Literary fiction · Similar reads

Books like The Death of Ivan Ilyich

The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy is about mortality and denial, authentic versus conventional life, compassion. If that's what drew you in, here are 6 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.

  1. When Breath Becomes Air
    When Breath Becomes Air

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    When Breath Becomes Air

    Paul Kalanithi · Memoir

    When Breath Becomes Air is Paul Kalanithi's account of his life before and after being diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at 36, while completing his residency in neurosurgery at Stanford.

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  2. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
    Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

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    Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

    Atul Gawande · Health

    Being Mortal is Atul Gawande's investigation into why modern medicine is so bad at helping people die well.

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  3. The Year of Magical Thinking
    The Year of Magical Thinking

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    The Year of Magical Thinking

    Joan Didion · Memoir

    Joan Didion's account of the year following the sudden death of her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, is the most rigorous and unflinching memoir of grief in American literature.

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  4. Man's Search for Meaning
    Man's Search for Meaning

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    Man's Search for Meaning

    Viktor E. Frankl · Psychology

    Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's account of his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and the psychological theory he developed from that experience.

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  5. A Farewell to Arms
    A Farewell to Arms

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    A Farewell to Arms

    Ernest Hemingway · Literary fiction

    A Farewell to Arms is set during the First World War in northern Italy and follows Frederic Henry, an American serving as a lieutenant in the Italian ambulance corps, who falls in love with Catherine Barkley, a British nurse.

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  6. A Fine Balance
    A Fine Balance

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    A Fine Balance

    Rohinton Mistry · Literary fiction

    A Fine Balance is set in an unnamed Indian city during Indira Gandhi's Emergency of 1975–1977, a period of suspended democracy, forced sterilization, and slum clearances that is barely taught in the West and barely taught in India.

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