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The Death of Ivan Ilych |  | Author: Leo Tolstoy
Publisher: Waking Lion Press
Category: Book
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $6.22
as of 11/27/2009 12:56 CST details
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Seller: sweethomeliquid2
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 344697
Media: Paperback
Pages: 86
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.5
ISBN: 1600964338
EAN: 9781600964336
ASIN: 1600964338
Publication Date: August 3, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
By the time he dies, Ivan Ilych has come to understand the worthlessness of his life. Paradoxically, this elevates him above the common man, who avoids the reality of death and the effort it takes to make life worthwhile. In Tolstoy's own words, "Ivan Ilyich's life had been . . . most ordinary and therefore most terrible." Newly designed and typeset in a modern 5.5-by-8.5-inch format by Waking Lion Press.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 Don't Buy The Waking Lion Press Edition ! November 25, 2009
Ted Ficklen (Saint Louis, MO USA)
This edition, published by the Waking Lion Press, is filled with typos. There is a mistake of one kind or another on nearly every page. Most of the typographical mistakes are minor, but some make it impossible to understand the meaning of a specific passage.
Buy the Penguin edition instead, it might cost a little more, but it will make you happier.
Inexcusable typos October 5, 2009
Carlos (Taos, NM)
This edition should be eliminated from the choices offered by Amazon until the publisher engages a proofreader to correct the numerous inexcusable typos in the text. The typos occur so frequently that they are a major distraction.
 Sloppy Publisher: EXTENSIVE Typographical Errors September 7, 2009
Jesse S. Sommer
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This text, published by Waking Lion Press, is FILLED with blatant typographical errors. I say this very literally: there is mistaken capitalization on EVERY page of this 81-page text. Words are routinely misspelled. The publisher should be embarrassed by this stunning lack of editorial review.
An otherwise powerful story is ruined by the sloppiness of this publisher's version.
 The hard, bitter and unvarnished truth about senescence June 20, 2009
Rajeet Guha (USA)
The death of Ivan Ilyich is a tour de force in the realm of literature. It is a literary masterpiece. It is written by one of the greatest writers the world has witnessed namely Leo Tolstoy. It is a story written during the relentlessly worldly and materialistic age of Czarist Russia. The story is a flashback of the life of a worldly careerist judge who dies. It is the morbid story of a successful judge who is spiraled downwards into the inescapable jaws of death. The protagonist is hurled into the throes of death in a quick space of time. It shows how difficult it is to acknowledge death for a man who has never ever given the thought of death even a fleeting thought. The book documents the trauma faced by the judge when he comes to terms with his ill fate. Tolstoy is a well renowned authority on the subject of death. Through the agonies of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy portrays death as a terrible irreversible phenomenon, which humans find it difficult to grapple with. The book is a thorough and horrific glimpse into the abyss that is death. The story depicts death also as an unknown mystery that is viewed as an unavoidable and macabre absolute. The story was the culmination of a nine-year spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life. It reflects Tolstoy's obsession and fear of death and his inability to come to terms with it.
The judge is a worldly careerist who is fascinated with his work. His work keeps him engrossed and diverts his mind from distractions and problems in his life. He is endowed with arbitrary power. He has position, prestige and status in his society. He is bestowed with the trappings of power. He is very conscious of his status, power and position in society. He has inclinations toward materialistic and worldly pursuits. He socializes with people of high social stature and does not interact with people whom he deems to be below his status. He had strained relations with his wife but did not divorce her due to fear of negative social reactions. His life is divorced from spirituality. He never prayed to God and never attended churches. He led a life exactly opposite of a simple earthly existence.
Suddenly he falls ill and his life is turned upside down. He contracts a fatal disease and is terminally ill for the rest of his days. The disease and his realization of his imminent death brings out the worst in him. The fear and trepidation of death completely devastates him. He loses focus on work. His concentration is ripped apart. His personality is metamorphosed. He starts throwing temper tantrums at his wife and children. He hates the world around him. He thinks his wife and children and friends are not showing genuine affection, empathy and sympathy with him. His pride and ego is hurt. He feels people are lying to him and are deceiving him. He finds only a simple boy called Gerasim comforting and sympathizing with him. He feels only Gerasim understands him. He finally dies.
Through this story Tolstoy tries to express a few of his ideas. Tolstoy believes people fear death. Tolstoy feels people can never acknowledge their own death. He also feels people should lead spiritual lives and believe and pray in God. He feels leading simple, spiritual and austere lives would reduce the fear and suffering associated with death. He also feels people think of dying men as liabilities.
 Skillful Storyteller April 22, 2009
Erica Khodorkovsky
This is the first book I've read by Leo Tolstoy and I enjoyed it. There are many typographical errors throughout the book but I was not at all distracted by them (just a note to the reviewer). The author does a most excellent job at placing you in the setting. You can clearly understand tone, emotions... very detailed in expression. The plot is also praise worthy but the end could have been elaborated on just a bit. Not for clarity but for additional enjoyment. Then again I guess that's what makes a good book, always wanting more.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
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