book of all, just ahead of Middlemarch. So much so that I usually start to read it again as soo...more

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04/30/09

Beth rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

Read in January, 1975

This was one of the best books that I have ever read. I read it in 11th grade, and when I gave a book report, my teacher was very impressed and happy that I had read this book.

This is an epic story about a doctor and poet before and during the Russian Revolution. The events and the lifestyles described in this book are unparalleled. This book gave me a very vivid idea of the terrible revolution, and the effect it had on people's lives. I can't imagine a train ride of several week...more

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10/09/07

Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

Read in February, 1996

I read this book for a college course, and as it was college, I didn't get a lot of rest. I'd read before falling asleep, or rather passing out, and then dream not about it, but in it. I don't know how else to describe the feeling of a book just getting inside me. Those Russians, man, they really know how to tell a story.

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06/10/09

Carrie rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

Read in June, 2009

This book is truly great literature. The conclusion, was to me, the best part of the book, bringing everything together. Guess that's why they call it a conclusion! Russian names are difficult, but I got used to them after a while.

Quotes I liked: "To live always means to strive to move higher, toward perfection, and to achieve it."

"However far back you go in your memory, it is always in some external, active manifestation of yourself that you come ac...more

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02/17/09

Dottie rated it:

(review of isbn 0002611503)

bookshelves: 1944-1966

Flap info mentions comparison with War and Peace -- I believe this was my only Russian encounter until I hit The Brothers Karamazov with Classics corners some years back. Why I was hesitant to tackle the Russians I'm not at all sure for this one certainly was a winner in my opinion -- absolutely loved reading it. Yes, names may have confused me at moments but not for long and that's a common complaint one hears with Russian reading -- still not something w hich would have put me off pursuing ...more

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11/20/08

Denis rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

One of the major achievements of worldwide literature. The movie is great and more faithful to Pasternak than its detractors have said, but read the book nonetheless: it goes much deeper into the psyche of its characters, and the painting it makes of Russia at a turning point of its history is absolutely stunning. Multi-layered, both romantic and political, this novel is profoundly Russian (in the way War and Peace is Russian) and at the same time universal. The scope of the story is so broad it...more

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06/26/08

Jason rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

slow moving. like trying to walk through heavy wet snow. but all in all worth the patience. A good book, though i did not like the "conclusion" or "epillogue"

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03/18/09

Staci Wigton rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

Read in March, 2009

My mommy wanted me to read this during my spring break. I wanted to hate Yuri, but couldn't help pity him at the same time. I absolutely fell in love with Tonya and how even-tempered and tolerant she was. I didn't care to much for Lara. She actually bugged me except at the end. I hate helpless damsels in distress who ruin a man's life. Like Thomas Hardy quotes from Esdras from Jude the Obscure, "Yea, many there be that have run out of their wits for women, and become servants for their sake...more

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05/16/09

Dusty rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

bookshelves: read-in-2009

Read in June, 2009

As far as I know, Doctor Zhivago appeals for three reasons. First, it is an epic by and about a man caught in the thick of the tumultuous period of Russian enlightenment and revolution. Second, like many epics, it follows the romance between a man and a woman (or in this book´s case, three women) whose love is made impossible by the political circumstances in which they live. Third, and lastly, it was bravely published in the 1950s, censored immediately by the Soviets but heralded by non-Red li...more

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03/26/09

Matthew rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

Read in January, 2009

Yurii Andreievich is one of my heroes, not because he led a double life in which he had a wife and a mistress, but he protected his family. Yurii was the working man and no matter what obstacle he overcame the impediment to return to his family, whichever family that was at the time. The book also showed the dual sides of the mind because Yurii was a doctor, but his scientific mindset did not inhibit his ability to convey emotion through poetry. I guess what I am trying to say is just because a ...more

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04/06/09

Stacey rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

Read in June, 2009

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book, but most of the rest of it was a slog with occasional bits that recaptured the attention. A lot of the book was well written, with much of the descriptions of people and place carrying into the novel and supporting it. Although sometimes difficult to follow with the action jumping from place to place and people randomly appearing. And lots of different names/nicknames per person (as is usual in Russian novels) which made it difficult to read slowly o...more

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03/17/09

Sandybanks rated it:

(review of isbn 0679774386)

bookshelves: classics, russian-literature

Read in March, 2009

Dr. Zhivago, whose name means 'to live' , is truly a man of his age. Not only did he live through the turbulent age of revolutionary Russia, he was also a man who was swallowed by the tides of history, pulverized and then spat out by it. It was impersonal, these forces of history that ultimately destroyed him, his family and others who were caught between senseless wars and concentration camps. Totalitarian regimes, Reds or Whites, have no place for independent human will and affections. An indi...more

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8 comments