A love story, a tale of a man, a gifted intellectual who struggles with changes in society that suddenly values uniformity above all else and crushes everyone whose way of thinking differs from what is considered correct, then there were interesting philosophical and artistic ideas, the whole story had a lyrical sense about it, sometimes filled with melancholy, because of all these factors I really loved the book.

Having been born in a communist regime when it was falling apart and growing up and living in a democratic state that was dealing with its past, I am more than familiar with themes like Doctor Zhivago's initial enthusiasm about the revolution and his later disillusionment with it. However, it was still interesting to see it in this particular setting, from the point of view of an author who lived through these times. On the whole, I find this and similar works much more interesting than, for example, Orwell's 1984, he didn't live in such a regime, and his views of these regimes feel sometimes a little bit twisted, when he exaggerates certain elements while omitting others, as bad as those he exaggerated.

As for the love story, I felt much more sorry for Lara than for Zhivago. He had at least a limited control over his actions, and in the end did what he decided to do, while her actions were forced on her by circumstances beyond her control. Her ending was truly tragical.

Concerning problematic parts, I have to say that I struggled with names throughout the first 100 pages or so, there were too many characters introduced over a short period of time, and the fact that the Russians have two first names and sometimes use their "first" first name and the last name and sometimes only their first names was also confusing.

Other little problem I may have had, was probably with religious questions, since my knowledge here is really limited, and I may have missed a point now and then.

On the whole it was a worthwhile read.