Death of Ivan Llyich - Tolstoy

Yep I read Tolstoy.... believe that ..

Just finished reading my first book that requires you to deeply understand what the author is implying, not just grasp it but relate it as well. It’s a book that will probably be at the back of my mind for a while, and the best part was that it’s not a difficult book to read, the language is very lucid and so are the thoughts.
The book I am referring to is "death of Ivan Llyich" which was originally written by Leo Tolstoy and then translated by Nadine Gordimer.

This book basically deals with Ivan Llyich who has always lived his life trying to move up professionally and tried to fit in with the rich and famous. It starts out with everyone’s outlook after hearing that Ivan Llyich just died, his colleagues and friends think about who would now get his position of power, how they would find a new partner to play cards with them, the wife is more concerned about how she would manage to conduct all the rituals and if there was some way she could get money from the government, the daughter and the son in law are more concerned about his wealth. The only real person who was with Ivan all the time was his loyal servant Gerasim.

The book then tells us how Ivan lived all his life and finally comes to the most interesting part, where he knows his health is desecrating and death is inevitable. It starts off with Ivan denying the fact that he would indeed die, trying to believe that the doctors would indeed be able to cure him and reduce the pain that he is suffering. He wants to belie that he would get better soon and life would be as happy as always. It then goes on to show that Ivan’s health is degrading and that he begins to believe that the doctors are just fooling him and that he would probably not get better. That’s when he begins questioning as to why God is punishing him with this pain, he always believed that the life he led was right and true, and he begins questioning the existence of God. Finally it dawns him that indeed the life he lived wasn’t true, it was full of materialistic gain, and there was no spiritual awakening ever. And he realizes this after he looks at the way his wife, his kids; his friends are behaving with him. He realizes that these people are infact himself. Finally he acknowledges that death is here and the only thing he can do right is to go in peace and not trouble his family anymore with his unbearable pain.

I guess the reason this books hit me so hard is cause I believe this realistic fiction is after all our life. Ivan Llyich is nothing but us. We live all our life running behind things that are materialistic, unreal, that have no value when we ultimately look at death in its face. I am not sure how I would react if I knew death was near, but what I do know is I wouldn’t be able to open my arms to it. I haven’t lived a meaningful life to acknowledge death. But then again how do we become spiritually active , lead a more real life ... I don’t have an answer to that yet, but it does begin with knowing what is important to you, whom you would want to be on your side when u r on your death bed , how do want to look back at life .... Would you have any good memories, anything that is infact worthwhile? That is my take on it; everyone has a different outlook towards life but it all boils down to understanding not life but death, the experience of dying, understanding the meaning of death.

I would really advice everyone to check the book out, like I said it’s an easy read and very worthwhile indeed.