Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Eighth Life (for Brilka) by Nino Haratischwili

21 reviews

aemulatio's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

chia_ie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this book took me almost 2 months to read. but it was so worth it. i have this feeling of like … what do i do now? 

the ending was so good. the very few past pages. so, so good. the characters were all so flawed, so human. but i loved them all regardless. it was as if i actually knew them. the stories were surreal, yet gutting to read, because i fear that some of the events that took place are not far from the reality of life back then. 

if you have the patience, i would absolutely recommend this book. the one downside is that i didn’t find it to be a book i could relax with. i had to be focused to work out the connections between characters and such. i even ended up drawing family trees to help myself 

this book was great. i’ll miss the Jashis.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and War

eliicapss's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

erikwm's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I found the first half intriguing and even enchanting, in its dark own way, but then it started feeling very protracted, long-winded, garrulous. I did finish it because I felt I owed it to the great first half of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War

machenn's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Abortion

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, and Homophobia

katt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A moving, devastating saga that follows two families over a century in Georgia and the former USSR. Well written and engaging for all 1258 pages (pages from ebook). I feel crushed and also so connected to the families in this saga. The book also somehow left me feeling a tiny bit hopeful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Grief, and War

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Homophobia and Antisemitism

quickermorequickly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

My heart! A book that I needed to read with Wikipedia at the ready, this is a very human history of a century of constant upheaval, spanning six generations of a family in Georgia. It did not seem as long as its 900+ pages, and certainly was not a slow read either. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Rape, Torture, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Abortion, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

ssreadsintranslation's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicide and Toxic relationship

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Abortion, and Outing

greerawriter's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Rape, Torture, and Abortion

Moderate: Grief

tabitha_isabelle's review

1.5

A history book masquerading as fiction. Studded throughout with explanatory passages detailing the nuances of the historical period, I felt that this overly ambitious work did not fulfil its promise. I enjoyed the insight it gave me into Georgian history (something I knew very little about), but could not get over the poor quality of the writing. The characterisation was especially weak - incidents seem contrived, whilst decisions lacked believability. At times the characters felt like mere caricatures. The reams of exposition did not help in this regard. 

One more thing (that hardly needs saying) a book focusing on a family in the Soviet Union in the 20th century does not need an additional something that brings people misfortune or bad luck - terrible things were happening anyway! The magical hot chocolate was redundant. 

On the whole a dissatisfying read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, and Murder