Dr Zhivago
I tried to read this when I was 13 and didn't get very far. I'm so glad - it's wonderful to find another really great book out there in the world. What I don't understand is that there doesn't seem to be another English translation since the original, and it doesn't seem to be in print anywhere. Crazy, since both it and the movie are such classics!
All right, I admit it's a flawed book. The beginning and the end both ramble on; there's too many unexplained coincidences; and it ends - sadly - on a note of optimism, just before Stalin comes into the picture.
But you know what, that's what makes it such a real and human book. In real life what strange coincidences occur! (My sister and I talking about a cousin while travelling through Turkey; hours later we happen to bump into her there. We hadn't even realised she was out of Australia.) In real life nothing begins or ends dramatically, and in real life we say that things have to get better just before they get much, much worse! (The hopeful millenium celebrations spring to mind). I love the way Dr Zhivago spends the post-revolutionary years thinking about poetry. And how messy are his relationships! Too messy, really, for modern readers who prefer Anna Karenina and her ending.
But who couldn't love Lara. Who couldn't love Yuri and Lara in love! It's the best, best love writing in a novel written by a man.
And how couldn't you be struck by some of the truest lines in the world; "Every man is born a Faust, longing to examine, experience and embrace the world". I've thought that all my life! Hooray for Pasternak writing it down. He's really a poet, and his poetical mind created this gorgeous classic which is now in my top 100 books.
All right, I admit it's a flawed book. The beginning and the end both ramble on; there's too many unexplained coincidences; and it ends - sadly - on a note of optimism, just before Stalin comes into the picture.
But you know what, that's what makes it such a real and human book. In real life what strange coincidences occur! (My sister and I talking about a cousin while travelling through Turkey; hours later we happen to bump into her there. We hadn't even realised she was out of Australia.) In real life nothing begins or ends dramatically, and in real life we say that things have to get better just before they get much, much worse! (The hopeful millenium celebrations spring to mind). I love the way Dr Zhivago spends the post-revolutionary years thinking about poetry. And how messy are his relationships! Too messy, really, for modern readers who prefer Anna Karenina and her ending.
But who couldn't love Lara. Who couldn't love Yuri and Lara in love! It's the best, best love writing in a novel written by a man.
And how couldn't you be struck by some of the truest lines in the world; "Every man is born a Faust, longing to examine, experience and embrace the world". I've thought that all my life! Hooray for Pasternak writing it down. He's really a poet, and his poetical mind created this gorgeous classic which is now in my top 100 books.
posted by Carly at 4:37 pm
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