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Title: Dr. Zhivago (in Russian Language) by Boris Leonidovich Pasternak ISBN: 5-8370-0375-4 Publisher: Distribooks Intl Pub. Date: May, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (54 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Adventure, Romance and Political Novel
Comment: This book truly does take on multiple genres. It is an adventure story about a man's quest through the trials and tribulations of the Russian revolution. It is also a political novel in that it comments on those very events going on around that individual, Yuri Zhivago. It is also and primarily a romantic novel about the loves and lives of various individuals caught up in an extremely tumultuous time and waht effects those events and preceedings have on their very souls.
This novel is as well written as many classic Russian novels are, and is even more of an interesting read to someone who is familiar with those works. There are references constantly to Dostoevsky, Pushkin and the like. The novel builds on all of those authors and shows how those authors have truly influenced the lives of the characters.
Another interesting aspect of this novel is that Boris Pasternak seems to have truly taken on his alternate persona of Yuri Zhivago when writing this novel. Though written in third person you often get the idea that this novel is actually being written by Yuri about the world around him. This idea is further entrenched by the collection of poems at the rear supposedly written by the good doctor himself.
The style of this novel is that of an excellent piece of poetry. It does what so much great russian literature does, which is to combine philosophy and deep thinking about the world with a lovely poetic description. This novel can speak to you on many levels, it can make you think deep thoughts, or you can simply let it carry you away on a tide of emotions. The choice is up to you but either way do not pass this novel up.
Rating: 3
Summary: As A Useful Cold War Tool, Inevitably It Was Overpraised
Comment: The banning of "Dr Zhivago" in the USSR because of the main character's ambiguity towards the Russian Revolution - the Doctor was not actually against it - made this book a useful example of the absurd lengths the Kremlin was willing to go to impose censorship. Its reception made it a useful teaching tool in the West to help people understand this aspect of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately it got so overpraised during the Cold War that the weaknesses of the plot and the often pedestrian writing tend to shock those readers expecting another Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. Writers like Nabokov and Graham Greene tried to offer some sensible criticism at the time, about this novel, as literature, and their comments are worth looking up. Even today in Russia Pasternak is still revered for his poetry rather than this novel.
I remember as a Soviet Studies student in college (1980's), "Dr Zhivago" was always assigned in the History of Russia classes, not the Russian Literature courses. For literature we read (and thoroughly enjoyed) "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov. This darkly ironic satire of Stalin's pre-war Russia also works as a universal novel, a commentary on life that any sensitive reader can enjoy (I recommend Mira Ginsburg's funny, lyrical translation published by Grove Press - I've read it six or seven times). Bulgakov finished the book in 1940, when he died, and it sat in a draw until published in the 60's. Readers may also wish to try the short stories of Zoshchenko and the poetry of Anna Akhmatova, for some real 20th century Russian literature that can stand the test of time, not just the duration of the cold war.
There ARE enjoyable passages in the book, but after a while the poor conception and execution of the novel as a structure become apparent. I agree with the other reviewers who have noticed this. Keep an eye out for the reference to Stalin as a "pock-marked Caligula," and the single reference to Leon Trostky as "Lyobochka," both very daring at the time (they show how far we have come, too, since 1991).
Rating: 5
Summary: Making love, war and revolution
Comment: One of the biggest difficulties a western reader have to overcome when he/she starts reading Boris Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago" is to stop trying to figure out how to pronounce those giant strange Russian names and focus on the narrative. Once that is done, the reader has reached half way to succed in reading this book.
Sure the big and unusual names are not the most difficult part of this novel of epic proportions, but when one stops worrying about them, things smooth over. Those Russian names are beautiful, but very difficult to imagine how to pronounce them, and we have a tendency of wanting to pronounce everything --even if it is inside our minds. Forget the names.
Names issue aside, "Doctor Zhivago" is a great book --in more than one sense-- telling the story of love, war and revolution. It is possible to argue that Zhivago and Lara's love story is the central spine of the narrative, while the war and revolution work as background. This concept is too reductive, once both war and revolution have main role in bringing the couple together and them apart.
The three issues are what conduce the narrative. Of course the reader has the expectation of seeing the two lovers interacting together, but they spend so much apart from each other that it is impossible not to start to follow attentively the war and then the revolution. These three aspects take turn in the major focus of the action. And this is one of the aspects that make this novel so multi layered. One can find love, adventure, political ideas and a portrait of life in Russia in the period before and right after the revolution, not to mention, the portrait of the human existence that is in the whole book.
The characters are very well developed and human. The unfolding of the action takes time, and this why the novel may seem to be slow going at times. It is not a fault, but actually Pasternak's style. Contemporary readers may be annoyed, but not the ones who care beautiful and deep narratives. This aspect reminded me of Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain".
To sum up, "Doctor Zhivago" is a very beautiful book, highly recommended. Its story may please those who like adventures, those who prefer love, and those who enjoy political dramas alike.
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Title:Doctor Zhivago (Two-Disc Special Edition) ASIN: B00003CX9M Publisher: Warner Home Video Pub. Date: 24 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $20.24 |
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Title: Anna Karenina by Mona Simpson, Leo Tolstoy ISBN: 067978330X Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 10 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Rosemary Edmonds ISBN: 0140444173 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: October, 1982 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title:Doctor Zhivago (TV Miniseries) ASIN: B0000C2IQG Publisher: Acorn Media Publishi Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $35.96 |
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Title: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Alexander Tvardovsky ISBN: 0451527097 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: August, 1998 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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