Reviews

I had a base knowledge of communism and how the wars affected the area, but everything was way worse than I thought. The amount of trauma, war and strife that people in the area went through is heartbreaking.

The granddaughter Niza is telling Brilka, her niece the story of her family members.

Stacia, Christine, Kitty & Kostya, Nana, Elene, Daria, Niza & Brilka.

Every character is so well fleshed out with them having to make so many difficult choices and dealing with those made by others.

It’s a very thick book at around 1000 pages, but the pace does not suffer. Some of the more stretched out moments still add a lot to the stories.

mereljk's review against another edition

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4.0

Ik vind het heel moeilijk om hier een review over te schrijven. Ik vond het een heel goed boek, goed geschreven en fijne karakters om over te lezen. De geschiedenis tussendoor was interessant, maar maakte het ook moeilijk om door te lezen, omdat ik er bijna niks vanaf wist waardoor het allemaal nieuw was. Dit maakte het soms een beetje langdradig en ingewikkeld. Maar ik zou het zeker aanraden als je een heel character-driven boek wilt lezen.

rnmcfarlane's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

wiets's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

awesomebrandi's review against another edition

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5.0

The Eighth Life is the multi-generational story of a family from Georgia (the country) living through Soviet unrest, and how each generation copes with the changes around them. The author was originally born in Georgia as well. It roughly covers a century of the family's history, and is written in a storytelling format of an Aunt telling the family history to her niece.

This is definitely an intense book at times, please note there is rape, sexual assault, medical assault, and other topics covered in this book, as well as war and other related difficulties. But, for a book of over 900 pages, the storytelling is absolutely beautiful and moves quite well. Even the difficult parts of the story are written in a way that, while heavy, doesn't feel jarring. Some books seem to throw them in for shock value, but all of the difficult parts in this book are simply part of life and the story as a whole.

It's interesting that I ended up reading this book with the current political and war issues happening in Eastern Europe, and it really keeps you aware and reminds you that there are people living these things every day right now. They are not part of past history, but part of the present. In America, I think so many of us lump Eastern Europe together in our ignorance and overwhelm, and I thought this book was such a good way to connect and get more insight into the years of ups and downs that Eastern Europe has experienced.

I hovered around 4 to 4.5 stars at times, but the ending was just so emotional and beautiful, I had to give it a full five stars. A beautiful, emotional book with educational insight as well.

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