Reviews

The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili

pannilade's review

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

brianam's review against another edition

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4.0

It's tough to recommend this book - it's always good, but it's never great. Normally that would be fine enough, but this is three or four times longer than an average novel, so you're making an investment of time when you pick it up. The epic nature is one of its strengths, there is a lot of time here to build storylines that weave in and out of each other. It does not build into a satisfying conclusion, though, and sometimes the process of things looping back on themselves leads to characters that are predestined to certain fates, which is interesting in the abstract but not always to actually read unfold. The translation is good and flows naturally, although it is funny to sometimes have a character drop some Britishism while in the story speaking in Georgian or Russian. Again, I liked this book and found it worthwhile, but I didn't love it.

rocknrollaqueen's review against another edition

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5.0

Буду відверта, ставлю ці 5 зірочок для іноземних читачів з Західного світу - хочу, щоб книга була в топі і вони її читали. Особисто для мене це десь таки 4 зірки, бо були деякі розчарування в зображенні героїв, чи письмі авторки, чи задумі, чи тих же цитувань рос авторів на початку розділів (які мене особисто тригерили). Проте незважаючи на це, книга однозначно епічна у всіх сенсах і я абсолютно не шкодую, що прочитала її, а якраз навпаки - вдячна, що вона мені трапилась і саме зараз. Разом з тим, це та книга, яку я або взагалі не рекомендуватиму читати своїм друзям, або ну дуже обережно - бо там так багато болю і жахливого насилля, що мені дуже важко таке комусь радити читати.

Тут оповідь про століття життя родини з Грузії, про всі складнощі людських стосунків в цій родині, а ще дуже багато другорядних персонажів, які так майстерно вплітаються, а також про всі жахи російської окупації протягом цього століття, і про гулаги, і про нквд, і ще дуже багато жахливих речей.

Що мене здивувало - так це те, наскільки все-таки це нам до болю знайоме, про все це ми читали в нашій історії, чули з уст наших бабусь, зустрічали на сторінках нашої літератури. І ось інший народ, а той же біль, а той же кат.


juli_mod's review against another edition

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4.0

Ein Jahrhundert von Haratschwili in seiner ganzen Grausamkeit beschrieben. Eine wunderbare, herzliche Erzählerin gegen die Düsternis des Stalinismus. Das Buch ist monumental, rührend und fordernd.

readeando's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5*

pellepanda's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

sctittle's review

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The best this book has to offer the reader is a history of the Republic of Georgia, birthplace of Stalin, and, from what I can tell, a temperate paradise with really good wine. I would like to go there someday. The worst it has to offer is the shattering of the illusion that this is a literary masterpiece of historical fiction. I stuck with it for half of its 900+ pages. If you like commercial historic fiction, then you may really enjoy being immersed in the book's world, which ranges many generations of a family through the aftermath of the 1918 revolution, the Stalinist purges, the rise of Khrushchev--and then I put it away.

pluginsteadman's review against another edition

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Just can’t get into it, the writing/narrative style is too abstract

nerdy_reader's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow. I am blown away by this book. Immersive writing and heart wrenching characters fill these pages. Haratischvili also balances the perfect amount of narrative with historical information about Georgia under the USSR and afterwards. I would suggest that readers gather some background information before reading, though, as there are some aspects of Georgia’s history that are not explained entirely. A MUST READ for anyone who has time! 

cycleshark's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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