Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

346 reviews

challenging dark informative reflective 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

......and we never got to know his real name :")

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You don't know how good you have it in book form. Babel's intended message is clear and leaves little room for other interpretations, which is necessary for some. It's a story that I believe needed to be from Robin's perspective. He's a mixed race boy who was born solely for his white father to further the agenda of colonialism under the guise that he's being afford the chance to be great. He and his friends are constantly thinking about how "lucky" they are and at some point the reality of their situation and what people like Lovell (HATE HIM) were doing to their people was bound to boil over. And the sides the foursome chose make perfect sense.

There are things I would've liked to see though and they're the reasons for my rating. More moments of the blooming friendship, because it felt like we were just getting brief overviews. A little brevity here and there. A chapter or a few lines about what the outcome waa to Babel falling. Overall just little things here and there that would have made the story a little more enjoyable.

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

A tremendously powerful and beautifully written book about the struggles of inequality, the crushing might of colonialism and the violent, all consuming nature of capitalism. All mixed together in an alternate history, magically laced story about academia and language.

I cannot express how much I enjoyed reading this book, and how strongly I felt for all of its characters.

The only fault I can think of is that this’ll make so many future reads pale in comparison to Babel.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i had a whole essay i was gonna type up in my notes app about the themes and the character parallels and how much i fucking hate letty (bc i rlly do hate that stupid white bitch), but the last page of robin’s story gutted me. victoire’s ending gave me some hope, but his gutted me.

idek what to say. I’ve watched him grow up since page one, and now…i want to hold ramy and robin and victoire so tight, i love them so much. they deserved so much better. 

will be thinking about this one for a while.

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

one of the best books ill read all year for sure, i dont do long reviews ever but DAYUM was this a good book

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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: Complicated

The first half of Babel is basically perfect. The characters are for the most part lovable, the plot is extremely compelling, the magic system - built upon a pair of words that translate one another, but not perfectly so - is incredible. As someone interested in languages, this was right up my alley, and by god did I eat it up.

The second half is also good, but it does feel like a different book. The "moral dilemma" feels very black and white, actually, because the book tells you exactly who is right and who is wrong. Obviously colonization was terrible and horrifying and wrong, but maybe there was more to say on the matter?

I liked Babel, a lot. I recommended it to everyone I talked to, the whole time I was reading it. But ultimately I think I fundamentally disagree with the book's thesis*. It just wasn't written for me, and that's okay, I still enjoyed it immensely.

*the book's thesis being that violence is necessary, not the fact that colonization is bad, OBVIOUSLY.

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adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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