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Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Classism, Deportation
Minor: Bullying, Rape, Police brutality, Car accident, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Hate crime, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Vomit, Car accident, Sexual harassment, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Infidelity, Deportation
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Drug use, Genocide, Infidelity, Misogyny, Slavery, Blood, Islamophobia, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic
I fell in love with the 4 main characters (yes even that one). It was such a journey to see all of the ways they connected and differed and how it ultimately comes together.
My only issue, which is really quite small, is that sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm reading from the perspective of the characters and more like I'm reading the authors' thoughts instead. For example "For a country that profited so well from trading in spices, it's citizens were violently averse to actually using them." Which read as a joke I had sworn I'd seen on Tumblr but with more casual language. This happens a fair few times throughout the book and causes some characters to be talking encyclopedias. They remember exact dates and names of every relevant fact and correction. And while it makes sense, since they are scholars, it doesn't quite read like that. It doesn't quite carry their individual voices as well as I'd hoped. Again, very minor problems.
At risk of any spoilers, I will stop her, but just know that this book was just on the cusp of a perfect 5 Stars! It moved me to tears and everything came to a mostly satisfying conclusion! Highly recommend to just about everyone!
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation
Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Torture, Toxic friendship, War
Minor: Addiction, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Death of parent
Minor: Deportation
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol
I kept thinking... Joanne could NEVER.
Also, side note: We all know a Letty. We should all shun our Lettys.
A few favorite quotes:
"Colonialism is not a machine capable of thinking; a body endowed with reason. it is naked violence and only gives in when confronted with greater violence."
"Empire needed extraction. Violence shocked the system because the system cannot cannibalize itself and survive. The hands of the Empire were tied because it could not raise that from which it profited. And like those sugar fields, like those markets, like those bodies of unwilling labor, Babel was an asset."
"Strikers in this country never won broad public support. For the public merely wanted all of the conveniences of modern life without the guilt of knowing how those conveniences were procured."
"Violence was the only thing that brought the colonizer to the table."
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Grief, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Classism
“Betrayal. Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes. So then where does that leave us? How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?”
➽ I finally read Babel and it was so worth it! I feel like I found the right time to tackle this Dark Academia book and I really enjoyed buddy reading it with DB! Babel is about Robin Swift, a young Chinese boy who was taken from his homeland by a British scholar and induced into the translation institute Babel. Together with his new friends Rami, Victoire and Letty, he's discovering both the highs and lows of being Babel students. This is a book that definitely deserved the hype and I don't even know where to start talking about it!
➽ I loved that this was a dark academia book that discussed elitism and colonialism! The story is set in a slightly altered version of 1828 where there is a translation institute at Oxford. It needs students from 'foreign lands' such as China or India for their native language skills. Robin is one of the kids taken from his hometown for such a purpose and is the only survivor of a deadly plague. I love that the world has slight Fantasy elements as well, as the translators use something called silverwork to influence their surroundings. It works by combining two specific words in different languages that warp reality and are inscribed into silver bars. These mostly benefit the wealthy elite, who use them to make their lives more convenient. Babel is always in need of people from all over the world to keep up with the silverwork, but still sees them as tools. Rami, Victoire and Robin are all people of color and while they belong to Babel, they aren't exempt from the daily racist microaggressions.
➽ The author does a great job exploring Babel's hypocrisy. They let in people like Robin, but expect them to assimilate to make the white elite feel comfortable and only use their heritage for their gain. Professor Lovell is a great example, as he saved Robin because he was useful but condemned everyone else who was also sick. To him and many others, Robin is a useful tool but not an actual person. He's supposed to support an empire that seeks to control and colonize his homeland. That's why he gets drawn into a resistance called the Hermes Society that seeks to undermine and use Babel's resources.
➽ I loved the sense of foreshadowing in this book! From the beginning, we get hints that Robin's new friend group will fall apart and that tragedy is on the horizon. Everyone was so well-written! I really liked Victoire and how she faces the intersection of race and gender, as she's a black woman in a male-dominated, white academic setting. Then there's Letty who you can't help but hate for her dismissive attitude toward her own privilege. She's the only white person in their group and can't understand that her friends face very different challenges. Sadly, her character is only all too realistic and shows how many white women cling to the status quo because they still profit from it somewhat.
➽ I think the pacing was a bit off, but the story was truly explosive in the end! The first half of the book spans several years of Babel education and I would have loved to see Robin's academic journey in more detail. It's sad that the author made so many time skips as it made it difficult to get invested sometimes. Nevertheless, the second part of the story was unputdownable and truly showed the cost of revolution!
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Slavery