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Doctor Zhivago

Boris Pasternak,

John Bayley (Introduction),

Max Hayward (Translator),

Manya Harari (Translator)

Start date: April 25, 2017

Discussion: Doctor Zhivago

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Showing 2 of 8 topics — 268 comments total

Doctor Zhivago

* Doctor Z - Week Six - The Rowan Tree/Opposite the House of Sculptures
By Dianne · 10 posts · 23 views

last updated Jul 19, 2017 05:32PM

* Doctor Z - Week Five - Varykino, The Highway, The Forest Brotherhood
By Dianne · 6 posts · 22 views

last updated Jun 26, 2017 05:42PM

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What Members Thought

Jun 23, 2017 Greg rated it liked it

Shelves: 21st-century, reviewed, 1001-books-to-read, russia-translation

Sometimes, we think a movie better than the book: I'd argue most of those "sometimes" are when we saw the movie (in my cases, numerous times) first. And, I just couldn't separate the film from the novel. I enjoyed how Lara loved Pasha because he was a fighter, Zhivago because he was a lover (and the film focused on the love story more so than the fighting as I recall.) But, in the novel, when Zhivago says to Lara: "How immensely pure and strong is your love for him. Go on, go on loving him. I'm ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2016 Biblio Curious rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics-russian-ukrainian

If this book was food, it must be a blind tasting of fine wine.

There is so much I didn't understand and I went in blindly knowing nothing of Russian History. I feel like I have an honorary Russian History degree now. It's book I want to re-read a few more times. It's like that movie you gotta watch a few times to understand and each time, it's better.

Super slow to start, Chapters 1 and 2 you can just skip. I bumbled through them with the help of Shmoop :) Near the end is about 25 pages of the m ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Oct 13, 2020 Jess Penhallow rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1900s, russia, 1920s, 1910s, boxall-s

There were some fantastic moments of reflection and philosophy on fate, autonomy, class and so much more. I also loved seeing how much Russia changed in the first few decades of the 20th century.

However, I found both Yuri and Lara, the characters on whom this story hinges to be insufferable. I wasn't invested in their love story and just felt bad for everyone else in their lives especially their children!

There were also a number of rambling and drawn out parts and the plot contrivances were lau ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

May 16, 2017 Pamela rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: guardian-1000-read, boxall-1001-read

Four stars for the first half, two stars for the second half when the 'romance' between two neurotic and self-absorbed characters unbalanced what had previously been a beautifully written classic.

Pasternak brilliantly conveys the chaos of the Russian revolution and subsequent civil war, and the extremes of disillusionment or cynicism that overtakes those involved. He raises some great points about politics, art, religion and the human condition. There are some brilliant vignettes that show the h ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 26, 2017 Peg Gjertsen rated it it was ok

I am sure it was good for me to read this novel but it was a chore. While I enjoyed Tolstoy's side trips into his philosophy I did not feel the say about Pasternak's. The lasting impression for me is that for the generation of Russians who lived through all the revolutions and wars from 1905 to sometime in the 1920's had every right to be insane. Poor Dr. Z died before he was 50 but seemed to have lived through many lifetimes of misery. ...more

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