From the Bookshelf of Reading the Classics…

Doctor Zhivago

Boris Pasternak,

John Bayley (Introduction),

Max Hayward (Translator),

Manya Harari (Translator)

Start date: December 1, 2020

Finish date: January 25, 2021

Discussion: Monthly Group Read - 12/20

Discussion leader: Brian

Why we're reading this: Winner in a poll for our December Group Read.
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Apr 02, 2022 Henry Avila rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Dr. Zhivago is more famous for the film version by the magnificent British director David Lean, so romantic that it brought in countless millions of customers to see and soak their eyes. The book by Boris Pasternak is very different more of a tour of the brutal, epic journey in the destruction and the resurrection of mother Russia from 1902 to the 1950's, revisiting a painful chapter, nevertheless the characters involved are well sketched and many people in the background are real. A historical Dr. Zhivago is more famous for the film version by the magnificent British director David Lean, so romantic that it brought in countless millions of customers to see and soak their eyes. The book by Boris Pasternak is very different more of a tour of the brutal, epic journey in the destruction and the resurrection of mother Russia from 1902 to the 1950's, revisiting a painful chapter, nevertheless the characters involved are well sketched and many people in the background are real. A historical fiction that tells how the largest nation on Earth suffered and still does. Its people are great but her governments aren't............................The good doctor Yuri Andreievich Zhivago, ( a mouthful which Russian names tend to be) was the son of Andrei, a millionaire drunkard, a neglectful man frequently absent from his family sometimes for years, rumors he has a second family. Poor mother Maria Nikolaievna a bad heart ends her brief candle light soon followed by her husband. The boy's half-brother enigmatic Evgraf Andreievich Zhivago a product of an illicit affair, helps his orphaned sibling. Raised him and gave Yuri a good education. Zhivago as a youth meets the love of his life Larisa Feodorovna Guishar not noticed much by him but an unfortunate incident makes a mark. Victor Ippolitovich Komarovsky , Yuri's late father's corrupt lawyer, now both Lara's mother Amalia and afterwards the daughter's lover. Then Lara causes turmoil in a fabulous party in Moscow but kept quiet. These events maybe today are shadows on the wall the consequences still resonate in Russia and the world. Notwithstanding all the politics and tragedies the center of the novel is the attraction between Yuri and Lara, that the film highlights to tremendous effect. The two both marry others yet they never lose hope, their passion continues and reignites even though the high tides of revolution and civil war frequently separates and takes them to unknown regions, like an ocean's waves , still their feelings remain unchanged. An idyllic small house in Siberia in the middle of nowhere proves this. Most people will not care about the conflicts, and the resulting butchery can make for a difficult story to read, yet the lives of the couple gives magic to the concept that living could be the same way. If you desire a narrative that entertains and informs about dark days in a nation's struggle for salvation never achieved, this written by a man who witnessed unimaginable scenes that turns the stomach of modern humans, regardless this history must never be forgotten. ...more

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