I finished reading The Death of Ivan Ilyich and found it to be very informative and enlightening, i.e., I did not know that much about Russian life in that era and the viewpoint of a person that was dying. I didn't realize the way government officials received their jobs in Russian government. Also, their family life was definitely unique. I really felt that all the deaths that Tolstoy dealt with in his life certainly affected his writing in this particular story. I was disturbed to find that at the end Ivan was so consumed with how he had lead his life so wrong. How he was not at all at peace with the decisions he made along the way. It was sad, too, that he didn't marry for love. I think it would have changed his life it he had. His family did love each other in their own way but never really revealed it to one another much. That he found love and concern, in the end, from a boy who was not even part of his family was very sad. This was a prime example of having it all but not appreciating what you have or living your best life while you can. The mystery to me was why all the doctors seemed so vague, yet even today they can sometimes be that way when treating a patient. He should have gotten his appendix taken out, if they did that back then. It might have solved his problem and let his life continue. I have other stories written by Tolstoy in the book with this story and look forward to seeing how they compare to this story. They will most certainly get me to think outside the box, I am pretty sure.

I apologize for it taking me most of the month to read. I find myself a slow reader who enjoys dragging out stories. My first experience with Tolstoy, I found his take on Ivan's slow plot with death to be quite grasping. The simplistic view of just being regretful of things you may have passed over in life, or missed opportunities is one thing that I feel most everyone flirts with. But the passion and anger that was portrayed through Ivan towards the influences in his life that defined who he was were really heartbreaking. I am leaning towards interpreting Ivan's story as one that the disease which was ravaging his body led him to skew his memory of his life and the people around him. And that he actually may have been moderately pleased or at least was comfortable with his life much more than was let on and was only reliving it in anger as in a way to justify the pain in which he was going through at the end. A lot of that anger was towards his family the people he most shared his life with. Here he was dramatically physically suffering and they were not yet feeling the same pain. And when dealt with something unexplained, the mind naturally tries to explain it. In Ivan's case, I feel, he justified his end ordeal by turning his life into a bad experience and thus making it seem more fair that he be taken in such a way. Thanks for the recommendation, upon further review Tolstoy seems to have a broad range of writing interests and will be worth another look.