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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I have a print copy of this book, but I thought it might be easier to listen to it on Audible. For the first 100 - 200 pages I was so confused by all the names of people and places. I really think I should have just read it so I could have actually seen the words. Once I got a little farther in, however, I started to get into the details of the story a bit more. Having a little understanding of the Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war helps the reader to follow the plot. I had just enough. The epilogue in this edition explains the difficulties of getting this novel published, and I found that really fascinating.
Got really depressed during reading it (not related to the book) and the book was making it worse so I stopped. I want to pick it up again because I loved it initially but I think I'd have to start from beginning.
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'll admit I saw the Sam Neill TV show first (my bad) But I'd never heard of this! I'm very glad I've read it though and can add it to my repertoire of Russian literature. It is a long read covering years and years so like most Russian literature it needs to be read slowly and with a steaming brew. All the names on names on names and all the relationships can be headache, but once you get your head around all that it's a good read!
Dr Zhivago is such a sensitive soul and his experiences of love and loneliness amidst the revolution are quite deep. I think if you get lost, try the movie and then go back to the book - everything will become clear.
Dr Zhivago is such a sensitive soul and his experiences of love and loneliness amidst the revolution are quite deep. I think if you get lost, try the movie and then go back to the book - everything will become clear.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's not the easiest book to read. Sometimes it meanders forever with characters' internal monologues, and other times it gleams over months and years of events and experiences. But it is a book that stays with me. Doctor Zhivago is not a novel about what happens but the reactions and contrast of characters' interiorities and an exterior world going through a seismic shift. Yuri Andrevich Zhivago represents everyone's desire to find something, or someone, of comfort to hold onto in a corner of the world where one can find even the briefest moment of solace. It rejects the idea that hardship shapes diamonds. Hardship sheds our physical integrity and in turn spiritual integrity, and leaves people broken shells of themselves on the other end, destined to be forgotten. Finding a corner where one is loved and able to claim their true self is what shapes individuality that can leave a legacy.
Spoiler-free review
Anyone following my reviews will notice I am working my way through the Russian classics. There is something about the idea of being snowed in during winter in Siberia, keeping warm around a fire while wolves howl (and revolution rages) outside. I felt as though I was really there.
That said, parts of the story were hard to get through, and at times Yuri, the protagonist, behaved in such an inexplicable and annoying way. Other characters were very loveable.
The historical era was brought to life so vividly. I studied Russian history at uni and it was interesting to revisit World War 1 and the Russian Revolution.
Recommended for fans of very long, old-fashioned novels.
Anyone following my reviews will notice I am working my way through the Russian classics. There is something about the idea of being snowed in during winter in Siberia, keeping warm around a fire while wolves howl (and revolution rages) outside. I felt as though I was really there.
That said, parts of the story were hard to get through, and at times Yuri, the protagonist, behaved in such an inexplicable and annoying way. Other characters were very loveable.
The historical era was brought to life so vividly. I studied Russian history at uni and it was interesting to revisit World War 1 and the Russian Revolution.
Recommended for fans of very long, old-fashioned novels.
The story of Yuri Zhivago, a Doctor, as he goes through the Russian Revolution.
As I finished Doctor Zhivago I had no idea what to make of it in the end. There were indeed parts that were good and made me really like the story but it just wasn't enough. The biggest problem of the story, in my opinion, is that it's historical fiction with emphasis on historical. It delves greatly on the history of the Russian Revolution but creates no depth for it's characters and as a result the story doesn't come alive. What could have been a great adventure is instead a long and tedious drive at the end of which you're screaming "Thank God it's over!" and it's never a good sing if at the end of the book one is just glad that it's finally over and if reading it was an uphill struggle.
As I finished Doctor Zhivago I had no idea what to make of it in the end. There were indeed parts that were good and made me really like the story but it just wasn't enough. The biggest problem of the story, in my opinion, is that it's historical fiction with emphasis on historical. It delves greatly on the history of the Russian Revolution but creates no depth for it's characters and as a result the story doesn't come alive. What could have been a great adventure is instead a long and tedious drive at the end of which you're screaming "Thank God it's over!" and it's never a good sing if at the end of the book one is just glad that it's finally over and if reading it was an uphill struggle.
yes i’m only reading books which will give my end of year summary a nice unified aesthetic
Took a long time to read this, but mostly because I was in the midst of writing my thesis and had to stop reading fiction for a while. Finished it in a blaze once I picked it back up. Interesting blending of a love story with a political novel. Strong use of third person omniscient judging narrator. Uses dialogue as props sometimes for delivering the author's opinion, but I forgave him that because those speeches were part of the whole, part of what made this novel great.