Doctor Zhivago
Book description
First published in Italy in 1957 amid international controversy, Doctor Zhivago is the story of the life and loves of a poet/physician during the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. Taking his family from Moscow to what he hopes will be shelter in the Ural Mountains, Zhivago finds himself instead embroiled…
Why read it?
5 authors picked Doctor Zhivago as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Yuri Zhivago, a physician and a poet—strives to adhere to his ideals of integrity throughout his tragic life—though not always successfully. His medical skills allow him to heal others, and his poetry lets him explore truth in the volatile world of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Russian Civil War.
Although he is in love with Lara, a married woman with whom he has a passionate affair, his sense of duty and honor allow him to remain devoted to his wife, Tonya.
His belief that humans should be true to themselves and maintain independent thoughts ultimately makes him a target for…
From Reiner's list on characters who preserve their humanity in war.
A classic among classics, Doctor Zhivago sweeps across forty years of Russian history with epic grandeur. Rich in wisdom about dreams, impermanence, shifting loyalties, and above all, love, the novel tells the story of an aristocrat from a ruined family muddling through a succession of doomed regimes, improvising a new life in each, only to see the people and places that he loves torn away in the endless chaos. To his last breath, the novel’s protagonist lives in hope, hatching plans for a glorious future that he will not live to see. I first read Doctor Zhivago as a pre-teen.…
From Germaine's list on finding peace amid conflict.
This too is a work of fiction that accurately reveals Pasternak's own attitudes to the Russian Revolution, and uses poetry to reveal the real stature of the novel's hero, Yuri Zhivago. I felt the attraction of a powerful alternate reality, as in Yourcenar's work, as well as an emphatic and unbending attempt to live truly. A few years after its publication, in 1957, my own drive for the same drove me to leave home traumatically. I too use my own poetry to flesh out personages and my feelings about them. Using poems within the main text with a collection at…
From Lance's list on combining memoir, culture, myth, and poetry.
This is the well-known Russian historical romance fiction with the background of the Russian communist revolution. The book shows how Russian intellectuals were puzzled in the revolution. They welcome the revolution, but later were confused with the poverty and bloody chaos caused by the revolution. The cruel political struggle, like a huge wheel, was rolling on all people including the innocent ones. The author described the truth of the revolution. The love story is a tragedy caused by the fate of the time
From John's list on revolutionary background that stir your heart.
This is one of the most popular books of Russian literature known outside Russia. Until the 1990s, Russians themselves and those living in the communist bloc were not allowed to read Doctor Zhivago. The book follows the story of a young doctor, Zhivago, and his love interest during the turbulent time of WWI. The beautiful read will be only slightly slowed by complex long Russian names and the style of Pasternak’s writing.
From Oyungerel's list on banned or forbidden stories to be told.
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