The Death of Ivan Ilyich

By: Leo Tolstoy

Narrated by: Oliver Ford Davies

Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

The subject of this well-known Tolstoy novella is a high court judge in St. Petersburg who lives a carefree life. One day, without warning, he is beset by pains and soon has to come to terms with the fact that he is going to die. The judge has to learn to face death without fear and yet feel compassion for the family he is leaving behind.

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©2008 Naxos Rights International (P)2008 Naxos Rights International

Critic Reviews

"Davies' skill with inflection, even within words, heightens the social satire of the early section and shifts with Ilyich's slide into ever increasing pain and irritability." ( Publishers Weekly)

great

so sad. we don't see how we live our lives until the end. the reader is the best

Interesting and kept me curious

I don't like to read but this book I was actually able to finish. Audible made it more interesting with the narration and expressions in each characters voice.

The story about living, why we live? Are we living for the right reasons? What are the stages of death? It seems so painful after reading this. I'm so afraid of dying!

Excellent voice

The reader was excellent. It helped to get through the heaviness of the text. Recommended reading.

Masterly reading

The reader captures the humor and irony of the suffocating social norms that defeat and eventually enlighten Ivan. His voice has lots of twists and turns. The musical interludes were lovely too. A great audiobook.

Amazing

This book is an incredible story dealing with life and death. It really shines light on the matter of death. Tolstoy's writing is truly a piece of art and the narration is on point with the tone of the writing. Would listen to again!

A beautiful tale.

Leo Tolstoy writes beautiful stories that explain his concerns about what society believes to be important.

This narrator brought the tale out of the pages of a book and gave a compelling voice to this story. Exceptional!

I will listen again.

The best 'Death'

The death of Prince Andre in War and Peace and the death of Levin's brother in Anna Karenina are among the most memorable scenes depicting death in world literature. But in this short novella Tolstoy surpasses his earlier achievements in the unflinching portrayal of the death of a self-satisfied public official. Satire on the inauthenticity of most ordinary existence is joined with acute psychological insight into the effect that death has both on the dying person and on those around him.

I remember the overwhelming impact reading Tolstoy's story had when I first read it as an adolescent many years ago. Now from a very different perspective this superb reading by Oliver Ford Davies is no less powerful : throughout he judges the tone and variety of Tolstoy's writing with great intelligence and insight and has the dramatic ability to convey the author's insight into both major and minor characters. Such a reading provides effectively constant illumination into the text and the total effect is most moving. There are a number of readings of this work but I am sure this is the one to have. Strongly recommended.
I can only hope that Naxos will employ Oliver Ford Davies to read Master and Man,Hadji Murat, the Kreutzer Sonata,etc.

Not for me

Struggled to finish it. Too many needless details. Too many foreign names making it hard to remember characters. I feel like the book is more about the person attending the Ivan's funeral than anything else. Anyway gave up after 1 hour so I might be wrong. Can't say I won't give it another go in the future.

timeless

wonderfully narrated. a pleasing take on the philosophy life in any era. thought provoking and softening to the heart