The Eighth Life in Around the World

Jun 29, 2020 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: women-in-translation, read2020, location-georgia-the-country, booker-winners-and-listed, translated, reviewcopy, favorites, ebooks, around-the-world

This book has had my complete attention every spare minute of the last week, and I was absorbed from page 1 to page 944. A family saga that starts with the four daughters of a Georgian chocolatier, through wars and revolutions and generations. That's the country of Georgia, which I knew almost nothing about.

I always say I find my best reads on the long but not shortlists of awards and this is no exception (longlisted for the International Booker) - any other books I've picked up while reading th ...more

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Jul 26, 2020 Patricia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: european-history

A planned trip to Georgia (the country, not the US State) put this book on my 'To Read' list. I bought the Kindle version as I thought I would read it while in Georgia, as an inspirational ending to each day as the book traces several generations of Georgians living through its 'colourful' but in so many ways, tragic history. Covid-19 postponed the trip, but with 900 or so pages to be read and months of lockdown in my future, the present seemed opportune.

I have very mixed feelings about The Eig A planned trip to Georgia (the country, not the US State) put this book on my 'To Read' list. I bought the Kindle version as I thought I would read it while in Georgia, as an inspirational ending to each day as the book traces several generations of Georgians living through its 'colourful' but in so many ways, tragic history. Covid-19 postponed the trip, but with 900 or so pages to be read and months of lockdown in my future, the present seemed opportune.

I have very mixed feelings about The Eighth Life. Where the stories of the novel's characters interface with Georgian, Russian and European history and politics, the book is riveting, where the novel turns to plots involving the characters that are almost asides to the country's history, I found myself either bored or grimacing or 'screening' ahead. I especially found the forced abortion and rape scenes gratuitous and frankly lowering the quality of the novel, but perhaps that's what it takes to keep some readers interested in the historical and political story. Not me. For me, the story is the story of Georgia--that mysterious country that few non-Europeans can probably even place on a map (northeast of Turkey, north of Armenia, bordering the Black Sea with Abkhazia, with Russia all along its northern border). It's a fascinating story as it struggles to maintain its identity as it is absorbed by Russia, throwing it into the midst of the Russian Revolution, is invaded by Nazi Germany, breaks from the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, to become independent in 1991 when nationalism caused it to invade its neighbor Abkhazia stimulating a civil war ... resulting in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War .... (The only thing I knew about Georgia when I began Eighth Life was that it was one of the earliest Asian-European entities to fall to the Mongols in the 13th century; my focus is Asian art and history.) In that regard, this book does not fail and left me with a simple but basic understanding of its history from the mid to late 1800s until today.

Will I recommend it to my friends who are planning to travel to Georgia with me in 2021, definitely, and it will be interesting to hear if they agree that a significant number of the personal stories (predominantly loves found and lost, sibling rivalries, and tendentious multi-generational relationships) could have been pared down. It's a big book; in my opinion, too long, but the story of Georgia needs to be told and I haven't found a better one to date. ...more

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Aug 19, 2025 Preethi rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2025-exophonic, awesom-otic, wanderlust-or-about-a-country, really-huge-books, multi-generational-family-saga

4.5 stars, if I could.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book - every protagonist made me feel several emotions - empathy, sorry, anger - to name a few.
I think it was Christine alone that I felt sympathy for.

I also felt like I lived through a century in Georgia too.
This is a good review to remember the standout items from the book without giving spoilers - https://www.theguardian.com/books/201... ...more

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Sep 10, 2023 K rated it it was amazing

Shelves: european-reads, georgia

I absolutely loved this book. The 41 hours of the audiobook were easy to listen to at the pace of an hour a day. This is an excellent family saga that is riveting with characters who seem real and very easy to imagine. My big fat summer read! Er, summer listen. But if it had been a summer read, it weighed in at 953 pages! Woot! Woot!

Winner of the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2020. Read it! I mean, listen to it!

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