Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Babel: Una historia arcana by R.F. Kuang

48 reviews

bedtimesnack's review against another edition

inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

If you were a fan of Harry Potter as a kid, reading Babel might scratch the itch for some magic/dark academia vibes. I was engaged with the plot the whole time, and the magic system was unique and well thought through. I would say the book's biggest fault is that it serves answers and interpretation a bit too readily. Themes of colonialism and racism are handled more openly as part of the plot and dialogue, so there's not a whole lot of poetic subtly going on. If you like to decipher meaning and plot yourself, you might not find what you're looking for with this book. 

That being said, R.F. Kuang does handle the themes well, and portrays several viewpoints on assimilation, resistance, microaggressions, and class consciousness from multiple characters of color. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

clarkg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I want to open this review with the caveat that my five star review does not come without criticisms. I felt that some characters were denied robust inner lives, while others' motives were so hammered out that it felt redundant at times. In some sections, the pacing felt a bit drawn out. That said, "Babel" is an inventive, thoughtful, and serious reckoning with the relationship between empire and academia. R.F. Kuang simultaneously manages to capture the relentless, insurmountable nature of the colonial project, while exploring the many shapes that resistance can take. The central points of conflict feel both historically situated and uniquely relevant to contemporary conversations about global imperialism. Whether or not Kuang herself would define Babel as "dark academia", I do not know. Either way, the genre is greatly enriched by her voice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rc_boxnut's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I’ve seen many reviews hating on this book for “caricaturing white people” or “beating us over the head with her woke agenda.”

As a person who agrees with Kuang’s political and philosophical positions (and as a person who knows white people are rubbish), I *also* felt like the book was “beating us over the head with her woke agenda.” So much of the book was spent restating ideas, and giving example after similar example of the evil of colonialism, that the lessons were diluted. 

Part of me wishes that Kuang had written Babel later in her career when she had more mastery of her craft, because the message is valuable, the magic system is fascinating, and a few characters are really compelling.

I’ve provided content warnings to go with this review, but I want to highlight two: child abuse and emotional abuse. Fairly early in the book, there is a wrenching scene of an adult abusing a child. Afterwards, there are realistic depictions of other adults’ complicity and gaslighting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual assault

dkayayay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

heartwrenching, brilliant, showstopping, life-changing, never the same

(also just a quick reminder to please check trigger warnings before reading just in case!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

Moderate: Racism and Violence

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

lizzie24601's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Grief, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

dowleyrachel's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

honestly, I'm still trying to gather my opinions about this book. When a book leaves me heavy and longing for more resolution, it's hard for me to parse out this intended emptiness from my feelings of "liking" the book.

It felt a little long, like the Robin's years at Oxford could have been consolidated, or perhaps his waffling to join the cause or not. Sometimes it felt like the etymology didn't need to be explained as much. Footnotes would've sufficed. On the other hand, I enjoyed the ways in which the central plot moved; from passing school and trying to fit in to covering a murder to stopping a war to trying to bring the British Empire to screeching halt. I appreciated the complexity of the characters, how when there were fissures in the resistance, there wasn't necessarily one "right" person or stance.

This book in many ways was a tragedy, modeling the ways in which capitalism and colonialism consume everything. Selfishly, I wish for more hope in this novel, but perhaps the weighty message of the book will stick with readers longer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Grief and Colonisation

tulip_ss's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Genocide, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

wild_rabbits's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Drug use and Deportation

naisdayz's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I finished this book during class and could BARELY hold myself back from crying.

While Babel took me quite long to get through, I really enjoyed it. I really loved the cohort, though I would have wished for their relationships to be a little more fleshed out here and there. I could believe that Robin would die for Ramy no doubt - but the boys didn't seem as close to the girls and vice versa.

Anyhow, its safe to say that Letty's betrayal WRECKED me.

Kuang is really good at writing morally grey characters. Letty will do all those horrible things and then her intermission comes and you're like... Oh. That's why. And it doesn't excuse her shooting one of her friends or being the way she is, but it makes you understand and somewhat emphasize with her.

I found the footnotes that explain things that are relevant to the story, both fictional and (mainly) real to be pretty cool - it allows you to understand the story and what was happening on an even deeper level.

Babel is a very important book, in my opinion, that should be read by everyone (especially white people). It's so much more than a dark academia book, or a fantasy book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: War

hagwife's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Babel is all at once one of the most precise novels I've ever read and also one of the most tumultuous – precise and exact in the storytelling, the construction, and of the violence of colonialism and tumultuous in how the cohort of Robin, Remy, Victoire, and Letty have to navigate the spaces in which the reside. It is a stunning work, wrought in marvelous detail, scathing truths, beautiful relationships, and heartbreaking depictions of the choices anyone who is not in the majority must make to survive, let alone thrive, in the face of overwhelming abuse. And it is also a love letter to language, to meaning, to one's personal history, and to using those to form connection.

For anyone looking for another deep-dive into an alternate history that weaves magic and does not pull its punches, I recommend Dan Vyleta's Smoke. To anyone looking for the headlong rush of adventure and an unapologetic, vicious love letter to a place and its peoples, N.K. Jemisin's The Great Cities duology is the way to go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Sexual assault and Toxic friendship