Pleb here, just finished this, probably the best thing ive ever read, cwhere do i go from here? Thoughts about the book?
I'm just going to make this about me for a second: This was the first book that got me back into reading when i was 20.
OP, its a great read. This is my favorite of Tolstoy's that I've read (yeah I did W/P and A/K too and I'm not sure they were worth it), and as a short story it is the best I have ever read.
This is actually what the dying want... You're never fooling anyone when you coddle someone who is dying. They know they're going to die, just try to make them laugh, ask them what THEY want and most importantly LISTEN. I wish I would have read this before my dad's slow death from cancer. Great read OP.
Been meaning to read it, what translation is the recommended one?
>>7432735
Really get what you're saying. There is alot to learn from this book about how to be a better to people, both healthy and dying.
It's not quite a short story btw, most people consider it a novella.
One of my favourites by Tolstoy, excluding his "big" works (AK, W&P). As for recommendations, it depends on which of his books you read already. If Ilyich is your first, I highly recommend you read more of his shorter works. The Cossaks is the only one I consider as good as Ilyich, try it next, it's incredible.
Once you feel familliar enough with him just read W&P and AK, doesn't matter which first.
>>7432794
Are AK or W&P as depressing as the death of ivan llich?
Probably Ressurection.
Or if you want something short Hadji Murat.
Or if you want something long, Anna Karenina.
>>7432903
Ehm, I guess. AK at least, yes. 90% of what he wrote ends in a "bad" way, but it's usually not like in Ilyich, where almost the entire story is depressing, more like a sad ending.
>>7432744
>translation
>>7433665
Sorry i'm not russian.
>>7432714
Hadji Murad or Kreutzer Sonata. Or War & Peace and Anna K.
No author, not even Shakespeare, could describe death and the dying as well as Tolstoy could.
>>7433712
You can't learn either I presume?
>>7432714
Try Tolstoy's other short stories. They're absolutely incredible. Master and Man, Prisoner of the Caucasus, How Much Land Does a Man Need, Alyosha the Pot, The Forged Coupon etc..
If you want some longer fiction try Hadji Murat, it's a novella and probably the best thing Tolstoy ever wrote (yes, better than AK + W&P imo).
