griffin_7'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
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Violence, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Abandonment, Classism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Vomit, Hate crime, Racism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Colonisation, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Forced institutionalization
fizzieee'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
4.5
Graphic: Drug use, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Violence, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Vomit, War, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Death, and Murder
Minor: Bullying, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
chiwirite's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Suicide, Racism, Classism, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Bullying, Xenophobia, Violence, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Gun violence, Grief, Deportation, Addiction, Slavery, and Sexism
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.raquel_rqlh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Slavery, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Murder, Misogyny, Colonisation, Death, Racism, War, Xenophobia, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Addiction
Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment
maryjames's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death of parent, War, Toxic friendship, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Classism, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Drug use, Violence, Slavery, Child abuse, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexism, and Blood
Minor: Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Slavery
starla's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
What I liked: I thought the plot picked up a lot in the last third of the book. Prior to that, I was just reading to get through it. I thought the ending was
Spoiler
poignant and satisfying even as it was somewhat anticlimacticWhat I didn’t like:
Unfortunately, most other aspects of the book. Most of the characters felt one dimensional and even the most interesting characters either didn’t make it to the end of the book or didn’t get enough screentime to see much development. The interpersonal relationships didn’t get much attention. I think this is due to the writing style deployed in the book. It felt very much like a novelised thesis, with the characters and relationships between them serving as examples in a literature review. I appreciate the choice to do that but it doesn’t particularly interest me in a novel, where I want to feel deeply connected to the characters. The interludes featuring the other 3 main characters’ perspectives felt awkward and out of place.
I thought the silver working was a cool idea but it lacked the magical realism I was hoping for. Plot wise, it was kind of like “what if electricity was made more widely available earlier in history and also artificially controlled by a small number of people?” In terms of the theoretical framework of the novel I got the translation = exploitation thing. It just felt like it wasn’t used to its full potential as a sort of magic system in the plot.
That brings me to the theory and politics of the novel. I appreciate the author shining a light on the horrors and extractivism of colonisation. European colonisation was and is exactly as she describes- built on capitalist accumulation through racism, enslavement, and destructive extraction. Maybe I am not the right audience for this book as someone who is familiar with decolonial theory. But I felt that there was way too much repetitive rhetoric deployed by both “sides” (colonisers and colonised people) throughout the book. The same conversations happen over and over again which is fine in an academic text but not necessary in a novel. Same with the long University lectures which go on and on for pages at a time without really advancing the plot or telling us anything important about the characters or setting.
Overall, I didn’t love this book. It felt like a thesis or dissertation written as a novel. In a novel I’m interested in enjoying the plot and getting invested in the characters. The plot picked up toward the end, but for most of the book was only really advanced through dialogue and copious amounts of foreshadowing. The characters were intriguing but not fleshed out enough for me to feel invested in
Spoiler
except Ramy…Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, and Colonisation
smalljoys's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide, Slavery, Colonisation, Classism, Death, Toxic friendship, Murder, Torture, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Blood, Alcohol, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Abandonment
tammyanntchou'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: Racism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Blood and Death
m4rtt4's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
5.0
Set in the 1830s' Oxford, on a surface level Babel may seem like any other dark academia book where its main characters major in (ancient) languages, but there's so much more as nothing can ever exist in a vacuum; even the coziest corners of a university library are a reflection of the outer world, and little by little the students find themselves in a secret rebel society to fight against the injustices of the white supremacist British Empire (specifically the Opium Wars in this book).
Heavy content warnings for racism, xenophobia and colonisation, as well as violence and death — even though fictional as a whole, almost every individual element of the story still continues to happen in some way in our modern world, as our societal systems were built on this racist and exploitative history that should not be erased or belittled because we supposedly have "abolished the bad things so and so long ago". Through the character of Letty I was rightfully made uncomfortable about my whiteness; the call-out was a much needed reminder of how there is so much oppression I will never understand or have to experience just because of the way I look.
As much as I loved the plot and the writing, half of the time I was just fangirling over Kuang's expertise in liguistics and the massive amount of research that must have gone into creating a historical setting so realistic and interesting. I have studied 7 languages, and though I can call myself fluent in barely two of them, studying languages and new concepts, whole new worlds behind the words will always be a huge passion of mine. So yeah, I really loved all the educational footnotes, even the lengthy ones that took up half a page and even those with Chinese charactes I had no idea how to read (maybe some day I will).
There was also just the right amount of fantasy for my liking — it did exist, but not by any supernatural means or creatures — it was tied to languages, the every-day magic we all use because no words are ever just words. Here am I as well, trying to create deep meanings with complex sets of characters to convey you a message: Go read Babel, NOW. For your own good.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Violence, Death of parent, Gun violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, War, Slavery, and Misogyny