Set in the early days of the USSR, Doctor Zhivago is the story of the doctor and the sweeping changes he bears witness to.
Oh, I had a hard time with tSet in the early days of the USSR, Doctor Zhivago is the story of the doctor and the sweeping changes he bears witness to.
Oh, I had a hard time with this one. It was sheer stubbornness that got me through. I didn't particularly like Doctor Zhivago, I thought Lara was crazy, and I couldn't keep up with the politics. I kept thinking that I should look up the Russian Revolution (or whatever it's called) and try to make some sense out of what was going on, but I didn't care enough to even do that.
There were philosophical discussions planted smack in the middle of conversations. Of course I didn't believe anyone has ever actually talked that way. I couldn't follow the philosophy and then I lost the thread of the conversation by the time the characters got back to talking about something I was interested in.
The doctor was the epitome of "not to decide is a decision." He just went with whatever situation he found himself in. He had some ideals when he was young that he fought for, but then he became jaded and seemed not to really believe in anything. But I could be wrong about that. As his family life changed, he never fought for anyone. He just took the easiest path before him.
Lara was at least passionate but I felt she was inconsistent. Who did she really want to be with? I'm not entirely sure. She said one thing but did another.
What I did take away from the book is how confusing it must have been to live through a time like this. I have a feeling the confusion about who was fighting whom and why was done deliberately. I can't imagine living through a war and never being sure who was on what side and which side I should be on to get through safely. You can see how tightly I would hold to my ideals--I just want to make it through!
And Russian novelists and their character names! Holy cow! I can't keep up with everyone and their nicknames. I just can't. That adds to my confusion as well.
Because I never fully caught the thread of the book, this is really all I can say. It was not the book for me, but if you're curious, don't let me discourage you....more
This is primarily the story of Anna Karenina's troubled affair with Alexey Vronsky. It's also the story of Konstantin Levin's search for love and trutThis is primarily the story of Anna Karenina's troubled affair with Alexey Vronsky. It's also the story of Konstantin Levin's search for love and truth in society.
While reading this book, I kept wishing that I could just read a "good parts version" as William Goldman called The Princess Bride. I kept getting bogged down in Tolstoy's reflections, mostly through Levin's eyes, of how decadent, silly, redundant, and complicated life in the upper class of 19th-century Russian society was. There would be pages and pages of a tangent that could have been an essay called "What's Wrong With Agriculture in Russia." I didn't care. There were also pages and pages of Levin watching an election and having no idea what was going on. If he didn't get it, there's no way that this 21st-century American woman is going to. Those parts just seemed to drag on and on and on.
But the story itself was beautifully written and really made me think. I'm all for women's rights, but I would catch myself thinking, "What a selfish, ungrateful woman!" And then I would think, "Well, if it weren't for women like Anna pushing the limits of acceptable behavior, you wouldn't enjoy the freedoms you do today." And then I'd go right back to thinking, "I can't stand her! She wants everything her way!" I'm not really exaggerating. I really had this internal dialog going on throughout almost every scene that featured Anna. I think part of the problem for me was that her husband was a good man, she just didn't love him. So I was torn between how Anna was hurting him and her quest for love.
I was worried about reading this, not necessarily because of the size, but because I wasn't sure how difficult it would be to understand. I really didn't have any problem with that. It was very readable-- except for when I was falling asleep during the tangents. The thing that really got me at first were all the names! I kept hearing that all the characters' names in Russian literature would get me confused, so I was sort of prepared, but I wasn't really expecting it to be as bad as it was. Almost every character, no matter how minor, was named. The major characters had several names and nicknames. It got so bad that I just had to laugh when I read that Levin had cows--cows!--named Pava, Berkoot, Hollandka, and a dog named Laska. The cows were never mentioned again. Ugh! But someone pointed me to . There was a character bookmark on there that I printed out and it helped tremendously. There were just a few spoilers on it though.
The ending was weak. Tolstoy built up and built up to this crashing climax, and then he spoiled it by rambling on for another twenty pages about Levin's search for faith. That really ruined the ending.
Overall, though, I don't regret reading this, but it was one of the very few books that left me wishing that I had found an abridged version. ...more
JG (Introverted Reader)
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