Status Updates From The Invisible Life of Ivan ...

Ivan gives blood for Polina even though he is afaif and then he injects morphine into his arm

Ivan and Polina spent the night together after Polina came to his room after the incident and cried herself to sleep and saying how she is dying. They then start the list of things to do.

Ivan makes photocopies of nurse Lyudmila before his meeting with the director. The director didn't adress the issue but knew ivan had the pictures. He said as long as he doesnt use them Ivan and Polina will be fine.

Ivan describes Polina and his fun after lights out and how he was scared about getting caught. They get caught and ivan tries to stop her from wheeling his chair and she keeps pushing, making his hand bleed, then Polina tries to stop them by going in front of his chair, says something like "are you really gonna do this to me I month to live" and then the nurse goes and slaps her hard. She locks ivan in his room

Ivan is describing how Polina is sick and refers back to how he knows a cancer patient is a three monther. He steals a record for her and Polina says again how she is a thief. Ivan asks what if they catch her and she said it doesnt matter because when I die theyll find my stash and everyone will get their stuff back.

Ivan and Polina discuss how ivan doesn't know his birthday and while they are on the roof. Ivan goes inside and the next day meets Polina in the red room and reads her the book about his life to her. Polina tells him to leave.

Ivan and Polina are talking alot and have a conversation about how they are pricks to each other. Polina then gets Ivan onto the roof at night.

Ivan and Polina are finally talking but we know now that Polina is a three monther,

I now know that Pollina well I don't know but i'm pretty sure polina is the death Ivan doesn't want to talk to nurses about. He doesn't want to go to the funeral for her. He reads her diary in the bathroom in this chapter.

This describes more of Ivans masterbation attempts. The chapter about the sarcophagus really is amazing writing. i want to read that over and over again. It tells of how Ivan is in a sarcophagus with this hospital

Ivan is describing polinas kemo hair and her confidence with the wig. The I started reading a chapter called "my hue" which, due to context clues, I conclude means his penis.

Ivan is describing his imaginary mother

Ivan says how he made his therapists believe they were the sick ones then he goes on to calling people with the same last name as him.

Ivan talks about how many therapists he has had over the years and how he read many things to prove that he knows more than they do. He shares his funny stories about all of the ones he's had

Ivan soends more time on 3 monthers and 6 monthers. One of the nurses asks if he would be able to see if it he became a 3 monther and I thought that was intresting(71). Ivan talks more about the nurses there and why he likes Nurse Natalya the most, she was a mother.

Ivan finishes his description of Polina and the pity he feels for her. Yes, she has cancer but she "doesn't belong here". Ivan believes this very much and he is startled by her presence. He describes 3-months and 6 months.

Ivan describes The Ginger Twins and their lack of human communication. The bleeders are peple that are likely to have visible blood and make Ivan throw up. Non-bleeders are the oposite. Interlopers are people with normal to good mental ability and may "pose a threat to the everyday life"pg58 of Ivan.

He says how the prank on the heart doctor with the ketchup was a prank but made him feel very bad about himself.When he did it her fell asleep on the floor.since then the doctor had been bringing his signed baseballs. Dennis and his mother. He was put in as a baby by his mother,with 8 failed pregnancies she got a "soulless" boy.She tried to kill herself was taken, with major brain loss, to the hospital.

Ivan tells the story of Alex very large head and alot of brain damage. Also about his parents coming to see him and how they began to stop seeing him. I think Ivan wrote this because he feels abandoned by his parents and about everyone. He then follows Alex by a story of open heart children and how their doctor he felt cared for after a prank he pulled. "it was the only time I felt loved by someone besides Natalya.

Most of what I read today was Ivan writing about Max, the 3 year old living in the hospital. It describes how Ivan practiced with diapers until he felt prepared to change Max's diaper. Then when he felt prepared he went at night to change his diaper on his one and waited for the nurse to find him. Ivan feels a closeness to nurse Natalya and he is getting alcohol for his writing.

Ivan says how he has no hope of escape, 3 hours of tv everyday, and he couldn't kill himself because he cannot cut his wrists and he hates blood.He also describes the bland food he is fed.Chapter 6 on page 21 starts describing the other children at this hospital.First Polina, who he says should not be there and she is very beautiful.Then Max who is 2 and the protective nature"a cousin of empathy"andMakesHimFeelBetter

Ivan shared how he began writing. He was given books after his nurse, natalya found he was faking his comas and then, instead of punishing him, she gave him books. He then was at therapy and his therapist suggested he wrote. Then he describes his schedule for his day and what has been his schedule for his entire life. Hour breakfast, hour of tv, stuff like that. He says other patients are here but not relations

I learned Ivan is a 17yr boy with little legs and one arm. His left hand is two fingers and a thumb. His skin is slightly see through. The muscles in his face are loose and makes his face droopy. He was dropped off at a church as a baby and taken to the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children. He knows very little about the actual world but wants to learn

Kinda bored TBH. Not quitting yet though.

Belarus in 2005 was very poor, so no matter what they tried, Polina could not get a blood transfusion. From my place in the book, she just died, and right before she died, her best friend came to visit her just before she died, but she was not able to come to the hospital until then. This was because of money, and how scarce it was in Belarus.

Still not sure how I feel about this book. It's been a bit hard for me to connect with and I put it down for a few days. The part I just read was better, but I just don't quite jive with it yet. I think my biggest problem is with Ivan himself. Perhaps I'm just projecting my dislike for a character onto the story as a whole, but we haven't really seen much of Polina yet, so maybe I'll see a different perspective soon.

Polina is on the brink of death, and Ivan is trying everything he can, but resources are scarce and everything seems hopeless. Polina is not going to make it. And that's why I'm procrastinating on finishing. They've decided to read a book together, Polina's last book, they decided.
I noticed about halfway through part 2 of this book that Ivan was counting down, presumably to Polina's death, and I started crying.

In Ivan's world, there is a still a power dynamic between staff and patient, even if Ivan seemed so above it all. He tried to blackmail the director, but found that the director was still in charge. That, coupled with the fear of one of the nurses during the night while they were rendezvousing, showed how Belarus- or at least this hospital- values adults' power over children.

Ivan just learned that Polina is going to die, since she is becoming a "three monther". Since Polina is the most intelligent of the other children at the hospital, she was a prime subject of interest to Ivan, who wept for the first time in forever, since he was Belarusian. It was absolutely heartbreaking, and I am not in a hurry to finish the book and see Polina meet her end.

Finished Chapter 21- but I'm on audiobook, so I'm not sure about the page number. Something interesting about Belrusian culture- according to Ivan and the nurses around him, in comparison to Russians, Belarusians do not cry. They tend to be too proud, male or female.