Author Boris Pasternak
Reviewed by Chong Poh Kit

Dr. Zhivago was written by Boris Pasternak in 1956 and it caused an uproar in the USSR against the author because it was seen as a misrepresentation of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Bolsheviks and the communist regime of the then Soviet Union. The author was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature for this book in 1958 but he had to decline the award because of pressure from his government.

Dr. Zhivago is about the life of a Russian physician and poet during the tumultuous years of the 1917 Revolution. He does not support either the Reds, communists, or the Whites, royalist who are embroiled in a bitter war to gain control of Russia�s future.

     Dr. Yuri Andreievich Zhivago�s life is a complex and sad one. He lives in a society where his views on life are no longer accepted as the norm. The book starts with the early death of his mother when he is still a young boy and it doesn�t get any cheerier. In fact, most of his happiness is short-lived - death and forced separation by the warring factions tears his loved ones away from him constantly. Yuri is forced to grapple with the changes that the revolution has brought and is bringing. Chaos reigns throughout Russia and he worries constantly about the safety of his wife and children and how they will survive. He also worries about the woman whom he considers his true love, Larissa Fyodorovna Guishar (subsequently Antipova) or Lara. His chance meetings with Lara over the years first as a youngster and later when they both serve in the army medical unit leads to a love between them which is best described as pure yet sinful and adulterous.

     His life is entwined with most of the main characters in many different ways. Chance meetings lead to complex relationships between him and the many varied people in his life. People he had met earlier continue to influence things which happen to him albeit indirectly and unwittingly. Fortunately for him, he has a guardian angel in the form of his younger half-brother, a high ranking Reds official who used to worship him as a child and who is the benevolent benefactor of Yuri and his family and friends at the time when they are most in need.

     Yuri�s thoughts on life and the conversation between Lara and him revealing their inner thoughts to each other and their love for each other are the main points of the story. It all seems wonderful and yet unrealistic in some parts. Stalin, once said of Boris Pasternak as a �cloud-walker� because of his dreamy approach to life. The book is a good read although sometimes the plot seems to be filled with too much coincidences.

     This story is as much about the political and social situation in Russia at the time of the Russian revolution as it is about the love and life of the protaganist. The poems at the end of the book are a wonderful read and captures the mood of the story perfectly. Boris Pasternak is a master of imagery and metaphors and reading this book will leave you impressed by his vivid descriptions of events and places. This book will leave you sadder by the end of it and yet it gives you a feeling of fulfilment and makes you feel richer for the experience of reading it. Give it a read and decide for yourself if it really deserves the Nobel Prize it was awarded.