In a small Georgian town, a chocolatier is famous for his hot chocolate recipe. His four daughters help him with the business, but meanwhile calls for Georgian independence clash with the revolution launched by Lenin and his Bolsheviks in Russia. Two of the daughters, Stasia and Christine will both find love and much grief in the conflict that marks the beginning of the Soviet Union. When they meet Sopio Eristavi, a woman who openly criticizes the regime, the two families will remain connected for a long time to come. In 2006, Nitsa Jasji, who lives in Berlin, writes down the story of her family for her niece Brilka.
The first book of the year was more than 1200 pages long so it took me a while to finish it. Haratishwili writes down the story of the red century. The rise, terror and fall of the Soviet Union and how the small state of Georgia struggles to this day for that bit of individuality. Many wars are covered. In that sense, you can also think of it as a little history lesson. The Russian Revolution, the repressions and terror under Stalin, WWII, the Cold War and the uprisings in the second half of the 20th century throughout the empire… they are familiar to you and yet you never read about them from Georgian perspective before. Even though Stalin was a Georgian.
The book tells the story of eight lives, across four generations. All those lives together are too dramatic, too much bad things happen. But each life in itself could be a true story. And that is the value of this book. Yes, there is too much coincidence. There is that strange belief that the special hot chocolate would curse people, when actually the regime is sick. There is the naivety of the characters. The mistakes they make.
Not every character got under my skin equally hard. For instance, I found Kitty’s story a bit too much and I found Elene very irritating. But with every page you read (and there are many), the family becomes more and more a part of you.
The eighth life is smoothly written and Haratischwili does not try to be literary which I appreciate. There is also no teaching tone in it, it is not a history lesson. Nitsa narrates all the events with the necessary dose of irony and tries not to pass judgment on her family members. This makes for a readable book where you can make up your own mind about the characters.
I loved it enough to award it 4,5 stars but this may change to 5 stars when in a few months from now the story and characters may have stayed with me (which I think they’ll do). The eighth life might thus very well pop up in my favorites list at the end of this year.
Have you ever read about Georgia before?
In Another Era 
I’ve been looking for a book set in Georgia – not easy because Google assumes you mean the American state of Georgia! – so I might try this.
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Yeah in Dutch Georgië is quite different from the American state Georgia, but in English it can be quite confusing. If you want to read about that country, this book is a great start!
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