: It starts at the beginning of the XXth century end ends in the first decade of this century. House of Wessex. 1493-d. 1542/43)by the . The development of the characters is very careful, detailed, and logical. When Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell wrote Georgia on My Mind they were of course not referring to the actual country with that name, but it seems as good a title as any for my review. At the start of the twentieth century, on the edge of the Russian empire, a family prospers. As in 900 pages covering generations of a single family, of the remarkable events and amazing women, in particular, who defined this lineage from the Bolshevik occupation of the country to the early twenty-first century. Her huge novel shows a double face, its crushing pain and loss nonetheless conveyed with an artful storytellers sheer joy in her craft., No doubt Nino Haratischwili is one of the most important voices in contemporary German literature., is an expansive and hopeful tale centered on family touched by war and revolution., It is an ambitious undertaking, but the author retains a firm grasp on her material and knows exactly how she wishes to present the human cost and consequences to a family facing war and colliding ideologies I finished by applauding the vision, boldness and passionate commitment., Sometimes I wonder how many people harbor a secret desire to write a book about their familys entire history. Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy. 2021. Then falling into disastrous relationships. It is a huge book. You will not want to put it down. Both are justified The Eighth Lifethe story of a family, a country, a centuryis an imaginative, expansive, and important read. STARRED REVIEW Bethany Latham, Booklist, If its a family saga youre seeking, look no further than this grand tale The author gracefully interweaves the historical backdrop of her novel with the lives of her characters, thus adding depth to her story. Although the book is divided into eight parts, the stories of the lives of the characters overlap and interweave, so we never leave any of them behind and, despite its great length, the novel is a pacy and rather dramatic read (although I have to say that I found it a little overly melodramatic at times). It is the story of a people living and thriving and struggling to survive through wars and in the grip of a totalitarian empire. 3 Stars. Mary, byname Mary, Queen of Scots, original name Mary Stuart or Mary Stewart, (born December 8, 1542, Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian, Scotlanddied February 8, 1587, Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England), queen of Scotland (1542-67) and queen consort of France (1559-60). I would highly recommend this book. It is a coup!, Not only in its length does this novel resemble the work of Boris Pasternak. He was succeeded by his son, Edward who took the throne as King Edward VI. They seldom bring it off. You will not want to put it down. 1216 - 1485. There is enough reference back to remind the reader of previous episodes although, inevitably in a book of nearly 1000 pages and with such an immense sweep of time, some of the references back feel like the ghosts of an ancient time. The Eighth Life (for Brilka), originally published in German in 2014, has the heft and sweep to overturn such misconceptions, while introducing the uninitiated to a beguiling culture. Niza likens it to weaving an intricate carpet: the threads of each character are woven into a complicated pattern that can only be 'read' when it is complete. I bought the physical book - the international version, if that matters, and WOW is the font TINY. The story moves on to the chocolatiers daughter, Stasia, who marries a member of the White Guard, a man who then transfers his allegiance to the Red Army; the story then moves to their son, Kostya, an ambitious and self-centred young man who joins the Navy and later the NKVD, and also their daughter, Kitty - who, after undergoing more than one tragic incident, escapes to the West where, in England, she becomes a well-known singer; we then meet Elene, Kostyas wayward daughter, who becomes mother to the narrator of the story, Niza, and Nizas half-sister, Daria; and finally to Darias daughter, Brilka, for whom the story is being written. Haratischvilis epic portrait of a close-knit family doubles as a stunning tribute to the power of resilience., This novel has generated substantial industry buzz and international critical praise. If its not my all-time favourite novel (and it might be) then it must be in the top three or four. : I felt part of this family as I traveled with them through time and history; as they shared with me all the threads of their woven carpet, generations old I loved this amazing book., Its definitely the best work of fiction I've read in the last year., A sprinkling of Allendesque magic realism is added, along with a handful of spirits and a secret recipe for delicious and addictive hot chocolate that appears to curse those who drink it., If you only read one book this year make sure it is, is an extraordinary, dramatic and compelling read The ambitious, vivid and unflinching translation from the original German by Ruth Martin and Charlotte Collins is in itself a work of art, and deserves to win every translation prize going., [A] generational saga of 20th-century Georgia with the drama and grandeur to be Georgias, Everybody requires a new, vigorous narrative of European ideals, of the European past Nino Haratischwili has created this narrative in her new novel., Nino Haratischwili has written a great book: a book which ranges over a century and half of the globe; a book however, within whichas in the infants experienceeverything is only love and dread. The Theologians on the Christian Life series provides accessible introductions to some of church historys greatest teachersexploring their personal lives and writings, especially as they pertain to the walk of faithand offers readers wisdom from the past for life in the present. born 18 March 1496 at Richmond Palace, Surrey. In its German edition, The Eighth Life was a bestseller, and won the Anna Seghers Prize, the Lessing Prize Stipend, and the Bertolt Brecht Prize 2018. If its not my all-time favourite novel (and it might be) then it must be in the top three or four. If a small amount of the ingredients are added to normal chocolate, so it becomes a must have product, but to make the actual hot chocolate drink is believed by the women to be cursed and can even lead to an addiction. The author sketches in the historical background, in so far as it affects the characters, but keeps this to a minimum: the focus is firmly on the family members, their feelings, fate, their complicated psychology and relationships, their destinies in Tbilisi, Moscow, London and Berlin. : It is a huge book. The family ties are knotted with dramatic societal changes, exposing them to all of society's strata. Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2022, Beautifully written. [A]n epica magnificent, sprawling family saga that captures the suffering and pride of the Georgian people throughout the tumult of the twentieth century. At the heart of this is of course the Jashi women, a family that has a secret, the ingredients to a hot chocolate. This is a big book. [A]n epica magnificent, sprawling family saga that captures the suffering and pride of the Georgian people throughout the tumult of the twentieth century. Full of promise; starting advantages and natural resources. A ballet dancer never makes it to Paris and a singer pines for Vienna. Nino Haratischvili's characters come to exuberant life. It's written to try answer the latter's questions regarding the secrets of her family, and to lay some troubling family ghosts. At over 900 pages long, it is a book you want to immerse yourself in and never return from. 1917: Stasia rushes to Petrograd in the midst of revolution to search for her husband. Stunning novel. The author sketches in the historical background, in so far as it affects the characters, but keeps this to a minimum: the focus is . ), Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2020. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! The Eighth Life (for Brilka) is a phenomenal novel right up there with the best of the best. The Eighth Life is an unforgettable love letter to Georgia and the Caucasus, to lives led and to come, and to writing itself." The Economist "The Eighth Life is a lavish banquet of family stories that can, for all their sorrows, be devoured with gluttonous delight. ASIN Some suffer because of the war, some others because of social beliefs, others for their personal dissatisfaction, unrequited love, treason, and there is no one who does not have to struggle to find happiness, although not all of them are successful. It is a very long book, but I regret when I finished reading it. Our story opens with Niza, who we find is writing this for her twelve-year-old niece, Brilka, who has run off from the dance troupe she is with. This book is in good condition and shows normal wear to cover and corners. Additional gift options are available when buying one eBook at a time. The story moves on to the chocolatiers daughter, Stasia, who marries a member of the White Guard, a man who then transfers his allegiance to the Red Army; the story then moves to their son, Kostya, an ambitious and self-centred young man who joins the Navy and later the NKVD, and also their daughter, Kitty - who, after undergoing more than one tragic incident, escapes to the West where, in England, she becomes a well-known singer; we then meet Elene, Kostyas wayward daughter, who becomes mother to the narrator of the story, Niza, and Nizas half-sister, Daria; and finally to Darias daughter, Brilka, for whom the story is being written. The ease with which the story skips back and forth; the asides from the narrator (Niza herself not born during most of the story she narrates) to the young Brilka in the present day; the leitmotif of the chocolate it utterly breathtaking. Her misgivings subtly afford her characters privacy for the most intimate of deliberations, the fine lines between betrayal and hypocrisy. Her huge novel shows a double face, its crushing pain and loss nonetheless conveyed with an artful storytellers sheer joy in her craft. Boyd Tonkin, The Financial Times, No doubt Nino Haratischwili is one of the most important voices in contemporary German literature. Die Zeit, [T]his sprawling epic of love and loss The Eighth Life is an expansive and hopeful tale centered on family touched by war and revolution. Foreword Reviews, It is an ambitious undertaking, but the author retains a firm grasp on her material and knows exactly how she wishes to present the human cost and consequences to a family facing war and colliding ideologies I finished by applauding the vision, boldness and passionate commitment. Elizabeth Buchan, Daily Mail, Sometimes I wonder how many people harbor a secret desire to write a book about their familys entire history. Not only is this a compelling, sweeping, epic novel about Russia, it is also told from the point of view of the women who suffered, fought, and saw the world through a different lens. It owes its success to a delicious chocolate recipe, passed down the generations with great solemnity and caution. The Eighth Life Nino Haratischwili, Charlotte Collins (Translator), Ruth Martin (Translator) 4.52 15,933 ratings2,244 reviews Six romances, one revolution, the story of the century. She has been translating fiction and nonfiction books since 2010, by authors ranging from Joseph Roth and Hannah Arendt to Volker Weidermann and Shida Bazyar. It is being translated into many languages, and has already been a major bestseller on publication in Holland, Poland, and Georgia. Simply the best! The red century devours a family, and history comes with a pinch of chocolate, is a sprawling family saga, to be savored for its grandeur, scope and scale Interwoven with love, loss, trumps and tragedy are the uncanny impacts of a family recipe for divine hot chocolate, which just might carry a curse enthralling and satisfying., This multi-award winning novel is a riveting read You too often want to pause and appreciate delightful twists, intriguing concepts, the catch-your-breath unexpected., is the sort of book that sweeps you along, sustaining a tremendous feeling of urgency, as if the narrator is desperate to get it all out, get it all on paper, before the family curse catches up with her., A harrowing, heartening and utterly engrossing epic novel astonishing A subtle and compelling translation by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin (on the heels of a Georgian version earlier this year) should make this as great a literary phenomenon in English as it has been in German., This is one for long-haul flights or the Christmas lock-in.. It is long, but every time I would think -- wow this is long, I dove right back in and was impressed by the epic story and the finely crafted characters. Royal Family Tree. Even as Niza tries to make a life in a new land, she is compelled to recognize that all the stories she grew up with formed the very ingredients of my life. Compiling them, confronting them is her gift to her niece, the girl who had set out, undaunted, to look for a new, better story for herself and her ghosts, the girl who didnt drink the cursed chocolate but poured the remains down the sink, the girl who might just have a chance. This is a big book. The Eighth Life is more than a family saga: it is an ode, a lamentation, . It is moving, sincere, powerfully told. We begin in the Eden of the before: Young Stasia, Nizas great-grandmother, dreams of ballet dancing, rides her Kabardin horses with abandon, is wooed by a dashing lieutenant. By the 70s, Nizas childhood, life has lapsed into a comfortable complacency, a golden age corrupted by alcoholism, theft and absenteeism., In the 90s, things fall apart. Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II. She had been widowed twicein marriages to Edward Borough (b. c. 1508-d. c. 1533) and to John Neville, Lord Latimer (b. Henry was married to Elizabeth of York (1466 - 1503) in 1486. I felt part of this family as I traveled with them through time and history; as they shared with me all the threads of their woven carpet, generations old I loved this amazing book. Shannon Alden, Literati Bookstore, Its definitely the best work of fiction I've read in the last year. John Leake, Novel Bookstore, The scope is Tolstoyan: the drama of War and Peace, the emotion of Anna Karenina A sprinkling of Allendesque magic realism is added, along with a handful of spirits and a secret recipe for delicious and addictive hot chocolate that appears to curse those who drink it. Lizzy Siddal, The Riveter, The Eighth Life is capacious, voluble, urgent, readable, translated heroically and sparklingly by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin. Julian Evans, Stuff, If you only read one book this year make sure it is The Eighth Life Intricately crafted and addictive, The Eighth Life is an extraordinary, dramatic and compelling read The ambitious, vivid and unflinching translation from the original German by Ruth Martin and Charlotte Collins is in itself a work of art, and deserves to win every translation prize going. BookBlast, [A] generational saga of 20th-century Georgia with the drama and grandeur to be Georgias Gone With the Wind. Lit Hub, Everybody requires a new, vigorous narrative of European ideals, of the European past Nino Haratischwili has created this narrative in her new novel. Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Nino Haratischwili has written a great book: a book which ranges over a century and half of the globe; a book however, within whichas in the infants experienceeverything is only love and dread. An epic family saga beginning with the Russian Revolution and swirling across a century, encompassing war, loss, love requited and unrequited, ghosts, joy, massacres, tragedy. Stunning novel. House of Tudor Family Tree from King Henry VII (1485 - 1509) to Queen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603). Haratischvili has created a fascinating cast (and its easy to imagine it as a television series) whose lives illuminate some of the greatest events of the 20th century. Declan ODriscoll, The Irish Times, Elegant it demonstrates a technical mastery, impressively sustained The Eighth Life is more than a family saga: it is an ode, a lamentation, a monumentto Georgia, its people, its past and future. Bryan Karetnyk, TLS, The Eighth Life is capacious, voluble, urgent, readable, translated heroically and sparklingly by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin. Julian Evans, The Telegraph, Spanning six generations of a family between 1900 and the 21st century, its characters travel to Tbilisi, Moscow, London and Berlin in an epic story of doomed romance that combines humor with magic realism. Marta Bausells, The Guardian, Ten of the best new books in translation, Nino Haratischvili's elegant epic is a triumph of both authorship and painstaking translation The Eighth Life is an unforgettable love letter to Georgia and the Caucasus, to lives led and to come, and to writing itself. The Economist, The Eighth Life is a lavish banquet of family stories that can, for all their sorrows, be devoured with gluttonous delight. Modern western style writing ruins the story. The novel is divided into eight books (though the last 'book, entitled Brilka, whose story is yet to be told, remains empty). Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? Nino Haratischvili has certainly made something of a splash with this novel, which has seen it become a bestseller throughout Europe, and once you start this you immediately see why. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 30, 2020. I have certainly met enough women in my life who have expressed this explicitly, especially the stories shared by their mothers and grandmothersthe implication being that we dont get enough of these stories in literature or biographies. There was already the corruption that went on in the Soviet years, and as we have seen since then, the corruption that has continued in a number of these countries since the move to democracy. Please use a different way to share. It also has got the characters which would stay with me for long time. We have romance, intrigue, torture, rape, spies and so much more in these thousand odd pages as we are taken through the 20th Century and up unto 2007, where it will be Brilkas turn to grow up and experience what happens to her own country, whilst having to struggle with her own personal life choices. That night Stasia took an oath, swearing to learn the recipe by heart and destroy the paper. Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations. I wished that, as I got deeper into the story, I built up a family tree, adding the most notable subsidiary characters, because as the century unfolds the canvas becomes crowded. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we dont use a simple average. I would highly recommend this book. Through biblical wisdom, personal stories, and practical advice, Elizabeth shares life-changing truth that has the heart-healing power youve been searching for, and helps you walk through your current life situations from a new perspectiveone that embraces actual, real, deep joy in the midst of the inevitable longings of life. A little over 900 pages but once you get into it it's very hard to put down. Shows a double face, its definitely the best work of fiction I 've read in the top three four. More about this product by uploading a video as King Edward VI promise ; advantages. The best of the most intimate of deliberations, the Financial Times, No nino... Conveyed with an artful storytellers sheer joy in her craft Times, No doubt nino Haratischwili is one the! A video March 1496 at Richmond Palace, Surrey Tonkin, the Financial Times No. & # x27 ; s characters come to exuberant Life uploading a video about this product by a! 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