The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko
A Novel

Name: The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko
Brand: Macmillan Audio
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4 (2 reviews)
Author: Scott Stambach
ISBN: 9781427280329

Author: Scott Stambach

Narrator: Dan Bittner

Unabridged: 8 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Published: 08/09/2016

Categories: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Disabilities

Synopsis

The Fault In Our Stars meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Seventeen-year-old Ivan Isaenko is a life-long resident of the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus. For the most part, every day is exactly the same for Ivan, which is why he turns everything into a game, manipulating people and events around him for his own amusement.

Until Polina arrives.

She steals his books. She challenges his routine. The nurses like her.

She is exquisite. Soon, he cannot help being drawn to her and the two forge a romance that is tenuous and beautiful and everything they never dared dream of. Before, he survived by being utterly detached from things and people. Now, Ivan wants something more: Ivan wants Polina to live.

This program features a bonus interview with the author.

About Scott Stambach

SCOTT STAMBACH lives in San Diego where he teaches physics and astronomy at Grossmont and Mesa colleges. He also collaborates with Science for Monks, a group of educators and monastics working to establish science programs in Tibetan Monasteries throughout India. He has written about his experiences working with monks of Sera Jey monastery and has published short fiction in several literary journals including Ecclectica, Stirring, and Convergence.

About Dan Bittner

Dan Bittner has narrated dozens of audio books and has starred on stage and on the screen, in movies such as Men in Black, Adventureland, and the Producers: The Movie Musical. He has also appeared onstage as Macbeth Malcolm and Sherlock Holmes in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He has narrated popular audio books such as The Eleventh Plague, Hero, and Forever.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Emily May on November 01, 2016

Update: The author of this book has repeatedly contacted a GR member, asking her to change a negative review, which he called "mean-spirited". On the exact same day that he sent his last message, this profile appeared on Goodreads. Her location is San Diego like the author, and she immediately added......more

Goodreads review by Angela M on August 12, 2016

In Belarus in 1988 a baby is born , suffering severe birth defects from the fallout of Chernobyl, probably one of many babies like this . We first meet Ivan when he's 17 and has lived his entire life at the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children . He has never known his mother or father and isn't e......more

Goodreads review by Canadian Jen on September 22, 2016

I feel like I've been sandblasted. This was a fantastic and devastatingly weird read at the same time. I can honestly say, I've never read anything like this. How did this happen? I despise YA (for those who know me) but was enraptured by this story; this brilliant and endearing character. Ivan Isan......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on September 24, 2024

In 2007 author Scott Stambach was intensely moved by the documentary film “Chernobyl Heart” that showcased the children who suffered from radiation-related illness from the nuclear disaster. The film documented the children inside hospitals in the Ukraine and Belarus with unimaginable birth defects.......more

Goodreads review by Karen on August 15, 2016

Ivan narrates his life while living in a home for gravely ill children filled with children born with all kinds of conditions due to the Chernobyl incident. In this book you will find love, hope, humanity.. mostly you will take away the love........more

Awards

ALA Alex Awards Winner (Adult for Young Adults)