A dry and thankfully short read.

The protagonist does little more than roll around in bed complaining about his pain and the unfairness of his situation despite it being self-inflicted. As a housebound, barely-mobile sufferer of chronic pain myself, I find it hard to feel sympathy for Ilych, who makes his pain and self-inflicted depression everyone else's problem despite having the privilege of a generous opium supply - a strong painkiller and a controlled substance in the modern age, even for the terminally ill.

The reason why I did not give this novel one star is because Ilych's complaining and the interactions of those who knew and lived with him came with a few interesting insights on the themes of domestic abuse, death, depression and success vs wealth. I intend to re-read it mindfully and with a highlighter to pick those insights out and any more I might have missed on my first reading, but the prospect of facing the insufferable Ilych again makes me wonder if the task is worth it.