Doctor Zhivago

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Author: Boris Pasternak
Acquired in: October 2020


Sadly, the last book I read in 2020 had to be a mediocre book like this! After reading War and Peace and The Brothers Karamazov, I was looking forward to reading Doctor Zhivago. It had several good reviews online, plus, Pasternak won a Nobel Prize after publishing this. I feel a bit let down by the plot, which started in such a promising manner. After all, isn’t the Revolution, whether French or Russian, a good place to set your tale?

The protagonist Yury Zhivago is your everyday man but rather inclined towards melancholy. As an orphan, he grew up with his relations in Moscow, eventually marrying Tonya, a graceful and wise woman. The story then details his life in the tumultuous period of Russian reformation. Yury falls for another woman, Lara Antipova, whose life can make an interesting story by itself. What's interesting is that Yury loves both women, but cannot choose between wife or mistress. How can he even think he could strike a balance between the two? He sings praises of his wife even though he lives mostly with Antipova. 

The most irksome part is still to come. Tonya and the children eventually are deported to France. Pouring out her woes, she writes a letter addressed to Yury, who suffers a heart attack and falls before the house where he and Antipova live. Oh, he survives, but he would have been better off dead than put the reader through even more of his tedious woe-is-me ballad. 

Victor Komarovsky, Antipova's former benefactor, comes knocking at their door one day, bearing news of their inevitable arrest by Communists. Yury, feeling very magnanimous, sends Lara away with Komarovsky alone and then quickly rues his decision. For the love of good writing, make up your mind, Yury! The rest of the book is just more woe-is-me. 

Apart from the sob story, I must admit that the graphic details of the Russian Revolution which provided the undertone for the novel were fascinating. What we learned at school paled in comparison to the events and atmosphere during the creation of Red Russia skillfully penned by Pasternak. 

Will I read this again? Nope. Should you try reading it? Only at your own risk. 

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