"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." -Groucho Marx

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak


Rating: 1.0

What it's about:

This famous novel of the Russian revolution and Civil War became a cause celebre when its publication was cancelled by Soviet authorities and Pasternak had the manuscript smuggled out of the country for publication. Doctor Zhivago was cited by the Swedish Academy when it awarded Pasternak the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 (an award that Pasternak refused, under pressure from the Soviet government).

The controversy surrounding the novel's publication and the notoriety of the David Lean's popular film adaptation of the novel have obscured the quality of the work itself. Simply stated, Doctor Zhivago is one of the most powerful books published in the 20th century and will be read long after the memory of its publication history has faded; it not only brings the Russian Revolution and the early Soviet era to life, it tells the stories of some of the most memorable characters to be found in all of literature. -taken from Barnes&Noble.com


My thoughts:

This is one of the most boring books I've ever read. It's a sort of love story set during the Russian revolution. The story was dull, the characters bland and the writing wooden. I really struggled just to finish this book. I really can't think of anything good to say about it.....except maybe that my version has some well done illustrations. Doctor Zhivago is one novel that I won't be re-reading.

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