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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Over this past year, I’ve had a goal of reading more classics, and one of the ones that I put on my TBR list this past month was The Death of Ivan Illych. I was excited to read another Leo Tolstoy book—it’s probably been a good 15 years since I read anything he wrote, and what I remember of his stories is that they were pretty good.
Since this is a reasonably short story, divided into chapters, I didn’t find it a difficult read. It was a bit slower than some books I’ve read, but that’s to be expected. I really enjoyed a few observations through the story—for example, one man sat down “on a low ottoman with deranged springs which yielded spasmodically under his weight.” (That description tickled my funny bone!) I also got a good chuckle out of a relatively dry observation in chapter two about how governments reward people for faithful service by giving them fictitious jobs (“and by no means fictitious thousands”).
The story itself wasn’t all that striking, I found. It’s the story of a man dying from some sort of illness—likely cancer—and how he came to realize that he had, in effect, wasted his entire life. I did appreciate the inference that if we pour into others and have a relationship with God, we will have a much happier end—even if we do end up with broken health at the end of our lives.
This story wasn’t nearly as memorable as some of the other Tolstoy stories I remember hearing or reading over the years, but I’m glad to be back in a space where I’m excited about reading his stories, and I’m looking forward to the next story I read from his pen!
Since this is a reasonably short story, divided into chapters, I didn’t find it a difficult read. It was a bit slower than some books I’ve read, but that’s to be expected. I really enjoyed a few observations through the story—for example, one man sat down “on a low ottoman with deranged springs which yielded spasmodically under his weight.” (That description tickled my funny bone!) I also got a good chuckle out of a relatively dry observation in chapter two about how governments reward people for faithful service by giving them fictitious jobs (“and by no means fictitious thousands”).
The story itself wasn’t all that striking, I found. It’s the story of a man dying from some sort of illness—likely cancer—and how he came to realize that he had, in effect, wasted his entire life. I did appreciate the inference that if we pour into others and have a relationship with God, we will have a much happier end—even if we do end up with broken health at the end of our lives.
This story wasn’t nearly as memorable as some of the other Tolstoy stories I remember hearing or reading over the years, but I’m glad to be back in a space where I’m excited about reading his stories, and I’m looking forward to the next story I read from his pen!
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rest in peace, Ivan Ilitch.
In is "normal" way of living, trying to fit in the world, Ivan Ilitch is our representation and, through his death, he turns into the personification of all our fears, anxieties and regrets.
The last pages of this book are terrifying and wonderful, in a clear expression of the human desperation to justify the meaning of life and personal existence.
In the preface of the specific edition I read, António Lobo Antunes inserts the questions that fall upon us as soon as we finish this masterpiece: was it about death or was it a refutation of it? He thinks it might be both and he is probably right. As for me, I believe that this book was, above anything else, about life and about everything that makes it prevail over the darkness and uncertainty of what's after it.
It is a masterpiece about the most pure truth about the human existence: all that lives must one day cease to be.
In is "normal" way of living, trying to fit in the world, Ivan Ilitch is our representation and, through his death, he turns into the personification of all our fears, anxieties and regrets.
The last pages of this book are terrifying and wonderful, in a clear expression of the human desperation to justify the meaning of life and personal existence.
In the preface of the specific edition I read, António Lobo Antunes inserts the questions that fall upon us as soon as we finish this masterpiece: was it about death or was it a refutation of it? He thinks it might be both and he is probably right. As for me, I believe that this book was, above anything else, about life and about everything that makes it prevail over the darkness and uncertainty of what's after it.
It is a masterpiece about the most pure truth about the human existence: all that lives must one day cease to be.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
tense
medium-paced