slinders'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: War, Classism, Colonisation, Murder, Xenophobia, Death, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Racial slurs, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Deportation, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Genocide, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Torture, and Abandonment
bookedandbusy's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.5
Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Addiction, Classism, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Excrement
elenaluisa'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Colonisation, Classism, Deportation, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Gaslighting, Violence, Racism, Misogyny, Bullying, Classism, Death, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Xenophobia
sarahofstories'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: Suicidal thoughts, Cultural appropriation, Suicide, Xenophobia, Racism, Sexism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Trafficking, Violence, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, War, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, Slavery, Child abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Pandemic/Epidemic
spineofthesaurus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Blood, Colonisation, Violence, Xenophobia, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, War, Body horror, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Torture, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Deportation, Islamophobia, Medical content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Ableism, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Sexism, and Trafficking
Minor: Excrement, Infidelity, Car accident, Alcoholism, and Addiction
anastashamarie'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? Yes
5.0
📙 This review is going to be a doozy. I have a lot of thoughts after this one. As literary fiction exploring the ugly sides of British colonialism and academia, this work is a masterpiece; it's a well-done character study of the pressures and pain of marginalized populations trying to fit into a world that doesn't feel like it wants them. As a work of speculative fantasy (or as a fantasy novel in general), from a storytelling perspective, I have some complaints. But, the method isn't the point and never was, so I've decided that a 5-star review is probably most accurate when I consider this work for what it was meant to be, rather than what I wanted it to be.
📗 I feel like I should start by saying: This is not the story to read if you are trying to escape from the harsh realities of our world. It throws them at you repeatedly, in both subtle and undeniable ways. As a white woman in academia, I'm going to be honest and say this was at times profoundly uncomfortable to read...which is exactly what it was meant to be. To again go with honesty, there were times that the thought crossed my mind that I didn't need to finish this, that I didn't have to spend my weekend feeling angry on behalf of fictional people living these real life injustices. And that's a privilege that needs acknowledged, for there are so many people who can't just "turn off the audiobook" so to speak, not when these stories so closely mirror their daily experience.
📕 R.F. Kuang does an excellent job of keeping the reader engaged despite this discomfort, which is a feat of its own, but is also a terrible contradiction when considering that the overarching moral of this story is to encourage listening to understand, not to respond. Much the same as even writing a review to try to convey my experience also feels antithetical, as this is not a book designed to entertain, but a book to convey emotion and an experience. Yet I still found myself oscillating between being disappointed in the story structure while being blown away by the rhetoric throughout most of the book. So take where's hereafter for what you will; it's far less important than the rest that I've already said.
📘 Do I think this book was unnecessarily long and at times heavy handed? Yes. Do I wish it had a more satisfying conclusion that actually answered the titles promise to explore the necessity of violence? Also yes. But I also feel like it delivers incredibly well in the way that it conveys its broader themes and morals. Let me explain.
For a book about the power of words, this delivers in it's precise use of them to convey it's point and I think, for the most part, does so most successfully at the micro level. I understood fully why the characters did or did not find necessity in violence themselves, how their tragedies unfolded, and why hope may have still remained despite it all. But I think where we're left to struggle is to see if violence was actually something that made a difference on the macro level. For writing that hammered points over the reader's head at times, there is no actual discussion of whether the broad end justifies the means, because we don't actually see a macro level end in the books, just a micro level end for the characters. Maybe that's the point; maybe the purpose is just that we're if we truly listen to characters who never felt heard and that the story HAS to end with them. The existentialist part of me loves the idea that individual meaning trumps the universal experience. The collectivist part kind of hates the idea that only we alone matter in the end. Regardless, especially as a fantasy reader, the loose ends are tough for me.
Now, I don't mind ambiguity in a book in general. In fact, I think particularly in books that dive into social issues, nuance is crucial for understanding. This book approaches that nuance incredibly holistically in that it is very precisely, clearly delivered. I think this in part comes from the author's academic career and in part to convey the underlying need to be precise and clear in an attempt to be understood. I just wish the author would have either backed off this directness throughout OR carried it through all the way to the end. Make the point, however unpalatable, or leave it up to the reader to infer entirely. (But I again feel like I should acknowledge that may be easier said than done.)
📚 In the end, I can only truly speak to my experience of this work, as it exists through my own biases and experiences. I hope that honors Kuang's intentions with this story, and I hope that others take the time to read her words. There are so many layers here that I'm sure I'll be unfurling for a while to come.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, War, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Violence, Islamophobia, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Suicide, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Torture, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Misogyny
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Genocide, Alcohol, Trafficking, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Drug abuse, and Kidnapping
visorforavisor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Set in an almost-fantasy 1830s and 1840s England, Babel follows Robin Swift, a Chinese-English student of languages in the prestigious “Babel”, Royal Institute of Translation in Oxford. The world in this reality runs on magical silver bars, which operate by capturing the meaning “lost in translation” between pairs of words, because nothing can truly be translated accurately. Robin learns here alongside three classmates: Ramy Mirza (a Muslim from Kolkata), Victoire Desgraves (a Haitian-French girl), and Letty Price (an English aristocrat). All are prized for their knowledge of languages, which are needed to make the silver bars work.
Babel delves into the part that languages and translation play in colonialism. European language match-pairs are far more well-known, meaning that Robin, Ramy, and Victoire in particular are useful because their knowledge of Mandarain and Cantonese (Robin), Urdu, Arabic, and Persian (Ramy), and Haitian Kreyòl (Victoire), as these are resources not yet plundered. This mirrors English (and other) colonialism deiciding to take other cultures’ resources when their own do not provide the monopoly they want. If a business owner can get an Urdu / English match-pair from Ramy, and not tell anyone about it, it’s infinitely more useful than a German / English one (which would also contain less “lost in translation” meaning, due to the languages being far more closely related).
Kuang doesn’t let her reader forget for a single minute that Robin, Ramy, and Victoire have been uprooted from their natural homes and put into England to facilitate the further exploitation of their countries and peoples. She efficiently footnotes just about everything, reminding her reader that while this may be a fantasy it’s not too far from the reality of England in this time.
White womanhood and the overlap of oppression and privilege that comes with it is explored deeply with Letty, who more or less personifies the saying that “White women are oppressed enough to pretend they’re not privileged and privileged enough to utilise their oppression”. The fact that Letty’s experience with misogyny will never, ever equate to the racism faced by her friends of colour is something we are not allowed to forget.
White readers (like myself), I recommend you read. It’s a rough read, but that’s probably a good sign. If we didn’t feel uncomfortable reading it, I don’t think we’d be acknowledging the damage we cause properly.
Babel’s subtitle, “The Necessity of Violence”, really comes into play in the latter part of the book. True change will never come from working with those who stand to benefit from the status quo, and what Robin and his friends attempt wouldn’t have worked if they’d tried to just talk with those running the empire. Kuang lets you think for a second that it could, then slashes down that fantasy with brilliant precision.
I’m sure there are people who can analyse the racial aspects of this story far better than I can, so I’m going to leave my review here, but this is one of the best books I’ve ever read and I’d encourage everybody to read it. Kuang is brilliant.
Graphic: Gaslighting, Colonisation, Death, Violence, Racism, Murder, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Drug abuse, War, Torture, and Hate crime
giulianalb99'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? It's complicated
3.5
El mensaje que quiere transmitir la autora con este libro sí que me ha parecido súper bueno, además que en el libro ves cómo los personajes son tratados y estereotipados por sus razas/colores de piel, así como una misoginia tremenda hacia las mujeres que, por desgracia, aún sigue pasando. Los personajes me han encantado, sobretodo Victoire y Ramy, y me encanta cómo la autora ha plasmado a Letty para representar lo que una persona blanca nunca podría llegar a entender (la razón por la cual llevaron a cabo el desmantelamiento de los planes que tenían entre manos los profesores de Babel con respecto a China) básicamente porque nunca ha tenido que pasar por racismo.
Aunque yo tenía otras expectativas, no es un libro para nada malo, pero ha habido veces que se me ha hecho insufrible, y no es hasta más de la mitad del libro que empiezan a pasar cosas interesantes. Lo del tema de la traducción me ha parecido bastante interesante, eso sí. A eso me refiero a lo de mi relación toxica, porque me parece un libro súper pesado pero que está increíblemente escrito.
Por supuesto, leeré más libros de R. F. Kuang. La verdad sea dicha: ella es increíble.
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The toxic relationship I have with this book is inexplicable. I bought it because of all the hype it had and from the synopsis it seemed like a pretty interesting book. It took me a while to get to it because I had other books on my tbr, but after a few months, I was finally able to read it. The truth is that the author writes incredibly well, her pen is amazing. I know perfectly well that it is a historical fiction book but I had been told that it was a a dark academia with a lot of magic (Harry Potter-ish vibes) but it wasn’t like that at all. On some occasions it even seemed like I was reading my high school history book and the truth is that that disappointed me a bit, since magic appears much less than I thought and honestly, there’s information that could have been omitted from the book (because, in my opinion, it had more pages than needed) and it could’ve been much shorter.
The message that the author wants to transmit with this book is incredible, in addition to the fact that in the book you see how the characters are treated and stereotyped because of their race/skin color, as well as a tremendous misogyny towards women which unfortunately it's still happening. I loved almost all the characters, especially Victoire and Ramy, and I love how the author wrote Letty to represent what a white person could never understand (the reason why they carried out the dismantling of the plans of the Babel professors regarding China) basically because they’ve never had to go through racism.
Although I had other expectations, it's not a bad book at all, but there were times when I found it insufferable, and it's not until more than halfway through the book that interesting things start to happen. However, all the translation stuff was quite interesting to me. That's what I mean about my toxic relationship with it, because it’s such a dense book but it's incredibly written.
Of course, I will read more books by R. F. Kuang. Truth be told: she is amazing.
Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Torture, War, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Cultural appropriation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Suicide, Violence, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Alcohol and Suicide attempt
Minor: Drug use
notthatcosta'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? No
3.25
However, the middle section loses a lot of steam for me and ended up spending far too long hovering over tired literary tropes before kicking back into gear for the ending, which was saved by an excellent epilogue. What took me out of the book was how it sometimes directly placed itself within the 1800s in every sense and other times featured dialogue that felt like contemporary Twitter discourse about colonialism.
Tonally the book was confusing, the motivations for the characters were sometimes unclear, but it is the masterful use of the discipline of translation that keeps the book grounded in intricacy and care.
Graphic: Abandonment, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Sexual assault, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence
abby_bookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Racism, Violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Death, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Blood, and Child abuse
Minor: Addiction