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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
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
Wow! I'm terrible at writing. I'm not going to write a book review for such an amazing book!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
My expectations were set so high for this; I really wanted it to be another five-star favorite of mine from R.F Kaung, and while I did love most of this book, it just didn't hit that perfect mark for me.
In Babel, we follow Robin who, after the death of his sick mother, is carted away from his home in Canton by a professor to study at Oxford for translation. Robin must learn multiple different languages to prepare for his studies at Babel- Oxford University's Institute of Translation. Robin is awed by Oxford, but soon becomes disenchanted with his scholarship and studies as he learns to truth about London's silver-trade- enchanted silver bars which use the power of translation to power them for many different purposes.
I absolutely loved the language aspects of this book (it is quite literally the main theme of the book.) The philosophizing on language and linguistics had me enamored. I'm an aspiring polyglot (only on two languages now), and am obsessed with language, it's inner-workings, translations, and all the like, so the overall premise of this book really worked for me. I tabbed whole pages in this book that just truly spoke to me. Linguistics tied in perfectly with the themes on colonialism, classism, sexism, and racism also present in Babel. Like silver-working, our real world truly does run on language and all it's meanings. All of these themes concluded well in the suspenseful and climatic ending. While it was sad, and a bit disturbing, it was also realistic. One of my particular favorite parts of this book (aside from the linguistics) was the inner-workings of the Babel translators friend group. It was heartbreaking, developed nicely, and was deeply relatable for those who are marginalized and have friends who might not understand them.
While all of these aspects of the book were quite profound (at least to me. I did see many say that they found the themes to be quite rudimentary for their liking), I couldn't fully connect to it. At certain points, the book made me feel like I was in an Oxford lecture hall, which I did not want to be in. It could feel quite boing, over-explanatory, and info-dumpy when a new concept or theme was introduced. The silver-working concept, while useful to present the themes in the book, confused me at times, and I wish that part of the world developed a bit more. I also felt as though the plot developed much too fast for my liking, with whole years passing in only a few pages at a time. While I understand these narrative choices, I wish we had more development with the plot and/or characters during this time instead of it being glossed over.
Babel is an extremely thought-provoking and insightful book that I loved, but also wish I got more from.
In Babel, we follow Robin who, after the death of his sick mother, is carted away from his home in Canton by a professor to study at Oxford for translation. Robin must learn multiple different languages to prepare for his studies at Babel- Oxford University's Institute of Translation. Robin is awed by Oxford, but soon becomes disenchanted with his scholarship and studies as he learns to truth about London's silver-trade- enchanted silver bars which use the power of translation to power them for many different purposes.
I absolutely loved the language aspects of this book (it is quite literally the main theme of the book.) The philosophizing on language and linguistics had me enamored. I'm an aspiring polyglot (only on two languages now), and am obsessed with language, it's inner-workings, translations, and all the like, so the overall premise of this book really worked for me. I tabbed whole pages in this book that just truly spoke to me. Linguistics tied in perfectly with the themes on colonialism, classism, sexism, and racism also present in Babel. Like silver-working, our real world truly does run on language and all it's meanings. All of these themes concluded well in the suspenseful and climatic ending. While it was sad, and a bit disturbing, it was also realistic. One of my particular favorite parts of this book (aside from the linguistics) was the inner-workings of the Babel translators friend group. It was heartbreaking, developed nicely, and was deeply relatable for those who are marginalized and have friends who might not understand them.
While all of these aspects of the book were quite profound (at least to me. I did see many say that they found the themes to be quite rudimentary for their liking), I couldn't fully connect to it. At certain points, the book made me feel like I was in an Oxford lecture hall, which I did not want to be in. It could feel quite boing, over-explanatory, and info-dumpy when a new concept or theme was introduced. The silver-working concept, while useful to present the themes in the book, confused me at times, and I wish that part of the world developed a bit more. I also felt as though the plot developed much too fast for my liking, with whole years passing in only a few pages at a time. While I understand these narrative choices, I wish we had more development with the plot and/or characters during this time instead of it being glossed over.
Babel is an extremely thought-provoking and insightful book that I loved, but also wish I got more from.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
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:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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:
Complicated
Babel berbicara tentang ambisi menaklukkan dunia dengan kata dan bahasa. Apa jadinya jika ambisi itu berkuasa dan sedemikian mendominasi sehingga orang-orang “jajahannya” justru merasa “nyaman”?
Saya iri pada Robin Swift. Diadopsi dari negara yang “penyakitan” dan “berantakan”, dipelihara di rumah yang selalu menyediakan makanan enak dan hangat, tugasnya cuma belajar dan baca buku. Saya juga mau kalau itu. Tapi sesuatu yang nikmat dan nyaman ini menyimpan hal-hal yang lebih gelap, bahwa selamanya Robin Swift tetap warga kelas 2 gegara warna kulit dan ukuran matanya. Ia diadopsi, dipelihara dan diedukasi dengan “nyaman” supaya praktik kolonialisme tetap berjalan dan proses menaklukkan dunia tetap berlangsung.
Satu bintang saya drop karena saya berharap di kisah fiksi semacam ini, orang-orang seperti Robin Swift bisa “menang” meski hanya kemenangan kecil. Kenyataannya tak begitu. Kuang tidak mau repot-repot memberi akhir yang membahagiakan karena mungkin tak terdengar riil. Tapi bukankah, kita membaca fiksi untuk melarikan diri dari yang riil?
Saya iri pada Robin Swift. Diadopsi dari negara yang “penyakitan” dan “berantakan”, dipelihara di rumah yang selalu menyediakan makanan enak dan hangat, tugasnya cuma belajar dan baca buku. Saya juga mau kalau itu. Tapi sesuatu yang nikmat dan nyaman ini menyimpan hal-hal yang lebih gelap, bahwa selamanya Robin Swift tetap warga kelas 2 gegara warna kulit dan ukuran matanya. Ia diadopsi, dipelihara dan diedukasi dengan “nyaman” supaya praktik kolonialisme tetap berjalan dan proses menaklukkan dunia tetap berlangsung.
Satu bintang saya drop karena saya berharap di kisah fiksi semacam ini, orang-orang seperti Robin Swift bisa “menang” meski hanya kemenangan kecil. Kenyataannya tak begitu. Kuang tidak mau repot-repot memberi akhir yang membahagiakan karena mungkin tak terdengar riil. Tapi bukankah, kita membaca fiksi untuk melarikan diri dari yang riil?
dark
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
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:
No
gue masih kebayang suasananya😞😞 we love dark academia books🫶, my first wtf richard books btw🙂↕️🙂↕️🙂↕️
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Entiendo el revuelo con esta novela, por qué gusta tanto, pero no ha sido mi caso. Me ha flipado la ambientación, los personajes me han gustado bastante y el mensaje que transmite es importantísimo; sin embargo, y esto es algo totalmente subjetivo, a mí me ha fallado la narración.
Es la segunda vez que intento leer Babel y, si no hubiera sido por el audiolibro, es muy probable que lo hubiera vuelto a abandonar, porque la forma de contar esta historia (que, ojo, creo que le pega muchísimo y es muy acorde al conjunto) me ha resultado pesada, densa, y no me invitaba a avanzar.
Aun así, no me arrepiento para nada de haberlo leído. Es increíble la cantidad de detalles que mete Kuang en sus novelas, y siempre aprendo algo nuevo con ella.
Es la segunda vez que intento leer Babel y, si no hubiera sido por el audiolibro, es muy probable que lo hubiera vuelto a abandonar, porque la forma de contar esta historia (que, ojo, creo que le pega muchísimo y es muy acorde al conjunto) me ha resultado pesada, densa, y no me invitaba a avanzar.
Aun así, no me arrepiento para nada de haberlo leído. Es increíble la cantidad de detalles que mete Kuang en sus novelas, y siempre aprendo algo nuevo con ella.
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation
Moderate: Racial slurs, Murder
Minor: Islamophobia