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Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Classism, Deportation
Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
I also think that oftentimes there were too many repetitions of some concepts, such as the magic and world building, still I think that on those topics the book is utterly amazing and bring forward a charming and shocking portrayal and a clear critique that should definitely be read by everybody as it also brings forward future and present concerns and I am not going to lie, as a translator and expert of latin and Ancient Greek, this book did feel like a love letter to the act of translating and languages, although at times the linguistic reflections could be a bit boring and useless for the plot.
Overall, I think it's a good book albeit not worth the hype around it and that while in spirit it has good intentions, the actual writing of it could have been worked over so much better.
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Sexual harassment, Deportation
I love the way the footnotes are embedded into the story and how they highlight the necessary passages with a poignant and scarcastic undertone.
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Injury/Injury detail
I think my favorite was the fluttering. ᜋᜌ᜔ ᜉᜃ᜔ᜉᜃ᜔ ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜊᜎᜒᜆ. It ends only as it ever could. The audiobook narration is beautiful. The protagonist's voice ages and breaks. Please send birds.
Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, War
Minor: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic
Summary: This book is objectively a solid 3.5/5 star read, but I have promoted it to 4 stars due to my personal bias toward the subject material. I am a person who is enamored with etymology and translation while being drawn to the dark academia genre. I found this to be an interesting spin on the genre and thus have given Ms. Kuang the benefit of the doubt throughout my long journey of reading this book. Below I will lay out what I liked about this and what I thought could have been better.
Pros:
- This is a book for linguistic nerds! And it delivered! I found myself genuinely fascinated by R.F. Kuang's footnotes providing etymological and historical context.
- Along the same note as the above bullet point, I did enjoy how the footnotes provided a sense of dramatic irony (yes, I am pulling out some dormant AP Lit terminology here). Much like plays and musicals add 'asides' to the audience, I overall thought this element was executed effectively.
- I love the characters! I found myself crying and laughing and thinking along with them. I also liked how from the very first chapter, it was clear that our protagonist, Robin, is not supposed to be perfect; and, to me, this characterization remained constant until the end. Victoire was the wisest among them and I am satisfied with her ending (sequel coming?). Ramy added comic relief that every book should have, of course. And Letty—well, I won't spoil anything—I have mixed feelings about (which I assume was the point). I would do a deep dive into every facet of each character but I am simply too lazy to put it here. That will have to stay in my head.
Cons:
- Upon perusing other reviews here, I can agree with the consensus that many parts could have been cut out for the sake of being too repetitive. It did feel like the same point was being drilled into the reader too many times, that by the end, it felt tedious. I also don't feel the thesis of the book is particularly saying anything new...just perhaps a different way of telling it.
- The "magic" system (so to speak) in this book did add an air of complication that would have not existed if this were pure historical fiction. I agree with other reviews here on that front.
- I am a sucker for drama, but somehow I felt the theatrics of the final 1/3 of the book happened too quickly and almost out of nothing. At some point, I was thinking to myself: "Ok, this is a bit corny" (I was reminded to my amusement of that infamous "Watcha Say" skit from SNL, if you know what I mean).
Anyway, this is a long book, so here is a long review. Cheers!
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Grief, Classism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Sexual harassment, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Classism
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic