shlymiller's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Grief, Murder, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Classism, Death, War, Domestic abuse, and Colonisation
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Blood, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Confinement and Alcohol
steffiepie's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Drug use, Torture, and Gore
Moderate: Death, War, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Main themes include imperialism and languageshymoon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Trafficking, Racism, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Misogyny, and Racial slurs
rnbhargava's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Xenophobia, Car accident, Cursing, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Trafficking, Violence, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Stalking, War, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Confinement, Death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Rape, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship
All the themes said to be triggers are present, particularly the race and religion ones. There’s a scene where it appears that female characters could hypothetically be assaulted. The racism and discrimination on religion angles are throughout the book. The major theme of the book is reconciling existing within educational institutions in the west while the same people you’re learning from are harming your original homelands, whether you remember them or not, and the moral plus political repercussions of that.asifsyed's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Violence, Murder, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Slavery, Misogyny, Grief, Drug abuse, and Gun violence
Minor: Torture, Police brutality, War, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
cordiaelly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Racism, and War
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse
mary_juleyre's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Colonisation and Racism
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and War
midnightgremlin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Colonisation, War, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Racism, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Death, Slavery, Sexism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Murder
bealmg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Starting with what I thought was really strong: Kuang's writing. As soon as the book started, I was transported to its setting. I loved reading her descriptions of Oxford since they are so vivid and rich. I also thoroughly enjoyed the lectures on etymology and language (I could probably read an entire book of hers solely about these things). And, despite the novel's flaws, it kept me fully engaged with it.
The story is told through the eyes of Robin Swift, the main character, a Chinese-English young man who is brought up by an Oxford professor to study at Babel, Oxford's prestigious translation institute. I liked Robin's voice, how well Kuang expressed his doubts, fears and hopes, and I thought that his ambiguity
Spoiler
towards violent vs non-violent actionSpeaking of plot, it lacked something. I think, for me, this is because of the magic system Kuang introduced in Babel. While the magic silver bars sounded promising at first and I was intrigued immediately, I was disappointed by the execution of this concept. As a metaphor for how language shapes the world around us, the silver bars worked. As the motor of the industrial revolution? Not really. Nothing changed in Babel's magical world vs the real world - the industrial revolution and its innovations (as well as the increased poverty and inequalities) still happened, unchanged. The only switch was that, instead of the slave trade and labour being the financial source behind the industrial revolution and the power of the British empire, it was silver bars that connected words from different languages. In the end, this magical element was not enough for me to believe in the book's plot, since its underdevelopment hindered the strength of the story and its ending.
Another thing that I didn't like was Kuang's extensive use of footnotes. While I generally don't mind footnotes if they're used ocasionally to clarify certain things, Kuang used footnotes to overexplain things, to provide characterisation and to lecture the reader. And although I believe that, sometimes, you need to shout 'racism' when something is clearly racist, this was done excessively throughout the book. It's as if Kuang doesn't trust her readers to understand her message. To add to this, there were so many characters whose only function was to say 'this is racism, this is colonialism, this is bad', which felt really repetitive and lacked the nuance and subtlety I think would've worked best in a historical fantasy novel.
Speaking of historical, the discussions about these issues used language that, I think, was far too modern for a novel set in the 1800s. Although this didn't bother me too much (except a few REALLY modern expressions and phrases), for a book that focuses on language, translation and the power behind words, it didn't make a lot of sense to have 19th century characters using 21st century words to discuss racism, colonialism and power.
All in all, despite its flaws, I think Babel accomplished what it set out to do: get people to talk about the role that language plays in colonial relations. I think Kuang's main accomplishment was to translate incredibly complex concepts about language, linguistics and power relations to a more accessible format that readers all over the world will engage with. And that is, in my opinion, quite a feat. I just wished the execution would've been better.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Classism, Colonisation, Violence, and Gaslighting
meaghanslibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The story is extremely interesting and the author does a wonderful job of world building.
The idea of the power of what is lost in translation tied with the power of language and its influence on colonialism is well thought out.
The reason why this book isn’t a 5 is because I felt for most of the book that it was too long. I think this book could have been several smaller books instead of one be very large book. The pacing of the story drags in the middle for me. Also I found the characters while not quite lovable or despicable, just sometimes annoying, especially Robin and Letty. That also factored in a bit to my rating.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cultural appropriation, War, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Death