A review by quoththegirl
The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy

2.0

I had read “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by Tolstoy for a class several years ago, and the story was in a book of other stories, and I always promised myself I would come back and read the rest. I finally did, and while I had sort of (foolishly) hoped that his other stories would be a little lighter in tone, I was definitely mistaken. For one thing, even Tolstoy’s “short” stories are 60-100 pages. The man was chronically long-winded. They also all end rather badly! The happiest one of the bunch still quit on what I would consider to be a sour note, though I’ll just bet that Tolstoy honestly thought he was giving that one a happy ending. Perhaps some people can only write tragedies?