Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

160 reviews

eneko's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship

Minor: Racial slurs, Self harm, Islamophobia, Abandonment

smaller_fries's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Homophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Deportation

sashajwolf's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad 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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This is a jewel of a book, so well crafted that you don't even realise it until it sneaks up on you and floors you with a single well timed and perfectly executed blow. 

Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the history of empire and decolonisation, philosophy, linguistics and/or translation. It's also extremely evocative of Oxbridge academia, but if you aren't prepared to see that atmosphere problematised... well, it's all the more important that you read this, but approach with the caution you'd show an unexploded bomb.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Classism

Minor: Confinement, Gun violence, Infidelity, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation

moonbasket's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book was extremely good. I found the overall exploration of language and the exploitation of British colonialism extremely well done within the context of the novel. It was also extremely well researched and the footnotes made it feel like a non-fiction book in a way that really fit the theme.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Colonisation, Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Slavery, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic

Child abuse is in chapter 2 and not telegraphed. The blood and violence is pretty well telegraphed by the narrative. The racism is part and parcel for the time period, but still upsetting.

aidamaria_reads's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This is a literary middle finger to colonialism, capitalism, racism, classism, sexism and all the other -isms, basically. I admire the way the author came up with the magic system (as a former translation student, it was truly amazing) and how it plays into the historical setting. The writing was wonderful. I wonder how long we’ve got until some government(s) bans this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Classism

alicatreadsstuff's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring tense slow-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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War

crusoe's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Can't give this the full 5 stars because I could not connect well to the characters but in every other regard I adore this book! From the slow world-building to a fantastic climactic end; everything lines up. Every character has their own motivations, even the sidecharacters and that breathes real life into the story. It feels like there is much under the surface that can be revealed at a second read. 

As someone who was once ensnared in the claws of academia, the way this story weaves theory with history and critique of the institution was quite nice. 

Can't wait to read more in the dark academia subgenre of 'WTF RICHARD?!'

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Alcohol

ellanarose's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Classism, Deportation

maresuju's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Xenophobia, Murder, War

Minor: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Death of parent

carla20's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional informative sad slow-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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Colonisation, War, Classism