The Death of Ivan Ilyitch

One of my favorites

(5 étoiles)

P.B.

One can't go wrong with Ivan Ilyitch. I've read this books 5 times already, but to experience it as an audiobook is an entire different experience. It feels like we can share the catharsis with the reader, who does an excellent job, by the way, with her very sober delivery, nailing down every moment of intensity, reflection and despair in her recording. Her paused reading does wonders to the last chapters and you can almost hear the void in between her sentences: a perfect scenario for Ivan Ilyitch's final monologues.

Great Book, Excellent Narration

(5 étoiles)

Jeff Koeppen

Tolstoy is one of the all-time greats. The narrator, Laurie Anne Walden, did a fantastic job narrating this. This novella recounts the end of the life of Ivan Ilych who is a judge in 19th-century Russia. Ivan is married with two children and living a comfortable life with the typical day-to-day family and job issues. I don't recall if Tolstoy writes what city this takes place in. One day Ivan falls down while hanging curtains and hurts his side. Thinking it’s s just a bruise which will heal, he puts off going to the doctor until the pain continually worsens. The doctor diagnoses him with a terminal illness but can't be sure if the malady is based in his appendix or pancreas. What follows is Ivan's slow physically and mentally painful journey through all the stages of death acceptance to his last breath. Spending time in Ivan's head as he looks back on his life and tries to make sense of his dire situation was a poignant experience, and it was not an easy listen. This is story telling at its best by a master.

excellent reader

(5 étoiles)

Alan

This reader is wonderful. Even, steady cadence, fluent pronunciation, and appropriate use of tone. The book itself is a worthy read. It is shorter and less developed than many other great Russian works, making it easier to follow and finish. It gives you a neatly packaged glimpse of Tolstoy's views on family, society, suffering, death, and God.

A Perfect Match of Sound and Theme

(5 étoiles)

Dustin Buchheister

Laurie Anne Waldon's reading - calm, orderly, dutiful - is perfectly matched to the unfolding revelation of Ivan Ilyirch's death. I listened with no breaks, beginning as I started mowing a large commercial lot, and ending as I pulled my truck and trailer over to cry in an empty lot on the way home as she read the novel's final words. Surely I hadn't made the same mistake as Ivan Ilyitch thus far in my life. Surely not. At least there is that.

A Classic!

(3 étoiles)

Zachary Vaughn

The Death of Ivan Ilyitch was an interesting perspective on the panic that comes with a terminal diagnosis. The way Ivan reacts towards the end of his life should make us pause to think how we may react if 0ut in a similar situation.

superb narration!

(5 étoiles)

astralanomaly42

This narrator reminds me a bit of Donna Tartt. I loved her voice and rhythm. I highly recommend this recording!

(5 étoiles)

Todd

I loved this reading. I found Ms. Walden's southern American accent to be pleasant and she reads at a nice pace.

Deeper than you think

(5 étoiles)

P W

If you read/listen to more of Lev Tolstoy, especially his writings after his conversion,this is him writing about his own “death”...listen to My confession,this is very similar with the train of thought and the conclusions he comes to, written to show from a more open perspective what it was like for him to “die” and realize that the life he was living was not as it ought to be,and probably also an accurate depiction of what his family and the society he worked in reacted like when he began to die, the way that he probably tried to ignore “It” but “it” always showed up, “It” being the question of Life and Death...which if you listen to works such as My confession eventually led him to see that there was in fact a God and he had not been living as he should...those are my thoughts...I wonder why no one else seems to see it though...