Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

78 reviews

not_asha01's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, War, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Blood, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Medical content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Abandonment, Vomit, Alcohol, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Minor: Addiction

ashleydavies1813's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

This book. Wow. Just wow. It's amazing. Make sure you check triggers as needed because this books has A LOT of triggers. I love the reimaging of the Industrial Revolution as powered by silver rather than coal and the focus on how academia is implicated in colonial systems. The ending was so good. I wished for more, but the elisions I think are intentional and are part of Kuang's point. I both have too many thoughts and no thoughts. Be prepared to stay up super late once you get to the latter parts, because you'll need to know how this book ends immediately. I'm going to have to get The Poppy War trilogy ASAP now to read more of Kuang's amazing work. 

Did anyone else see Ramy/Robin's relationship as queer-coded? I'm wondering if part of the reason Ramy doesn't see Letty in a romantic light is because he's queer? (Though to be clear, there are A LOT of reasons why Ramy might not want to be in a relationship with Letty. Like so many). In a lot of passages throughout the novel, but especially Ramy/Robin's instant connection and Robin's response after Ramy's death really made me see their relationship as being more than just a close friendship

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Violence, Torture, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Racism, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Genocide, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexism, Child death, Alcohol, Addiction, Drug use, War, Classism, Slavery, and Police brutality

Minor: Confinement and Infidelity

n_li_re's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Recién terminé este libro y ahora mismo no puedo elaborar una sola frase coherente al respecto. Quizá cuando lo haya digerido un poco vuelva a editar esto y desarrollar por qué me ha gustado y hecho sentir tanto.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Classism, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Misogyny

Moderate: Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Torture, Child abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Racism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Violence, Medical content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Sexism, Abandonment, Classism, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Car accident, Child death, War, Rape, Genocide, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Infidelity, and Deportation

tasarla's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring 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? No

5.0

If you liked the poppy wars you’ll like this as there are many parallels. It’s a very challenging book & goes in depth about things like colonialism, slavery, racism etc so it’s one of those books you have to be in the mood for but it’s SO good. It really enlightened me on the subject of translation, which I hadn’t really thought much of before. Overall highly reccomend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Racism, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Deportation, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Bullying, Colonisation, Gun violence, Death, and Abandonment

shlymiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is a great read, a fascinating magic system, and an intriguing storyline. It’s also a hard, heavy read. I’m glad I read it, but be prepared to leave brain space for heavy, real themes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Racism, War, Suicide, Death, Violence, Colonisation, Classism, Physical abuse, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Blood, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcohol and Confinement

reader98's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Abandonment, Classism, Domestic abuse, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexism, Child abuse, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Toxic friendship, War, Xenophobia, and Gun violence

mooncxrx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

5.0

i fear my brain chemistry has been changed forever. there was so much love and effort put into this book and u can feel it on every page... i cannot stop crying thinking about all of it.
the only "criticism" i have is that i would have enjoyed more dialogue over the narration sometimes but. honestly the book is perfect to me regardless

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Police brutality, Colonisation, and Racism

aristarcodisamo's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Death of parent, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Classism, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Blood, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Death, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Police brutality, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

tbd24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

this book was my niche exactly so I feel a little biased but I liked it a lot. The writing was very good and evocative, I found myself literally gasping aloud or beginning to sweat during tense parts of the book. Very good character writing and development, though I was a little disappointed

Rami and Robin were only ever subtext, I would have been a bit more satisfied if they had a proper conversation about it, even once, especially since they were gonna die in the end anyway so what did the author have to lose. I feel like the reason it was never explicit is because the author didn’t know how to write a conversation like that and still keep the historical realism, though others have done this well. idk, it just disappointed me

. Overall, the only reason this was not a five star read for me was the pacing was a little bit too sporadic for my taste. There were drawn out moments that I wish had been shorter and quick fly by scenes that I wish we could have relished in. But other than that, loved it, and will defs read again

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Murder, Domestic abuse, Torture, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Religious bigotry, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Trafficking, Addiction, Islamophobia, Ableism, Toxic friendship, War, Slavery, and Sexism