Strange Life of Ivan Osokin

by P.D. Ouspensky

Book Overview

"The feeling for the suspense of the present moment, which hangs like a drop of rain upon the window, containing a whole world in itself." -- V. S. Pritchett

Ivan Osokin is in utter despair. He's failed at school, he's broke, and the woman he adores has just abandoned him. If only he could live his life over again and avoid all his mistakes A chance encounter with a magician provides Ivan with that precise opportunity, and he's sent back...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486843513
• ISBN13: 9780486843513
• Release Date: May 2020
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Book

As soon as I read the first page of this book I loved it. I heard it's the book that the movie "Goundhog Day" was inspired by.

Interesting read

I enjoyed this book quite a lot despite the editing errors. Alhtough there were quite a few in this edition, I don't think that they were a major distraction. This book explores Nietzsche's concept of Eternal Recurrence in a very accessible but thought-provoking way. Whether you're very familiar with the concept or not, I think this book offers a succinct but enjoyable and engrossing overview. I will mention that I was assigned this book for a class and many of the other students found it to be a tedious and, at times, annoying read. I think that this was probably due to the nature of the topic, though.

Strange Indeed....or is it?

You seldom come across books which can significantly change your way of thinking or maybe your life for good. This is definitely one such book. I accidently came upon it when I was searching for one of Colin Wilson's books and came upon Strange Life of P.D. Ouspensky which in turn led to this book.The protagonist, Ivan Osokin, is someone with whom most of us can empathize with. He's someone who would like another chance to live his life again so that he can make use of opportunities he wasted. He is blessed when he finds a magician who can exactly do this - send him back in time with the memories of the "future". He finds himself being a schoolboy again and at a critical path of his life. The strange thing being - now its difficult for him to believe any of it. His memory of "future" starts fading slowly and he finds that the inertia of fate is not easy to get rid of. He's taking the same decisions that he took the last time. His "memory" reduces to a plain deja vu and he's left wondering whether any of it was really true. Giving away more will destroy the pleasure of reading.Ouspensky's insights will leave you spellbound till the end. I just wish I had read it a few years earlier.

one of the best books that I've ever read

Think of all the mistakes that you've made in your life. If you could go back would you do things right? Ivan says yes, the magician says we'll see and sends him back. Ah but Ivan soon forgets...until. While this story is casual and interesting, it made me think about life almost without realizing it.

Is time a circle? Looping is fun!

This is an amazing book and should be in print! it's far more accessible than his philosophical writings a la Gurdjieff. I am desperately keen to get a copy of Talks with a Devil, his book of short stories. Publishers and film makers should make sure that this guy is widely known in the next century!