Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - Babel

Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

741 reviews

lilivdw's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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tinyjude's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

Set in 19th century England, we follow the story of Robin and his cohort (Ramy, Victorie and Letty) in the highly renowed instituion of Bable. Through the lens of these characters we see them grow and suffer the effects of dark academia in all its senses. The way in which grades, work, obsession can hurt physically and mentally the students. The competitive atmosphere... But also, how deeply rooted colonialism is in every aspect of academia.

Thus, the novel explores and discusses topics such as systemic racism, colorism, slavery, colonialism and the ways in which the latter works to increase the power of the Empire. These are characters who have been extracted from their homelands and treated as assets (Robin-Canton, Ramy-Calcutta, Victoire-Haiti; Letty is the only white British woman in their group). They are the language they speak because that is valuable for the Crown, but they are nothing more than devices, another instance of colonizers exploiting colonized people and taking away their languages, culture, etc...

Some reviews complain about timelines (the author stated at the beginning that it was a piece of fiction and some changes were made to accomodate the plot) and the use of anacronisms like "whiteness" as we understand it today, but I like them. After all, this text speaks to a modern audience, us, and even though at that time they didn't have a word for this thing, now that we do, we should use it.

The novel reads in some parts much like an academic paper, as it deals in depth with etymology, linguistics, history, a little bit of literature, philosophy and politics. So, as a language nerd who could recognize from my degree studies and further research, many of the authors, concepts, explanations and dilemmas discussed, I was elated. Like a cat smelling catnip or their favourite treat. Nevertheless, that didn't make it a dense book for me, in fact, it just sparkled my interest in languages even more.

Other people feel like it was a bit too-much-on-your-nose or handholding the reader through the book. They argue that it feels patronizing, as if we wouldn't be able to recognize the problems, the racist comments they receive, without the characters pointing it out. For people well versed in these topics and who have lived through all of these experiences, it's normal to think it was too much. Nonetheless, I think it was still useful, it will be useful for people who are starting to deconstructe themselves. Furthermore, I kind of love how she hammered into every paragraph thousands of critiques, moral dilemmas about justice, rightness, exploitatin, betrayal, belonging, grief, privilege, class, race and gender differences. Because I love angry characters full of spite and vengeful thoughts. As with Rin in The Poppy Wars, I was all in with Robin and the necessity of violence to occur for an Empire or an entire system to fall. And I am also fond of lots of descriptions :D

Moreover, the intricate relationship between translation and betrayal, translation and commodification, translation and colonization, translation and identity... It was exquisite and a very beautiful defense on why preserving every single language in the world is such an important task, as it is not just about the language, but also, culture, history, identity, a whole world behind that cannot be replaced or reconstructed. A richness that must be preserved.

Finally, Victorie, my love. You are so strong and one of my favourite characters. Ramy, you were the best of them all, since your first appearance I knew you would be my favourite. Robin, oh Robin and his constant dilemmas, feeling as if he was living two lives, as if he was never complete. I loved his character development. And Letty... Fuck you!

Spoiler

I knew she wouldn't get it (and I say this being a white person) and I wanted to punch her so bad. She was so disrespecftul, racist, classist, self-centered, selfish, self-victimicizing, arrogant, ignorant... She could have listened, but she didn't want to see the truth because it was ugly and it proved she was part of the problem. She was a coward and a terrible friend. She never loved them as they loved her. She never made the effort to go beyond her prejudices, she never put herself on their shoes. She enraged me so much. AND SHE FUCKING KILLED RAMY IN COLD BLOOD, HER SUPPOSED FRIEND ON WHOM SHE HAD A CRUSH ON, JUST BECAUSE HE REJECTED HER AND IT HURT HER WHITE EGO ???? JAIL TIME, GO TO HELL

And she represents so many white people who turn a blind eye to these kind of situations, because it doesn't affect them, because it is inconvenient, shows the venom in the system, and because it shows their lack of compromise, love, morality and humanity in regards to others. In contrast, that teacher (I think Mrs Craft) at the end proved to be at least decent among the white characters.

Final thought, did anyone else read some intense feelings between Robin and Ramy or was it just me? Romantic or really really platonic that go beyond their friendship in the group, like soulmates kinda.

Spoiler

specially given Robin's reaction and fixation on Ramy's death among all of the Hermes Society's members and his memory of him on that first day before Robin dies, which is so idyllic and queer coded in my opinion

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nialiversuch's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

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cyanochic's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I will be recommending this to all fellow academics. An amazing depiction of the struggle of the ivory tower of academia and working within it vs what it could mean to leave it.

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zirtae's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

4.75

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parxdoxical's review against another edition

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challenging informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Oh god, what to say?

I need to preface this review by stating that I am a language/linguistics student of several years, a study that I have very conflicted feelings about, and my own experiences with the topic definitely inform my opinion of this book. But where to start with Babel?

I like starting off with the things that irk me, so here is an itemized list of things that I did not love about this book:
-> its length/pace; most of what happens on the first 150 pages could have happened in 50 pages and it would not have taken away from the story or its impact whatsoever. The entirety of Robin's time before Oxford feels like one long prologue of which a lot was not necessary. In my opinion that time could have been spent letting us get to know Robin's cohort which brings me to my second point which is that
-> for the fact that Robin's cohort is supposed to be a family and they would all die for each other, the book doesn't do a very good job at showing us their bond. We are told that Ramy is funny and quick-witted but what we see is mainly him being mean, Letty is supposed to be a great friend but all we hear about her is that she doesn't listen to her friends and belittles them at every opportunity. The only person whose friendship with Robin I 100% buy is Victoire's; but that is only because of the last approximately 150 pages. Before that she feels just as distant as the others.
-> the placement of the interlude chapters feels a little random but that is a personal observation.

onto the things I did like!
-> oh the magic system! It took me a while to really understand it but I was proud to have figured it out before it was explained to me by the book. And I love it. I will never not love it. Using that which gets lost in translation to create "magic"? Brilliant. As someone who knows first-hand just how grueling a work translation is, it feels like an acknowledgement of the pain and simultaneous beauty of taking something and trying to approximate it in another language full-well knowing that you will never truly succeed.
-> etymology galore! I've loved historical linguistics ever since I've first learned about it at Uni and I am constantly trying to figure out the etymology of words that I come across and how they might be related to words in my native language. This book felt like a dream come true for my little etymology-loving heart. They were nicely woven into the text (although the footnotes at times made me feel like i was reading an article for a term paper and it made me want to gouge my eyes out) and never took me out of the flow of the story.
-> Griffin. I think I could write entire paragraphs about why I love him and Robin as opposing characters but I will keep it short and simple and stick to Griffin Harley/Lovell, my beloved. I loved Griffin throughout the entire book: he was brash, he rubbed me the wrong way, he was secretive, he wouldn't take no for an answer; he was trying his hardest to make me dislike him. And I was almost about to follow Robin's lead when Robin himself makes the observation that Griffin simply misses being a student (but is bitter about it at the same time). And how could I not love this man? Academia (not only Babel's Oxford but academia in any time and place) is not for everyone; and it will let you know if you're not that someone. It has the unique potential to chew you up, spit you out and still have you coming back for more. (Is this a potentially dramatic view of academia? Probably. But it is my experience with it and - more importantly - it is Babel's view of it.) Robin's rose-tinted glasses of his time at Babel before Canton is exactly what I felt when I started my studies. Griffin's resignation and frustration with a system that relies on elbows to get through and favours those who fit a mold is very much what I can understand now after 6 years in academia.
-> last but definitely not least: this book was not afraid and that is what ultimately sold me. It broached the topics it needed and saw as important, it hit you in the face with your own internalised biases and challenged you to actually face them, it was not scared to kill characters for the sake of realism, character growth and plot which I admire and it wrote in a way that felt brutally honest in the most poetic way.

Spoiler

One last thing I am torn on is the matter of Letty: Letty is the quota white friend. She is all of us (white readers) trying to relate to a cause that doesn't touch us because we've had the insane privilege of growing up with the right skin colour. And while at times I couldn't understand why she had to be as unlikable as she was, after her interlude chapter, I understood her reasonings a lot better.
Personally, I think, what made her so frustrated with her friends was their inability to see her struggles. They only saw her as a rich white English girl which in their eyes seemed to equate privilege and an easy life. That her life had been anything but easy is conveniently overlooked because sometimes we all like to get lost in the fact that our personal struggles are worse. I think she simply missed having someone who could relate to her as well. Ramy, Robin and Victoire could relate to each other because they were "different". But while Victoire could have related to her struggles as a woman, intersectionality makes that hard because Victoire is not just a woman: she's a black woman, while Letty is white. And I think she never realised just how big of a difference that makes.
I'm not saying her betrayal was the right thing but I do understand her "doused in cold water"-moment when Griffin starts talking of violence and she realises that Hermes and the entire revolution is much bigger than she had thought because in the end she had done what her friends had done: focus on herself and ignore their struggles.

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