Book Review: Doctor Zhivago

I don't know how I originally heard about this one, but I'm glad I picked it up. Only at the end did I realize that it was sad the whole time. But it was quite poetic and interesting throughout so and the tragedy of it didn't bother me.

It starts out with the principal characters as children, and pretty much progresses through their entire lives. Early on they are happy, and then sad, and then happy again. Then a war takes place, which disrupts everyone's lives. Then the Revolution takes place, which is initially welcome, but then socialism didn't work out according to ideals.

Ultimately, it's a story about how bad everything got during the Revolution. People went to the barter system, because money was worthless. People had to hide their crops to keep it from going as a quota to the government. Arrests were made just for disagreeing with the government. And there was unbelievable violence.

It is very well written, even though it is a translation. I have a few other Russian books to read: Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace, and the Communist Manifesto.