Not the Russian classic it's professed to be
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As a huge fan and avid reader of Russian literature I was mildly dissapointed with this Novel. I knew upon the undertaking that it is not considered a particularly literary work like those of Bulgakov or Dostoevsky and as such read it for the story and portrait of a nation in turmoil. Unfortunately it wasn't the masterwork it could have been. It's a good book, but there are huge faults.
Yury's character is badly drawn, the love story is relatively minor component of the book and is a deeply unsatisfying plot line. This could be because love story took a backseat to the revolution and family ordeal on which the novel focuses. If so, the plotting is loose and none of the many threads provide a strong enough story to call this a masterpiece.
No doubt this novel has merit but I would suggest other russian novels over this any day. For fiecely good writing about the russian state read Bulgakov or solzhenitsyn or any of the many good history books about the revolution.
O.
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A Stunning Masterpiece
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This is one of the very best novels I have ever read. This part menage-a-quatre, part lives of many in their spring through autumn times, part tragedy, part political commentary in revolutionary Russia is a tale that is marvelous in its telling. The handling of every subject from politics (Pasternak's score card on bolshevism and socialism in practice is unmistakable) to romance to war to upheavals in the daily lives of the characters is assured and masterful. The pace is living just like real life. There's no need to hollywood-ify the story through unnecessary and tacky raciness. This is not a Brangelina movie nor a John Grisham novel but just the sort of thing that can and may happen to you and me. The pace is fitting and the story is gripping from start to finish. The criticism of some reviewers of dullness is astonishing.
The prophets of positive thinking might preach you make your own luck but we all wink and guffaw because deep down in that inward place where reason meets instinct we know that chance creates its own existential experience. If for example you fall in love you do so whether with the right or wrong person and that's that. Likewise if you get caught up in a war not of your own making well life takes no prisoners and you suffer deprivations like everyone else and you make the best of it. That is what is so moving about this novel - how the characters take on life as it is and do their best and their best does not always come up to scratch. We sometimes today forget our humanity and that our proud egos are only set in a sea of earthy vulnerability. Pasternak's novel leaves the raw taste of life on your tongue and you come away with the piquant pungent taste of reality.
The characters are rich, the phrasing is inventive and the detailing of events, places and ambience throughout the book is evocative and visceral. The writing is superb. This is the sort of book that nobel prizes should be created for. A prize book and put simply a stunning masterpiece.
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A Tale of Life.Love and Destruction
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This Russian classic begins in 1901 and takes us through the dying years of Tsarist Empire and through the unspeakable horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution and the resultant Civil War and then into the hideous totalitarian regimes of Lenin and Stalin
It is not a political novel but rather a human drama but anyone honestly writing about events during this time cannot fail to depict how the cruelty of these times ( unknown prior to the 20th century ) destroyed lives and love, all that is noble and good and compassionate .
It focuses on Dr Yuri Andreyevich Zhivago and several friends and associates of his including his loyal and strong wife Tonya, the beautiful and mystifying Laryssa Fyodorovna (Lara),her shy and gentle husband Pasha who later reappears as the terrible Red Army officer Strenikov
And Yuri's two close friends Misha Gordon and Nicky Dudorov
Zhivago -disgusted by the poverty and injustices of Tsarist Russia - initially supports the high ideals of the Bolsheviks but after their bloody seizure of power it soon becomes clearer and clearer that the Bolsheviks are far and away crueler and more steeped in hypocrisy than even the worst elements of the Tsarist order
Later in the book he is forced to ask himself "Was it possible that he must pay for that one moment of rash enthusiasm all his life hearing ,year after year , anything but these unchanging , shrill , crazy exclamations and demands , even more lifeless , meaningless and unfulfillable as time went by? Was it possible that in one short moment of over-sensitive generosity he had allowed himslef to be enslaved for ever"
The Civil War of 1918 - 1920 sees unimaginable horrors from which previous terrible tribulations of long suffering Russia such as the invasion by Napoleon in 1812 (depicted by another great Russian epic) and the recent First World War pale into incomparison.)
Misery and terror are spread into every corner of Russia and nobody is spared
While staying in a village on the steppes with his wife and family Yuri once more meets up with Lara whom he had known from his past
The love of Yuri and Lara is one of the great romances of literature like that of Romeo and Juliet ,Heathcliff and Catherine from Wuthering Heights , and Lancelot and Guinevere
Lara describes it a something ordained by the very forces of nature but at the same time something predestined to be destroyed
He sends a few brief , ecstatic but fearful months with her after the Civil War but hey are again cruelly separated. By this time Yuri's wife Tonya and their children have gone into exile
Slowly the key characters in the novel disappear one by one until the two main characters of the novel Yuri and Lara are themselves devoured by the cruel , pitiless and wolfish revolution
All that has beautiful seems to have been destroyed but we are then again reminded how life and all that is good continues to sustain itself ,through hope everlasting, against all that is cruel and evil and ugly in this world
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A rare novel
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After reading famous books you often feel that whilst it was good, you can't quite understand why it has become so renowned. Perhaps it is because the idea is powerful but badly executed or perhaps has an incredible mood but the concept and importance are somewhat lacking. None of these feelings occur when reading Dr Zhivago, its artistry is superb, the dialogues and turns of phrase are often breathtaking in their subtle importance, beauty or both. This is a book that fully warrants its reputation, it is stripped of the idealism and runs almost like a political philosophy discourse at times in the development of ideas of equality, the human spirit and the paths to progress in society.
It is for this reason that I don't think the book deserves its reputation as a 'love story': it is certainly a human story with love becoming more important as a theme as the book continues, but the power of the context is such that one could say that it is a political book first and a romance second. However, such hierarchies are not applicable in a work such as Dr Zhivago, such is Pasternak's skill as a writer that the themes of the novel perfectly complement each other, he balances the issues of the history of the era, Yury's development as a person and the underlying current of the women in his life with almost orchestral skill. If Pasternak's aim was to create an illustration of the power, subtlety and synphonic nature of life, uncontrollable by 'men of action' then this is reflected in the structure and style of his prose.
The book had a great effect on me, its integrity was great and the whole book wonderfully honest. Each comment was razor blade sharp so I was often completely surprised that he was brave enough to write such things in Soviet Russia. He seems to have paid for his integrity with his life, echoing the life of his main character in this way and in many others. I would be unsurprised if Pasternak only wrote one novel on this scale; he seems to have put everything of himself into it.
The prose is not always pleasurable to read, it's even dull in places such as the chapter-long train journey. I also would have preferred a greater mix with descriptions and dialogues, there were few sections when the two were sufficiently mixed so that the reader has to often read very lengthy dialogues and intermitable (though often startlingly beautiful) descriptions. I experienced East of Eden by Steinbeck in a similar way: it was often not pleasurable so much as enlightening and a book that one should try to read at least one time in your life.
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A Great Novel with some flaws
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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.
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