The Death of Ivan Ilyich: Book Review
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“Always the same. Now a spark of hope flashes up, then a sea of despair rages, and always pain; always pain, always despair, and always the same.”
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy is the kind of literary work that might have stirred great admiration in me as a literature student back in my college days. But reading it in 2025, far removed from the idealism of college life, this little novella about the futility of living a “proper” life felt like reading just another extended rumination on someone’s existential crisis. That said, Tolstoy’s ruminations have a philosophical depth which keeps you turning the page, even though the ideas seem familiar. If you’re in the blush of youth (in your early 20s or younger), it’s best to read this book now rather than leaving it for later in life. Although, perhaps, it might have a different kind of resonance with older readers, depending on their past readings, of course.
Less than 100 pages long, The Death of Ivan Ilyich follows the life and death of its protagonist, Ivan Ilyich, a senior judge in Moscow. The novella opens with the announcement of his death, and those connected to him seem more interested in how his demise benefits them. Ivan’s colleagues and juniors eye the vacancy of his high-ranking post, while his wife is relieved to receive a pension without having to deal with the “old crone” anymore. Only Ivan’s young son, still in school, truly grieves his father’s passing.
But soon, The Death of Ivan Ilyich rewinds time, introducing Ivan as a young man and tracing his rise through the legal ranks. Born into a wealthy family, he is the middle child, less successful than his older brother but far more accomplished than the youngest. He lives as expected, securing the right education, attaining the right job, marrying the right woman, and settling into the bourgeois life modeled by those around him.
This is my first time reading Tolstoy, and his style reminded me a little of Fyodor Dostoevsky, a contemporary of his. Although Tolstoy doesn’t ramble or ruminate too much through his characters in the text, which could also be because this is a small novella. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, at its core, is about a man with a chronic illness who fears his approaching death and realizes how futile his perfect life seems in retrospect. He despises his wife, Praskovya, a materialistic woman consumed by socializing and spending his money, although he himself is quite the same. To escape from his wife’s nagging, Ivan immerses himself in work or card games with colleagues, maintaining the facade of a content domestic life – even convincing himself that everything is as it should be. But in his final days, as his illness worsens and the certainty of death looms, he begins to question the way he lived, growing increasingly desperate and hopeless. Tolstoy clearly intended for readers to draw deeper philosophical conclusions, as he weaves in quite a bit of religious chatter through the book towards the climax – but this is my simpler take.
Rating: 3 on 5.
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