The Death of Ivan Ilych (The Art of the Novella)

Tough book to grasp, short. Reading along with Leland Ryken though made it an excellent opportunity to enjoy this classic. Ryken, has since taken his online interactive "read thru the classics" into several books to help us grow up into enjoying great literature.

The Death of Ivan Ilych is a masterpiece. It certainly is one of the best short stories ever written (but then I am a fan of Tolstoy). It is a story about the life and the dreadful dying process that the hero has to suffer. However painful it is, dying the hero is given the chance to mature, to understand the meaning of life and becomes wise in the process. In the end, he arrives at inner peace and reconciliation.

In Ivan Ilych Tolstoy provides in a few pages the summation of the protagonist's life and death in an amazing narrative. He leaves the judgment of whether Ilych's life was meaningful or not to the reader. Tolstoy's ability to take the reader into the interstices of the dying process is singular. Don't miss the opportunity to avail yourself of this remarkable contribution to western literature.

No contemporary work on the meaning of death
takes you any more deeply into that topic than
this novella. It is required reading for everyone.
Especially, I think, for young readers. Who
cannot dream of aging and dying and what it
will be like.

I avoided Tolstoy because I felt that his writing was "too difficult". I had always heard about the length of War and Peace and just wrote him off (no pun intended) as an author that I could deal with. I saw this shorter work on the store and I thought I would take a chance. Excellent book, read it in a couple of days. Highly recommended.

This novella is a horrible, depressing look at man dying from a self-inflicted injury. His inner thoughts as he progresses from a man in pain to a man near death give us insight to how you might handle your own death. It also gives reason for thought toward how you live your life. It is amazing

Interesting characters help the reader understand Ivan Ilych's plight as he carefully dissects his life while facing death. Was it a true and worthy life, or a farce, substandard when laid bare against one's final breaths. The story is immortal, and lives in every soul. But Tolstoy tells it with exquisite clarity - a fast and enchanting read.

A masterpiece. Tight story with great lessons in compassion for the dying. Some thought-provoking questions posed about the essence of life and the facing of death.
Now on to "The Kingdom of God is within You." "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" for later.
Give Tolstoy a try!

Tolstoy is a master of understanding and conveying the complexities of the human condition. In this short story he deals so ably with the themes of denial and shame and the saving grace of compassion. The introductory biography and essays help to frame the story in giving an excellent picture of Tolstoy's life and the historical social influences of his time that clearly influence his writings. The Kindle version is a clean version that is edited and formatted well.

A Short yet very thought provoking story about life and death. It is an easy read yet, if you read proactively, you will find yourself thinking about life and the purpose of it.

Kindle format was well made; I didn't see any errors or formatting problems.

An important selection of Tolstoy's later writing As with their work on other Russian novels and short story collections, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky provide excellent translations. As a long time admirer of Russian literature this is a worthy addition to my library. For people looking for earlier prose works by Tolstoy (before his spiritual quest fully developed), they would be better advised to search for a collection that encompasses a greater breadth of his short fiction.

Wonderful read! Simple and satisfying. My first Tolstoy. Great characters and imagery. Well paced. Really enjoyed it! I’ll certainly be reading more Tolstoy after this. I would recommend this book to anyone because it’s so easy to read.

It seems strange writing a review of Tolstoy's work, but the store asked me to so here goes. Ivan Ilych is an Everyman. The story begins with his death and ends with his death. He doesn't want to die alone, but seems destined to. We go back to the beginning and learn that the things he loves are simple He loves his wife, at least until she starts to get on his nerves. He loves his two surviving children. The ones that died are dispensed with in a couple of sentences. He loves a card game and his work. We see him as he advances in his career, a bumpy path. In the end he is weak and grateful for the kindness of a single young servant.

The thing that makes this a classic (besides its author) is how much the story holds up today. Many of the things that trouble Ivan are the same with Everyman.

Having not read Tolstoy previously, I decided to try this. The story is one that should make you pause and ask; "what will those around me think about me as I am moving from here to the hereafter?"
Good, short provocative read.

This shows the sad decline of a vibrant,successful,misunderstood man due to kidney failure. This ailment is not fully understood/treated today. The patient suffers tremendously at the hands of family and medical staff. Been there!

While the story itself is an excellent depiction of what dying can be like with social mores impacting the experience, the physical book is a disaster. Unless Tolstoy and/or the translator butchered word spelling, grammar, even punctuation marks, the people who produced this version are criminally negligent in editing out all the errors. It was so extensive that it took away from the story itself... unbelievable that this can be sold.

Leo Tolstoy has managed to write a novella rich in language, imagery, and the theme of death. Read it once years ago in college and I was so moved by it that I read it again just recently. It's a haunting piece of fiction. And the final and haunting scene will stay with you forever.

I will not comment on the content of this transcendent masterpiece but only on the printing. Yesterday I received at very low cost a paperback dated 18 Jan 2012, printed by Seven Treasures Publications. This is my first experience with a "print on demand" book. The cover and paper stock are of acceptable quality. The typeface is quite pleasant. However, there is a typo every 4 or 5 pages in the first half of the book, which is somewhat distracting. The translation by Louise & Aylmer Maude reads beautifully anyway -- vivid and moving. I'm writing this review via a link to the same edition. It has a portrait on the cover of a bearded man sitting in an armchair, leaning his chin on his left hand, which appears to be bandaged -- but only the title appears in the photo. No other identifying information on the edition.