If you are bothered by your own mortality then consider yourself forewarned. It's not just the thought of dying much too young, just when you have gained a level of accomplishment, but also to die in agony, slowly. I've seen it much to close in my life, and to read such a vivid account was difficult. The power of writing, of good writing, can take you many places, even places you don't want to go.

"Death is over," he said to himself. "There is no more death.When I picked this book up at a library book sale, I did so without expectation that I would actually enjoy reading it. See, I had mistakenly given up on the masters of Russian literature due to the struggles I had reading a particular novel (Im looking at you Brothers Karamazov!), assuming they were all inaccessible and there was no point in expending anymore energy trying to make sense of books with characters that go by 3 different names and waaaaaaah the end.THIS book! Not at all inaccessible. Masterful in its brevity. Concise and relevant and beautifully written. Pay close attention. Blink and youll miss it.I dont have the words. Tolstoy sets up the story expertly. Ivan Ilyich is a decent man. He has all of the trappings of a successful life: respectable family, respectable job, respectable home. He is by all intents and purposes content with his position in life. But has he truly lived?Tolstoy describes Ivan Ilyichs failing health in such a way that the reader can almost FEEL what it was like for him. The gnawing ache in his side, the pain unrelenting, demoralizing every simple facet of existence plagued by torturous, insufferable, incurable pain. Its agonizing. He cannot escape it. And then theres his wife! She becomes like the walking, breathing embodiment of this pain. He cant stand the sight of her, the sound of her, the smell of her. We get the briefest of glimpses of what it must be like for a man on the brink of death. He feels he is a burden; he believes everyone is just waiting for him to die. He doesnt want to have to rely on anyone to help alleviate his suffering. He struggles with existence, with god why me? why is this happening to me! But then in the end, he finds what we all hope to find. He finds peace. He finds that this is not the end of life, but the end of death.Well, Leo, I think you've found yourself a new fan.

Balanço FinalIvan Ilitch viveu afastado do amor! Carreirista ambicioso e egocêntrico, refugiou-se no trabalho e no jogo, preterindo a afectividade...Até àquele dia em que sentiu a morte aproximar-se a longos passos rápidos -- tal situação impunha reflexão!Foi então invadido por uma incómoda sensação de falhanço radical -- a sua vida fora marcadamente infeliz, com excepção de alguns momentos fugazes que vivera na infância!E porquê? Que fizera ele de tão errado que justificasse tão execrável agonia?!...Observando com compaixão a agonia de Ivan, procuro uma resposta capaz de abortar a inquietação que desponta em mim -- Ivan fechou portas ao Amor, mantendo a Felicidade ausente.Porém, mesmo que tal informação lhe seja eventualmente sussurrada, já não poderá salvar uma Vida cujo prazo se abeira do fim!...A Felicidade nasce no Amor e é o reconhecimento do Eu. Quem nunca a conhecer morrerá sem sequer nascer!!!