#166 in Historical fiction
Doctor Zhivago
- 560
- Pages
- about 10 h
- Reading time
- Film 1965 +2
- On screen
- Bancarella Literary Prize
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Our view
“Doctor Zhivago” is a vast, demanding novel: some readers admire its scope, and many struggle with its density. Boris Pasternak, a poet, follows a physician and poet from the 1905 revolution to the Second World War and reports deaths and wrecked lives in a calm, almost matter-of-fact voice. Some readers feel the book breaks into disconnected episodes and never makes them care for its characters. For others it is a novel to reread.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Doctor Zhivago is a novel by Russian poet, author and composer Boris Pasternak, first published in 1957 in Italy. The novel is named after its protagonist, Yuri Zhivago, a physician and poet, and takes place between the Russian Revolution of 1905 and World War II.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen 3 times — from 1965 to 2006.
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.3 across 150 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 51% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Historical fiction average of 8.0. That is how 7.7 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.0 | 16 | 11% |
| Hardcover | 7.3 | 134 | 89% |
Frequently asked
How long is Doctor Zhivago?
It has 560 pages — longer than 71% of the ranked books in Historical fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Historical fiction — with scores between 7.5 and 7.8, closest to this book.
