Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - Babel

⭐ 5/5

📙 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.

Content Warnings

sopherdopher's review

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dark hopeful informative medium-paced

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

Content Warnings

hflh's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

So good, but some disappointments.

Reasons not to pick up:

This reads like a detached historical account of events that happen over 4 years, honed in on the perspective of Robin. If you want to spend a lot of time seeing vs. being told about character development and relationships, this won’t be it. Kuang also leans hard into the language nerd and school aspect so you might not enjoy if you’re not here for class lectures and lots of tangents on the meaning of language. Also lots of footnotes that provide historical and narrative context if you tend to not like that. Feels a bit pretentious at times.

What’s great:

If you are a nerd for language and breaking down the meaning of words, this will be really exciting. Kuang does the academia setting so well. The footnotes are great - providing very dry, meta commentary from the narrator that was often very funny. The characters are great. And the magic system is very very cool (but soft if you don’t like that).

There are lots of strong and very relevant critiques surrounding colonization, including ideas on translation as a colonial tool and whether you can fight the system from within. However, I was a bit surprised some of these ideas weren’t explored in more depth. The book primarily makes a few high-level points repetitively and can lack subtlety. But, it's still great sitting with the characters and being angry with them about everything unjust and wanting to take action.

What might disappoint:

The pacing is very uneven. I found the beginning incredibly boring, but it picked up for me once Robin went to school. The middle is slower which I didn’t mind. Then the end is breakneck fast which was amazing but it felt like it escalated way too quickly. I would have liked more time developing things leading up to the climax.

There isn’t much time with the main characters outside Robin which costs later when you have to trust the narrator/character dialogue to tell you about the key character traits that are behind conflicts and motivations.

Most of these disappointments I didn’t mind too much but my gosh was the heavy-handed foreshadowing so annoying. Not even just obvious offhand foreshadowing - like if I ever hear some variation of “Everything was great…They had no idea it was all going to fall apart.” one more time…. !!!

Major TW:
The content of this book is very heavy and very real. Some more specific TW than what the SG feature has:

Spoiler

Literally anything you'd expect related to racism - microaggressions, macroagressions including physical violence and stereotypes, white fragility and ignorance, tokenism. Anything you'd expect with colonization, cultural appropriation, and capitalism - exploitation, paternalism, active and sinister efforts to exert force and control, awful treatment of the working class, neglect of those impoverished. Some other things related to growing up as a marginalized immigrant in a white supremacist society - grief over loss of language and culture, complicated desire to fit in. Also just exhaustion, hurt, anger, etc. from living in a horrible system that is so hard to change.

Content Warnings

saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

RTC

When people ask me what my favorite books are this is going to be one of my answers

Content Warnings

talonsontypewriters's review

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challenging dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

sarrie's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

TL;DR: A good book, great even. But not perfect or subtle in the least.

Plot: Filled with anger and a message to convey, the plot is driven primarily for that and only that.
Characters: A little flat and one note. We get brief beautiful glimpses of who they are meant to be but that's ultimately lost to the plot and it's messages.
Setting: The setting is rich, Oxford is the biggest character in this story.
Magic: Very low magic. We have an explanation as to why and how the magic works but not much of one.

There is so much that has been said about Babel it's feels a little needless to say more - but here we go. Babel is the story of Robin Swift as he's lifted from his home in China by his 'guardian' and raised to be sent to Babel, the premiere translation institute in Britain that allows the country to have seemingly almost complete control of the world.

My thoughts are a little mixed on this. I think it's a solid book, by no means perfect. The first half is engaging in a day by day of Robin and his cohort's work in Oxford. Slowly Robin starts to see the cracks and flaws of the university. The destruction of languages, the slow conquest that Britain is enacting across the globe and you see how easy it seems for him to turn a blind eye even as his own homeland is targeted. Then on the half way mark the book takes a sharp turn, moving into a revolution, a revolt. Things speed up and the world crumbles around Robin.

This book is angry, and it is vocal in it's message. There is little subtlety here, and while I whole-heartedly agree with the core messages Kuang is sharing, I wish there had been more subtlety. We are told the message, over and over to the determinant of our characters and world building. Characters that are set up to be engaging and nuanced fall flat and eventually even are killed off in some cases as the plot drives towards it's ultimate grim conclusion. That ending is also another big problem I had with the book, in that I think death is the ultimate loss. A conversation is had in the book about martyrdom, about sacrificing yourself and how it isn't the answer but in the end the book contradicts that.

Overall it's a book I enjoyed, and I'll definitely continue to read Kuang's work. I think she has a lot of skill and talent and she has amazing space to grow. This wasn't perfect, but it was very good. If it seems like something you're interested in and you are one of the five other people besides myself who hasn't read this, it's worth reading!

4 out of 5 silver bars

Content Warnings

abby_bookworm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

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