The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy

For my annual Russian novel, I chose a Tolstoy novella, The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Of all the world’s literature, nineteenth century Russian is my favorite. Depressed people with patronyms and convoluted sentences. This is my happy place.

The title gives it away, but Ivan Ilyich dies in this book. He does so at the beginning of the story, leaving his family with not enough money to get by on. This sort of thing happens a lot in Russian literature.

Right after Tolstoy kills him off, we go back in time to see the course of his life as a living man. If this were twenty-five years ago and I were still an English undergraduate, I might care about this unconventional structure, but I’m middle aged and can’t be bothered.

Sometimes Tolstoy writes likeable characters, like dear sweet Pierre in War and Peace. This is your occasional reminder that I read War and Peace last year. I don’t want anyone forgetting. Other times Tolstoy writes assholes. You will not be terribly sad when Ivan Ilyich dies.

Ivan Ilyich cares more about wealth and power than he cares about, for instance, his wife. There’s one home decorating scene, where he’s deciding which furnishing and decorations will best show off his status, that calls to mind the vapid people on HGTV.

It’s while he’s hanging his wealth curtains that Ivan Ilyich stumbles and injures himself. It seems mild, but the injury turns into a chronic condition. Probably. Or perhaps something else causes the illness that slowly weakens Ivan Ilyich. The doctors aren’t sure, though they’re happy to take his money.

George Guidall is one of my favorite audiobook narrators, and he does a magnificent job here, as usual. If you’re curious about Russian literature, this is a fine starting point, especially since the book is fairly short, unlike War and Peace, which I read last year.

My other recommendation would be the George Saunders book A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, which combines Russian shorts stories with literary criticism. I know that sounds like homework but it isn’t. It’s delightful, especially as an audiobook.