A review by kara4
Babel, by R.F. Kuang

5.0

I really enjoyed this book as I have a lot of interest in reading/learning to read/language. The etymology piece of this was fascinating, and the overall theme of language/translation and lost meaning focus reminded me of what I read someone say once-all written history we have is because someone chose what is to be remembered. We don’t have a recording of all of history, so there is bias based on what other people have chosen to remember or conserve. It was interesting how the author gave actual examples of words/translations and their etymology, so I learned along the way (bonus!). This is such a well done book with a story wrapped around big themes such as language translation tied to discrimination, actual discrimination for women and minorities, capitalism and social justice.