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Doctor Zhivago - Community Reviews back

by Boris Pasternak
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BagEndBooks
BagEndBooks rated it 8 years ago
Dull. Good basic plotline. Convoluted. Atmospheric. Drags out. Too wordy. Beautiful phrases placed like pearls in the middle of long, boring paragraphs. I can't say that I found any of the characters all that likeable either. Last third or quarter of the book was good, but I am so glad to be done wi...
Julian Meynell's Books
Julian Meynell's Books rated it 9 years ago
Boris Pasternak essentially won the Nobel prize for this book. The book was smuggled out of the Soviet Union and it is quite critical of the Revolution and is an anti-Marxist book. I admire and in certain respects share Pasternak's ideology (apart from the Christianity). He is in many ways a hero...
daveeisenstark
daveeisenstark rated it 10 years ago
One of the great books, I think. I'm not sure how I'd feel about it without having seen the movie, which is not only a wonderful movie but a good mental crutch for reading the book. As with most Russian novels, a notebook to write down characters as they come along is a must—every one has 3 names ...
C. P. Lesley
C. P. Lesley rated it 11 years ago
A literary masterpiece—formerly unappreciated by me. Yes, it rambles a bit, and the ending seems somewhat contrived (although less so than the otherwise remarkable 1965 film). But the language is gorgeous, the plot mostly compelling, and the portrayal of late imperial and Soviet Russia magnificently...
UNICORN PORN FOR ALL
UNICORN PORN FOR ALL rated it 12 years ago
"The calamity of mediocre taste is worse than the calamity of tastelessness."(p. 568)I don't think I can really judge this book properly: it's a big, slow, quiet book, and I wasn't in the right place for that. I read it during a time when my life was moving very quickly. (And I didn't have as much t...
Paperback Castles
Paperback Castles rated it 12 years ago
Not only is this a brilliant documentation of history, changes within society, the Russian Revolution and war, it is also a wondrous work of poetry; gracefully and delicately constructed, leaving you feeling lightheaded and dizzy with its tingling sensations of sheer genius.Boris Pasternak manages t...
carey
carey rated it 12 years ago
Better in many ways than I remembered, but I forgot what a wanker Zhivago is...
Anne's IntermittentroPolis
Anne's IntermittentroPolis rated it 12 years ago
Brilliant and wonderfully narrated. The setting in Russia during the revolution practically sprung from the pages. I thank the translators for a job well done.
1st Avenue
1st Avenue rated it 12 years ago
One of my favorite books of all time. It's realistic story that stands the test of time. As a poet writing prose, Pasternak has a way of inflecting his storytelling with powerful sentences and sentence structures. A simple turn of phrase is often enough to convey depths of love or grief or loss or t...
tien
tien rated it 13 years ago
The only reason I read this is so that I can say I’ve read it – which is mostly the case with classics. They’re classics for a reason, right? So, I’ve got to read it for myself. I didn’t really have high hopes for Doctor Zhivago as it just never attracted me to begin with. But whoever expected a...
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