Read on the WondrousBooks blog.Long story short: I got this book from NetGalley and I was unbelievably excited about it. In the end, it took me entirely too many weeks to finish it and now I have to send it to the "mediocre at best" shelf.Now let me elaborate.The story of The Eight seemed very compelling: a mysterious chess set, a game that has been going on for ages, two female characters going on the same quest, set apart by 200 years of chasing, a giant battle of good and evil including history's biggest names.However, what we had was:The Writing Silly and childish. The characters have the tendency of becoming pale, very pale, deadly pale etc. in every five sentences. There's a lot of name-throwing, even though all of the big names have little actual impact on the story. What I hated the most about the book was the cheap drama technique, stolen right from Indian/Mexican soap operas. Every chapter ends with something so dramatic it's utterly laughable. It sort of looks like this: Three bunnies who were friends were taking a stroll in the forest. One of the bunnies decided to pick flowers. The other two were discussing the nice weather. A birdie was soaring the sky. A bee saw the bunnies from afar and decided to join them on the walk, only it was flying, naturally. Suddenly a dark cloud appeared. The three bunnies got worried because they didn't have an umbrella. While they were thinking about what to do and how to escape the possible storm, one of the bunnies turned and told the other two: "I'm actually your father." The bee, shocked, replied: "It's not possible because I'm actually their fraternal aunt." Five days later the three bunnies were taking another stroll. The weather was a bit chilly.In the book there was no regard, whatsoever, about the time-frame. The events were happening in the course of so many years, but the narrative continued as if nothing has important or of any value has happened in the missing time. I specifically mean Mireille's story. Can anyone really explain to me how these characters were so mobile in an age when the steam boat was barely a thing? Because the characters were crossing seas and oceans, traveling from America to Russia like it was the 21st century. Nine months pregnant Mireille was traveling between Algeria and France, crossing seas and deserts, climbing steep mountains like it was a walk down the street. Even in the "present", which was actually 1973, the characters were almost teleporting from one destination to another.This, of course, brings us toThe Characters Who were so unbelievable that even the author started joking with them at some point, in my opinion. I mean, come on... Really, 18th century underage French nun-to-be-but-not-really who speaks fluent English, learns Arabic, Russian and God knows what else, travels half the globe and manages to give birth to two children before turning 30? A man who supposedly rules France behind the curtains, who is a described as terrifying and evil, and then all of a sudden turns out to be a spineless plaything in the hands of Mireille and is on team Good. Or how about Cat, the first female to become a computer expert, and that, before turning 25, not to mention that alongside her unbelievable expertise, she is also fluent in a couple of languages and knows everything, from music, to computers, to physics, to mythology.And of course, all of these characters also happen to be chosen to play the game, but how and through what criteria and how did they even get noticed? Figure that out for yourselves. And if there is something that can be considered a plausible explanation about some of the chess prodigies, there certainly isn't one about Cat, who seems to come from nowhere. I don't even thing there was much in the way of a back-story about her.Insta-love I didn't expect it and it made me even more annoyed with the book. I'm not going to elaborate, because it's too spoiler-y, but there's insta-love, folks. And a very lame one at that.What I did like about the story, though, wasThe Plot In the hands of a better writer, this book could have been amazing. The idea about the chess set is very original. The other thing which I really liked was the information of many topics, which flowed through the narrative. The mix of fictional and real personages and histories was deeply appreciated, especially in comparison to everything else in the book. If the famous people which are randomly mentioned just to shock the reader, had any actual role in the book, it might have been much more interesting. But as a whole, I can't ignore the fact that from informational point of view, I learned some things and I enjoyed it.The Weird Part At the end of the book, there was a detailed biography of the writer. I guess that could be considered somewhat normal, even though I don't think I've seen it done for anyone but proven authors and ones who have died a long time ago at that.But putting a gallery of headshots of the author in the book... Well, that's plain strange. Not to be rude, but what do old modeling pictures of a book's author have to do with the book itself? If I'm interested, I can Google the author. I don't really see a need for that self-promotion to be shoved down the reader's throat. Huh?
Three weeks ago I held a yard sale. To pass the time I picked up this book I'd never seen from a box of books none of which I'd ever read and none of which I remember buying.Of the many surreal happenings of that day one of the most strange was when, immediately after reading the first page, a well-groomed homeless man or a poorly groomed homed man rode past on a bike. He looked over and upon seeing The Eight lurched off his bike stumbled to my gate and, grasping it with all the force and desperation of a kindergartener being left by mommy, bellowed, "That book! Man! That book, man, is the biggest fucking mind trip it's the best book you'll ever read. That woman [the author] used to be an executive at Bank of America until those Southern fuckers came in and they fired EVERY woman in the company. God damn mother fuckers! But man, she's beautiful too man, like a triple threat. And let tell you something..." and here he became quiet and conspiratorial, "....it'll never NEVER be made into a movie. I won't tell you why. 2/3 into the book BAM! [he yelled] it's a fucking bomb on your brain! She just fucking drops that bomb on your brain and it'll NEVER be a fucking movie!"How could I do anything but read this book after such an endorsement?It's pretty typical of the genre. A collection of mostly tropes -- the mysterious and reclusive genius somehow at the heart of the mystery; the one no-one including his co-commiserators can trust has a hidden agenda that has to do directly with the heroine? No way! After he takes a personal interest in her, we find out he's tall, handsome, devilishly charismatic, seductive and, wait, can't be completely trusted? Didn't see that one coming! -- including the drunken socialite, the clueless petty bourgeoisie, the quirky but lovable math/ computer whiz, the evil and menacing foreign intelligence agent, the surprisingly Western and enlightened foreign man incredibly open, and the revelation that the Other is actually more welcoming than We...to name a few. Anyway, this collection are interwoven into a story that touches on Charlemagne, OPEC, Chess, the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon among other things and which is mostly entertaining if much too long.The double narrative serves an obvious purpose but makes the book cumbersome and unnecessarily obtuse. When one story line enthralls, Neville switches to the other forcing the reader to reinvest; a tiring exercise. It's an unfortunate thing really, because both narratives on their own are interesting and could have been fun, if forgettable adventure books on their own. Should have been. Very much should have been.2/3 of the way through, the heroines of both narratives go to Algeria and meet tall, dark, handsome and capable men who save them from vile agents of the bad guys. There's also an Erich Von Daniken moment which is probably what the lurcher was talking about. It was a mind bomb about as much as the turn in the new Indiana Jones movie.I am ambivalent about this book. I'd be more enthusiastic if it had been about one story or even one more so than the other.
What do You think about The Eight (1990)?
The absolute worst. Intolerable. The kind of endless, deluded, humorless, self-satisfied, tone-deaf, utterly witless manuscript that I'm sure publishers find in the mail all the time but must NEVER EVER PUBLISH. Picked it up hoping for approximately the literary equivalent of "National Treasure," instead got the literary equivalent of diarrhea. That this is beloved by anyone anywhere, and that it ever elicited the press quotes inside the front cover, absolutely boggles my mind. There is NO dimension of this that meets any standard of entertainment; not even as "just a big stupid mess but who cares" is this acceptable. It is far worse and more painful than that.Solely recommended for those who do not plan to pay much attention to the story, or the characters, or god help you the words on the page - and just choose their reading based on a checklist of genre elements. Apparently there are many such people. Ugh. Even they should just get off on the back cover and move on.That all said - yes, I did read this to completion. Because I am insane. Do not do this. You might think you are suffering through the prose for the story, but you are not. You are suffering through both the prose and the story, and plenty more besides. Most of all you are suffering the author herself, whose literary company I have grown to loathe and resent. May this bilious review rid me of her forever. Amen.
—Andy
I was told by several people whose books tastes I generally respect that I would love this book - sadly, that wasn't the case. I found it tiresome, hard to follow, and the writing was almost impossible to slog through in several places. The characters were never fully developed, I never got invested in any of the characters, and I found the book too plot-driven to an irritating degree - with too many historical elements "dropped in" (almost like name dropping) in order to tie the events to historical situations.The only part of the book that I found remotely interesting and attention-holding was the very first chapter. It's a book that has reached something like cult status, but I found the plot hard to follow, lots of twists and turns that only confused me, and a very unsatisfying ending. I finished it only because I hate to leave a book unfinished if I've committed to reading it.It just doesn't live up to its hype for me.
—Diana
Quite something that I always keep looking for, lot of twists and revelations that make you goThe beginning was really good, it almost made me give 5 stars until I reached the point after (view spoiler)[Valentine's death (hide spoiler)]
—Vishakha Motwani
