Product Description

"Doctor Zhivago" is the epic novel of Russia in the throes of revolution and one of the greatest love stories ever told. Yuri Zhivago, physician and poet, wrestles with the new order and confronts the changes cruel experience has made in him and the anguish of being torn between the love of two women.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7596 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-05
• Original language: Russian
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

The Times
`clearly a novel by a poet, occasionally messy, sometimes clumsy...yet somehow vastly greater than the sum of its parts'.

About the Author
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was born in Moscow in 1890. His first two ebullient collections of poetry, A Twin in the Clouds and Above the Barriers appeared in 1912 and 1917 respectively. But it was not until 1922, with the appearance of My Sister, Life that he triumphantly achieved his own distinctive voice. He was married in 1921, and again in 1934, and lived most of his life in Moscow. In the twenties and thirties he began writing fiction, including The Childhood of Luvers and The Last Summer, as well as attempting more epic poetry in an effort to stay in touch with the literary requirements of the new regime. The results included Nineteen Five, Lieutenant Schmidt and Spetorsky. At about this time, he began translating European literature into Russian; his translations of Shakespeare and Goethe are regarded as masterpieces of the translator's art. Second Birth, published in 1932, appeared to mark a new beginning. However, it was not until the early forties that this truly came about. The clear, restrained, but still evocative style of On Early Trains would serve him well for his last works: Poems 1955-1959, An Essay in Autobiography and his masterpiece, Doctor Zhivago. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 but, after a savage campaign of denunciation, was forced to renounce the award. He died on 30 May 1960.

Customer Reviews

A Great Novel with some flaws,
I watched the movie before I read the book and one thing for sure is the fact that the movie dwelled too much on the Lara and Yuri love story. However, the novel goes deeper, describing Russia as it was during the first half of the last century especially before the Second World War. Actually, the novel revolves around Yuri Andreivich Zhivago a doctor and poet whose life is a series of trials beginning with the funeral for his mother' until he too made the honorable exit to the world beyond. Dr Zhivago trials take him across the length and breadth of Russia through war as a soldier in the Red Army and as a man with a strong desire to lead a normal life with his wife and son, but who cannot avoid the love of a woman destiny always put on his way.
The remarkable thing about Dr ZHIVAGO is the fact that Pasternak successfully made it possible for the reader to look beyond the tragedies and sufferings in the story to the worthiness of life that comes with love and loving. Romance is born and even thrives in tragedies and misery showing that life can be beautiful at all times because the human soul that harbors hope can endure the worst atrocities of war and still stay beautiful.
Rich and poetic, DR ZHIVAGO is a breathtaking story. It has a few flaws, but the underlying strength of the story is overwhelming. Reminds me of THE UNION MOUJIK, WAR AND PEACE, and TARAS BULBA. I enjoyed DR ZHIVAGO and would recommend it to any book enthusiast, especially someone with an interest in Russian literature.

An epic study of revolutionary losers
Frequently considered one of the most sublime love stories ever told, Pasternak's masterpiece marked a significant moment in the history of Russian literature. Although rejected for publication, the furore around its censorship was the first step in liberating creativity from the clutches of the ideologues. This historical significance barely scrapes the iceberg in comparison to the beauty of the events it portrays. In this tale of love and loss and struggle for survival during the Russian Revolution, Pasternak captures better than anyone else the supreme majesty of the simple things in life. The view from a study window, the freedom of living ones life free from compulsion and terror. But that is the lot of some periods of history and it is in how you cope with these strains which determine your life. Yes, this novel focuses on the upper classes and the erosion of the uncontested freedoms they once enjoyed, but it is so much more than that. This is a novel about human freedom from compulsion, whether you are a millionaire or a pauper, the liberation of the human spirit should begin here and now, with this book.

A wandering, fascinating book
Firstly, this is not "One of the greatest love stories ever told" as the cover proclaims: the love story is a small and incidental part of the story, and doesn't begin until 250 pages in.

What this is is a fascinating insight into the history of Russia through the last century's revolutions, told through the experiences of Zhivago and others. The structure is particularly interesting - we skip through the years extremely quickly, and between characters you'd be forgiven for not recognising. But this is part of its charm, and in many ways replicates the peripatetic nature of the revolution years as characters wander from town to village in search of food and shelter.

In many ways it reminds me of Primo Levi's 'The Truce', his account of what happened after he was liberated from a concentration camp at the end of WWII and likewise wandered across Eastern Europe with other refugees. It's the story of what happens to those who experience history, after the history books have moved on.