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A review by asareads
Babel by R.F. Kuang
5.0
Babel or the necessity of violence is probably the best book I’ve read this year and I do not exaggerate as I say this.
As a person who has spoken and dreamed and thought in multiple languages since forever I’d honestly say that I’m not even close to the fluency that the characters held in their languages. And that to me was so astonishing and mind blowing that there’s always more to learn even in languages you think you’ve mastered.
From the description of the book and the overall themes you can tell that there will be conversations of belonging, languages and their origins, racism, displacement,white supremacy and privilege in academia and mostly colonialism. The amount of research that Rf Kuang had to have done to make it feel seamless and perfect seems Insane to me and shows how well of a writer she truly is. This book was what dark academia is supposed to be but hasn’t been. The genre is supposed to criticise the elitism in academia namely white supremacy and yet the genre is spearheaded by white characters with no characters of colour in sight. It is also dominated by white authors… ironic.
Robin swift is taken from canton china and brought to London where he trains in multiple languages in order to one day attend babel. With this there’s almost an illusion of what Oxford will be that is formed. To him it’s all he’s been working towards since he came to Britain. The illusion is shattered when he realises how big of a hand the institution has in colonialism and how unwelcome he is there because of his background. He can either ignore the fact that the institution is a big hand in the British empire or he can slowly help rip it apart from the inside out.
He finds a sort of happiness and comfort in his cohort who are feeling as displaced and unwelcome as he is. Their friendship genuinely warmed my heart.
Anyways… all I can say is the pain I felt for the characters was immense. The love I had for them was the same. I don’t think there’s any book this woman writes that I wouldn’t love and I can say that wholeheartedly.
My favourite quotes were probably these and more than I can fit here. (Obviously spoilers)
“We must die in order to get their pity. We must die In order for them to find us noble”
“And in the end, the answer had been so obvious – to simply refuse to participate. To remove their labour – and the fruits of their labour – permanently from the offering.”
“As the windows smashed in, Robin shut his eyes and imagined his mother’s face.
She smiles. She says his name.”
As a person who has spoken and dreamed and thought in multiple languages since forever I’d honestly say that I’m not even close to the fluency that the characters held in their languages. And that to me was so astonishing and mind blowing that there’s always more to learn even in languages you think you’ve mastered.
From the description of the book and the overall themes you can tell that there will be conversations of belonging, languages and their origins, racism, displacement,white supremacy and privilege in academia and mostly colonialism. The amount of research that Rf Kuang had to have done to make it feel seamless and perfect seems Insane to me and shows how well of a writer she truly is. This book was what dark academia is supposed to be but hasn’t been. The genre is supposed to criticise the elitism in academia namely white supremacy and yet the genre is spearheaded by white characters with no characters of colour in sight. It is also dominated by white authors… ironic.
Robin swift is taken from canton china and brought to London where he trains in multiple languages in order to one day attend babel. With this there’s almost an illusion of what Oxford will be that is formed. To him it’s all he’s been working towards since he came to Britain. The illusion is shattered when he realises how big of a hand the institution has in colonialism and how unwelcome he is there because of his background. He can either ignore the fact that the institution is a big hand in the British empire or he can slowly help rip it apart from the inside out.
He finds a sort of happiness and comfort in his cohort who are feeling as displaced and unwelcome as he is. Their friendship genuinely warmed my heart.
Anyways… all I can say is the pain I felt for the characters was immense. The love I had for them was the same. I don’t think there’s any book this woman writes that I wouldn’t love and I can say that wholeheartedly.
My favourite quotes were probably these and more than I can fit here. (Obviously spoilers)
“We must die in order to get their pity. We must die In order for them to find us noble”
“And in the end, the answer had been so obvious – to simply refuse to participate. To remove their labour – and the fruits of their labour – permanently from the offering.”
“As the windows smashed in, Robin shut his eyes and imagined his mother’s face.
She smiles. She says his name.”