The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories Audiobook By Leo Tolstoy cover art

The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories

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The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories

By: Leo Tolstoy
Narrated by: George K. Wilson
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Hailed as one of the world's supreme masterpieces on the subject of death and dying, Leo Tolstoy's "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? This novella was the artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina during which he wrote not a word of fiction. A thoroughly absorbing and, at times, terrifying glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation.

Also included in this volume are "The Forged Coupon," "After the Dance," "My Dream," "There Are No Guilty People," and "The Young Tsar."

©1923 Public Domain (P)2009 Tantor Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Short Stories Russia

Editorial reviews

The title story of this collection, a novella written by Tolstoy after the author's conversion to Christianity, tells the simple, affecting story of the main character's death and the ambitious, successful, and unreflective life that preceded it. Narrator George K. Wilson's characterizations are clear and compelling. He models the protagonist's angst, bewilderment, and agony skillfully, and renders other characters distinctly but without overemphasizing their differences. It's a well-balanced narration that is easy to follow and that brings home the emotional punch of Ivan Ilych's stirring last weeks, days, and moments. Other stories in this well-done set include "The Forged Coupon," "After the Dance," "My Dream," "There Are No Guilty People," and "The Young Tsar."

Critic reviews

"Written more than a century ago, Tolstoy's work still retains the power of a contemporary novel." ( Publishers Weekly)
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The Death of Ivan Ilyich has a good message and was an ok story. The others were just kind of odd and hard to get into.

Ok Kind of hard to follow

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this is only the 12 chapter story of how Ivan Ilyich died not the short stories audiobook.

This is not the short stories like it says,

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The two novellas and three short stories here were all written after Tolstoy's religious/psychological upheaval over the meaning of life and death. Personally, I find these tales a bit judgmentally moralistic for my taste. There is no Levin (Anna Karenina) nor Bezukhov (War and Peace) to offset Tolstoy's disappointed view of humanity. (Levin and Bezukhov are generally regarded fas standing in for Tolstoy and his views.) The gentry are pretty much portrayed as shallow and pleasure-loving, even if the chasing after pleasure only offers the reward of not seeing the suffering in the world. Most of the characters in "The Forged Coupon" are morally weak while the actual story shifts from one character to another, only cohering at the end - provided one can keep one Russian distinct from another, which I must admit I did not. "The Young Tsar" struck me as a rewrite of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" with the tsar's dreams taking him from place to place as the ghosts did for Scrooge in Dickens. I read these tales 50 years ago, but they did not improve with age for me.

post-crisis Tolstoy

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What disappointed you about The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories?

The story was drawn out and difficult to ascertain what the moral of the story was. The character names sounded very similar to each other so the story was a little hard to follow at times

What could Leo Tolstoy have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Have very different names for the characters

Would you listen to another book narrated by George K. Wilson?

Yes

What character would you cut from The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories?

Mmm...

Any additional comments?

Some of the other stories I was surprised when they ended...there was no definite conclusion.

Draw out

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