Nino Haratischvili, Trans. by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin
MixedThe Sydney Morning Herald... ambitious ... There is a fairytale quality to the first half, a vast distance between the narrator and the stories she is retelling. Characters are largely one-dimensional, explained in long passages of exposition. They resemble small figurines the narrator is moving about on a play stage, with sweeping generalisations and very little concrete detail ... The backdrop of this saga’s climax is the fall of communism, the ensuing corruption and alienation of the government from the people of Georgia, the secessionist wars in Abkhazia, the economic crisis and nostalgia for the USSR. This is where Haratischvili hits her stride: the characters become more complex and the tensions less operatic ... Haratischvili explores a fascinating and turbulent period of Georgian history that has received little attention, but there are so many competing elements to The Eighth Life that dilute the story ... It takes almost 1000 pages to meet the character Brilka who the narrator is addressing, and when we do there is no revelation. The secret chocolate – like communism – fizzles out ... will certainly sweep some readers away, but the story skims the surface of lived experience. Within vast swathes of history there is only a smattering of insight into how it felt to be there.
