A review by parxdoxical
Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang
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.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Death, Racism, and Suicide
Moderate: Drug use and Misogyny
Minor: Colonisation and War