Publisher's summary
Hailed as one of the world’s masterpieces of psychological realism, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a worldly careerist, a high-court judge who has never given the inevitability of his death so much as a passing thought. But one day death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise, he is brought face-to-face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth?
The first part of the story portrays Ivan Ilyich’s colleagues and family after he has died, as they discuss the effect of his death on their careers and fortunes. In the second part, Tolstoy reveals the life of the man whose death seems so trivial. The perfect bureaucrat, Ilyich treasured his orderly domestic and office routine. Diagnosed with an incurable illness, he at first denies the truth but is influenced by the simple acceptance of his servant boy, and he comes to embrace the boy’s belief that death is natural and not shameful. He comforts himself with happy memories of childhood and gradually realizes that he has ignored all his inner yearnings as he tried to do what was expected of him. Will Ilyich be able to come to terms with himself before his life ebbs away?
This short novel was the artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy’s own life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina, during which he wrote not a word of fiction. A thoroughly absorbing glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation.
Critic reviews
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In these two famous short novels, Leo Tolstoy takes readers to the brink of despair. At the end of life, worldly ambition offers no consolation for the spiritually empty soul, but Tolstoy is the master of themes and redemption. He turns his morbid topic into hope, leading toward spiritual awakening. Tolstoy offers his readers a lifetime of perspective on death.
By: Leo Tolstoy
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The Death of Ivan Ilyich
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Oliver Ford Davies
- Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
By: Leo Tolstoy
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Devils
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 28 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Exiled to four years in Siberia, but hailed by the end of his life as a saint, prophet, and genius, Fyodor Dostoevsky holds an exalted place among the best of the great Russian authors. One of Dostoevsky’s five major novels, Devils follows the travails of a small provincial town beset by a band of modish radicals - and in so doing presents a devastating depiction of life and politics in late 19th-century Imperial Russia.
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Excellent translation and narration
- By L. Kerr on 09-06-13
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Anna Karenina
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 35 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky.
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Need to Disclose and Highlight Name of Translator
- By Charles B on 08-27-18
By: Leo Tolstoy
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White Nights
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 1 hr and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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“White Nights” tells the story of a lonely man who wanders the streets of St. Petersburg over the course of four nights, searching for an escape from his isolation.
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Great Narrator
- By Anonymous User on 12-17-21
What listeners say about The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Alexandria
- 09-22-13
Elegant, simple, and true
"But however much he thought, he found no answer [why he was dying]. And when it occurred to him, as it often did, that it was all happening because he had not lived right, he at once recalled all the correctness of his life and drove the strange thought away." This is the elegant story of the agonizing decline of a most average of men until his premature death. Ivan Ilyich leads the life most of us lead, driven by career, climbing the social ladder, and supporting his family, never stopping to reflect until bedridden by his illness. His perspective of life and the world around him changes profoundly when he finally begins to question brutal truths, causing him to lose tolerance for the attitudes and ways of those closest to him, including his former healthy self. "I am leaving life with the consciousness that I have lost all that was given me, and there's no correcting it, then what?" Meanwhile, those around him show no interest in the least to understand his circumstances or to understand what he has come to know as sacred truth, and the frustration he suffers from their denials cause him more suffering than his illness. Meanwhile, they anticipate his death and upon its arrival do not rejoice, but rather use it as their own means to achieve the same things which he had previously been working towards: career advancement, climbing the social ladder, and supporting their families. In short, they treat his death for the purposes of those things in which he had finally seen the folly in the last months of his life.
At it's essence, the story is about the human capacity to change and learn as lives evolve, and that it's never too late to find peace. Any person who has undergone profound transformation, either through effort on their own part or through drastic life experiences, will relate to Ivan Ilyich's struggle, and especially to the profound shift in relationships he experiences with those around him, whose lives remain static and unchanged in the face of his own evolution, and how difficult it is to evolve when one is surrounded by friends, family, and colleagues who do not.
This story is also about the virtue of being able to tell hard truths, and the comfort that the truth can bring even when it communicates bad news. No one around Ivan Ilyich would admit that he was dying despite his own inner feeling that it was so, except for one of his peasant servants, who spoke bluntly and truthfully, endearing him to Ilyich as the only person he could stand to be around until his death, the only other healthy person so enlightened as a dying man. And when you're dying, there's no time for anything except blunt, simple truths.
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46 people found this helpful
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- PNW Prime
- 11-29-14
Short story. very deep meaning
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
So many favorite authors and teachers reference this book, I felt I needed to read/listen for myself. I enjoyed it, got depressed, asked alot of questions of myself, and shed tears when he considered his life and his lack of connection with his kids in particular ... tough mirror to look into.
Any additional comments?
I likely will listen again from time to time. It's a short story, but profoundly insightful!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Patrick Mabry, Jr.
- 12-13-14
2.5 Hours with a self-absorbed dying Russian Judge
The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy is a very vivid depiction of a 19th century self-absorbed Russian Judge dying of an unspecified condition. Tolstoy is a master at capturing the mood of what is happening. His depiction of friends, family, and the dying one will resonate with anyone who has been close to someone facing his or her own mortality.
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- Norm D' Plume
- 10-12-16
A brilliant performance of a brilliant work.
It is impossible to imagine how these Russian authors can dissect and present the essence of human condition - in all of its horror and splendor - such as they do.
To all - enjoy (and hug your children)
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- Hoss
- 05-10-19
Read this and see yourself and those near you.
This is such a classic. You know how it ends but still you hope he will change. what a great story.
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- WY Girl on the Beach
- 12-17-21
Powerful Story we should all read before we die.
This story is a great reminder of what’s important in life and how we should live.
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- M. hooper
- 04-19-21
excellent
very good reading & even better story. after many years finally read it. many thanks
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-13-21
Starting My Second Listen
Just finished my first listen through. Starting my second as soon as hit submit on this review. Perhaps I can kick this smoking habit now. If you know how difficult that is, then take that as an indication of the impact this story has. Of the 100 or so audiobooks I've completed, the narrator is in the top 10!
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- L Chase
- 01-24-23
Every inch a Tolstoy
Exactly what I've come to expect from a novel by Tolstoy. Except that it's so short, I listened to it twice in a row. A scathing criticism of the expectations and lifestyle of high society. Causes the reader to pause and reflect on the meaning of life, and how it can be lived well.
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- D. Hopkins
- 05-12-23
Extraordinary.
Extraordinary! A gorgeous requin, beautifully delivered.
This very short work has much improved my view of Tolstoy, whom I long ago set aside for the darker psychological works of Dostoyevsky and Nabokov. Sure, he remains pretty bourgeois, but he is redeemed by his native tenderness and his great love of the peasantry—such as is so beautifully conveyed, in Anna Karinina, through the character of Lenin.
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