The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili: Is It Worth It?

Posted On July 19, 2023

Hi Readers! When I read The Eighth Life in January this year, I was flummoxed. I read a lot, but this book was just something else entirely. It is among the best books I have ever read. It has such multitude of characters each of whom you know as well as you know yourself. A story so rich in history, you would want to know more about it by reading everything available online and in libraries. The emotions so deep that there is not a single one that is not uncovered while telling this remarkably emotional tale of a family through conflicts while being resilient, passionate, courageous and downright lovably flawed personas.

I would give everything to have Stasia’s strength, Christine’s ideals, Kostya’s passion, Kitty’s ambition, Elene’s attitude, Daria’s courage, Niza’s words and Brilka’s family tree. The Eight Lives are captured so beautifully, truthfully and scornfully in less than 1000 pages. I am a sucker for wartime historical fiction, but this is the kind of historical fiction that has topped every other book I have ever read in the genre.

~~TRIGGER WARNING~~

It is impossible to talk about such a big book without indulging in a thesis-like 2000-word review, so you have been warned. Another important note before you read the book and this review is to check out the trigger warnings. They include war, death, suicide, murder rape, forced abortion, torture, verbal and physical abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, child death, drugs, police brutality, homophobia, infidelity.

~~GEORGIAN HISTORY~~

For a book of almost 1000 pages, there is not a lot of writing in detail about the history of Georgia. Yes, there are many references, wars, revolutions, revolts, demonstrations etc mentioned. But, I believe that if you are writing a historical fiction about a country as small as Georgia, you should write as if no one knows anything about the history. Reading the historical references in the book felt like I directly started on Chapter 10 with no background of what has happened or what is happening. Nevertheless, I did read about it and here’s a Wikipedia article about the modern history of Georgia 1900 onwards that you can glimpse through.

~~CHARACTERS~~

The title of the novel makes it obvious that the book has eight main characters. But, in addition to these, there are so many more as well. Let’s start at the beginning with Stasia.

~~STASIA~~

Stasia is among my favourite characters who introduces us to this beautiful book. She is the kind of woman everyone should idolise. She is fiercely passionate, not only about the people in her life but also about herself. She is the kind of woman who goes to a war ridden country to bring back her husband and later her son. She survives the loss of so many of her closest family, but it only makes her more compassionate into building stronger relationships. She never lets go of her dream of being a dancer either. She danced when she was 18 and she danced when she was 80! Oh, to be someone like Stasia in the early 1900s!

~~CHRISTINE~~

I have thought and thought of what to make of Christine. No matter how I think about her, I end up hating her. She was married to a powerful man because of her beauty, but she cheats on him. She had very weird relationships with the Eristavi clan, mainly Andro and Miqa. She did not move into the Green House, which I tried to justify, but just couldn’t. It was honourable in some ways, but then Christine always lacked honour, so what was it about, really? To think that one sister (Stasia) is my favourite and the other is the one I liked least is baffling to me as well. Oh, to be Christine and being so unsure about oneself!

~~KOSTYA~~

On cue to talk about my least favourite character.. Kostya! To be the only male in majority of female characters should have been endearing, but leave it to Kostya to make you insufferable. He is stubborn and dull. A son so contrasting to his mother. Stasia is all heart, but Kostya is all head. The only person he shows a little bit of heart for was Ida. Aside from that love interest, every other woman in his family was just an object to be yelled at. Perhaps, his character works around the stereotypical Georgian male in that era. If so, the author and translators did a fabulous job. Oh, to be Kostya and be such a disappointment throughout!

~~KITTY~~

Another favourite! I believe if we take only Kitty’s life from this book, the book could have still become a bestseller. She becomes a success after living through trauma. She literally takes all the pain and makes something beautiful out of it. She has to live under her brother Kostya’s thumb. She is held hostage, tortured, raped and has to go through a forced abortion. She chooses not to tell anyone about it and suffers alone. She finds it in her heart to befriend Mariam who was forced to abort her baby. She has to flee the country without saying her goodbyes and stay away from her family for years! Then, her paths cross with Fred’s, who is such a broken shell of a woman and yet Kitty finds the heart to love her. And, then she finds the heart to love Georgi Alania. Oh, to have the emotional maturity of Kitty!

~~ELENE~~

Elene is Kostya and Nana’s prodigal daughter who almost gets everything she wishes for. She is Kostya’s little princess until she isn’t. She is the perfect revenge daughter for us readers who hate Kostya’s guts. She goes from being an ideal daughter to a rebel in the blink of an eye. She has two babies with two men within three years and then not isn’t interested in them at all. But then finally, she redeems herself. Gets married to Aleko when she is 37-years-old when she has known Aleko for a long time. Elene, for me, was to diffuse the tension, which was necessary in a book this intense. She is the third character I disliked in this book, but her character arc is too good. Oh, to be young and reckless as Elene but finally being on a path you were meant for.

~~DARIA & NIZA~~

When I think of The Eighth Life, I mainly think of Stasia, Kitty, Kostya and Christine. So, I don’t remember a lot about Daria and Niza mainly because even though Book 6 and 7 is named as theirs it is more of a continuation of all the earlier stories as well. So, we are towards the mid or the end of the characters we have been with for over 600 pages, and just at the beginning of Daria and Niza’s characters. Of course, I am biased towards Niza because she is the one who brings the family together and unearths the history and writes the book for Brilka.

~~HONORARY MENTIONS~~

With so many characters, I won’t get into each of the supporting characters, but I had to call out some of my favourite minor characters. Cousin Thekla, Amy, Fred, Mariam, Ida, Aleko, Lasha and all the Eristavis. The Eristavis honestly deserve the best, but are treated as the neglected foster family in their entirety. But, it would be a damn fine thing to be as courageous as Sopio, as hopeful as Andro, as intelligent as Miqa and as empathetic as Miro. The Eristavis deserved better and I think every reader of the book will agree on that.

~~SOME THOUGHTS~~

Writing a review for a book I read more than six months ago was a challenge. I had my little notes to take me through my own thoughts when I read it. Between them, I found a few pages I had marked for me to reread. And, what better time to reread a few pages than when you are writing a review six months later. I was, once again, swimming in the poetic writing of the novel. I was doing backstrokes. I was doing butterfly strokes. I was doing freestyle. And the best part is that I was able to do all of this without having to learn how to swim. That’s the beauty of this book. It takes the reader by the finger and in the blink of an eye you are completely immersed into it.

For Brilka. Seven lives passing the history onto the Eighth Life. A rich history enriched with struggles, choices, baggage, pain, suffering, dreams, hopes and everything in between. History that changes completely if Stasia had continued dancing instead of marrying Simon. History that changes completely if Sopio and Stasia didn’t have the bond which made Stasia welcome clan after clan of Eristavis in her home. History that changes completely if Christine had not gotten involved with the Big Little Man. History that changes completely if Stasia was able to bring back her son Kostya from war. History that changes completely if Kitty had never left Tbilisi. History that changes completely if Elene had stayed a daddy’s girl all her life. So much history with even one tiny decision branching off infinite parallel lives.

They say history is always written by the winners. But when it’s history of your father and his father and his father before, we’re all just so overwhelmed with our daily lives that we don’t think about our family having a history. But, we do. For you and me and Brilka and Stasia, the history is bound in love. The love that Niza had for her sister Daria. The love that Daria was never able to seek from Kostya the way he gave it freely to Niza. The love that Kostya had for Simon more than he had for Stasia and then the love that Elene had for Kostya more than she had for Nana. The love that Kitty seeked from her older brother but was never returned. The love that Kitty and Andro, Elene and Miqa, Daria and Miro had. You either give too much or not at all, or all of it to one person so there’s nothing left for others. But this love is the essence that flows through history connecting us and always becomes the core of how we make our life choices.

The Eighth Life is a story not only of love and loss, but by way of loving a country more than your family and losing your family for your country. It is a story of war and peace, but not only about raging a war on a country, but by way of raging a war within yourself. It is a story of hopes and dreams, but by way of fleeing the only country you have ever lived in. It is a story of freedom and restraint, but by way of having traumas never shared with your family but only lived and relived by yourself. It is a story of life and death, but by way of choices made and regrets sustained. It is a story of riches and rags. Of politics and independence. Of depth and truth. The Eighth Life is a story of life coming full circle, by having similar parallel lives lived by a girl and her grandmother, by a son and his father. So many lives with so much within them that when you finish reading a book, you grieve about never being with these immensely tortured yet wondrous characters. The Eighth Life is The Story.

~~THE EIGHTH LIFE: FAMILY TREE~~

With a novel spanning over 100 years and a multigenerational tale, you need to know who is related to whom. And, if in the future, you want to revisit the book and read it again from another perspective, it’s good to know how everyone is connected. This is why, I thought it was essential that my review contain a family tree of the Jashi line. Here is an image, because I couldn’t make this on any app.

~~THE EIGHTH LIFE: IS IT WORTH IT?~~

Reading The Eighth Life is absolutely worth it. Pick it up if you love wartime historical fiction. Pick it up if you love big books. Pick it up if you desperately need to read something poetic. Pick it up if you want to release your emotions. Pick it up and do yourself a favour of being so immersed in art that even 944 pages will feel short. Just, pick it up and read. I have rated The Eighth Life (for Brilka) by Nino Haratischwili, translated by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin at 5/5 stars!

Until next time,