Majorly Disappointing Because It's Probably Great...In The Original Russian
My rating of Doctor Zhivago is average (2.5 stars is more accurate) because that is what its extreme highs and very low lows average out to. This book is strange in that there was a great deal to like about it and just as much (if not a bit more) to dislike.
Doctor Zhivago is the sweeping story of a network of people living through revolutionary-era Russia. The main characters, Yurii Andreievich Zhivago and Lara Fedoronova, go in and out of each other's lives throughout the tale. Actually, all the characters go in and out of all the other characters' lives throughout the novel; that everyone is connected and meaningful to each other is a chief theme of the book. We follow Yurii and Lara through the turn of the 20th century and the Revolution of 1905, World War One, through both Revolutions of 1917 (February and October), and The Russian Civil War. They suffer horrible misfortunes like so many in the hectic period and search for some remnant of the beauty and simplicity they expected from life.
The best thing Doctor Zhivago has going for it is its epic plot. Pasternak expertly weaves together the lives of about a dozen important characters and many more less important ones. Their interactions and the situations in which they run into each other during the turmoil of early 20th century Russia can be very moving at times. The array of lifelike characters Pasternak populates his novel with are also expertly created and fleshed out. Lastly, the theme of inter-connectivity is a thoughtful one, and is perhaps a clever comment on collectivism itself.
Now the bad news: almost as tragic as the story itself is the wretched translation to English by Hayward and Harari that makes several parts of the book almost unreadable. It's shocking to me that a novel that is so loved the world over a.) has any English-speaking fans at all, and b.) has never been translated into English by anyone else. The dialogue in particular is cringe-worthy at times; many of the conversations between Zhivago and Lara (the great lovers of the story) manage to be melodramatic and robotically stiff at the same time. Since I can't read Russian and therefore can't compare the English version to the original, I supposed it's entirely possible that Pasternak is just THAT bad of a writer and the translation is not at fault, but I find it hard to believe it would have won a Nobel Peace Prize if that were the case. As good of a tragic love story as Pasternak has to tell, it is almost completely obscured by the writing.
Just as its very good and very bad qualities pull the unsuspecting reader of Pasternak's opus in two directions, I'm equally torn as to whether I can say that I recommend this novel. If you can totally overlook the writing in general and come up with better words to put into Yurii and Lara's mouths as you read, go for it. If you're not looking for that much work in a novel, skip it. Better yet, find someone who speaks Russian and English who can actually write and pay him or her handsomely to come up with a better translation for you.
It deserves 100 stars!!
My favorite book of all time!!! I just LOVE it... I read it almost six times!
Doctor Zhivago
Great book. I like Tolstoy but like Pasternak much better. The movie and TV series didn't do Lara justice.
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