The Death of Ivan Ilych

By: Leo Tolstoy

Narrated by: Walter Zimmerman

This short but powerful novel was acclaimed by Vladimir Nabokov and Mahatma Gandhi as the greatest in the whole of Russian literature. It is one of Tolstoy's most celebrated pieces of late fiction. At the center of the story is an examination of the nature of both life and death and how man can come to terms with death's inevitability. It was widely acclaimed when it was published in 1886 and remains a compelling narrative today.

The Death of Ivan Illyich is a small book with singular depth of insight and is considered to be one of the great explorations of death and dying in all of Western literature. No author in so few words summons so many emotions.

©1886 Public Domain (P)1986 Jimcin Recordings

Critic reviews

"Admirably read with a controlled and unsentimental voice that is perfect for this story....Tolstoy's striking word pictures and atmosphere are starkly delivered with an incredible match of voice and style that maximized their devastating effect." ( Booklist)

Great quality without great quantity

Looking for something worth listening to but with a running time less than a work day? Well, here you go. Listen to it instead of watching a movie one night.

Given the brevity of the work, the characterization and plot development are indubitably remarkable... Well I'm getting bored.

Look, do you like Tolstoy? Fine, then I think you'll like this. Do you not know if you'll like Tolstoy? Perhaps this, being much easier to finish, is a better litmus than one of his more epic-length works.

A Must Hear !

Great literature reaches in grabs your heart and changes you. This amazing book will do that each time you listen. Beyond the "stars"!

Vivid!

Tolstoy opens the wall to a world we're taught to avoid. He held me there!

POWER-HOUSE OF RUSSIAN LIT.

Dont let the small size of this book fool you, this is a masterpiece! Highly recommended!

A simple, compelling story

A sad bureaucrat wastes his life, dreads and then accepts his death.

I rated the performance as 1 star not because of the narrator (who gave a fine reading), but because the quality of the sound was abysmal - muddy, and with fluctuations in volume. The latter chapters seemed to be contaminated with another track recorded at low volume, as though there was another story being whispered in the background.