Doctor Zhivago

Doctor Zhivago (1981) by Boris Pasternak (Ballantine Books)
ISBN: 034529310X
Condition: Used (emotionally weathered, physically serviceable) as sold by Crappy Old Books

If you have ever thought, “My life is complicated,” Boris Pasternak would like to offer you a gentle corrective in the form of Doctor Zhivago, a novel in which romance, revolution, poetry, snow, and terrible timing all sit down together and decide to ruin absolutely everyone’s plans.

This Ballantine Books edition contains the full sweeping saga: Yuri Zhivago, doctor and poet, attempts to maintain a functioning inner life while Russia rearranges itself with the subtlety of a brick through a window. There are trains that never seem to go where they should, political upheavals arriving with the punctuality of bad weather, and a love story that is both beautiful and, frankly, logistically disastrous. If you like your historical epics full of yearning, moral conflict, and people staring out at bleak landscapes thinking deep thoughts, you have come to the right paperback.

Your particular copy has travelled here via Crappy Old Books, which means it has almost certainly seen some things. Expect:

• A cover that may show a little fading and scuffing, as though it has endured its own minor revolution in somebody’s rucksack.

• A spine with honest, hard-earned creases that suggest more than one reader has said “just one more chapter” and then accidentally read fifty pages.

• Softened corners, giving it the air of a book that has been through several winters and at least one move between flats.

Inside, however, the drama remains fully intact. The pages still carry every snowbound scene, every political argument, every tragic encounter between people who clearly should not be in the same room and yet repeatedly are. The print is legible, the chapters are all present, and the prose continues to deliver that special blend of lyrical beauty and “oh dear, this cannot end well.”

Picking up Doctor Zhivago in Used condition from Crappy Old Books comes with a few delightful side benefits:

• You gain instant literary credibility: a visibly read copy of a Russian classic says, “I have Feelings and occasionally read Serious Things.”

• You get a book that has probably already survived tear stains, biscuit crumbs, and the odd attempt to look up Russian history on a phone halfway through chapter ten.

• You participate in the noble tradition of passing hefty, emotionally devastating novels from one slightly overwhelmed reader to the next.

Perfect for:

• Readers who enjoy love stories where the backdrop is “everything is on fire, politically and literally.”

• Anyone who wants to spend time in early 20th-century Russia without needing warm boots and a sturdy constitution.

• People who like their classics substantial, beautifully written, and gently soul-crushing, but in a satisfying way.

Adopt this Used copy of Doctor Zhivago and give it a new home on your shelf. The pages may be a little aged, but the emotional damage inside is as fresh as ever.

Keep browsing: See more Fiction books Other books by Boris Pasternak