Reviews - Babel | The StoryGraph

62.3k reviews for:

Babel

R.F. Kuang

4.34 AVERAGE

willah's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark 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

Fascinating premise but I didn’t love the writing or the characters. Parts of it meandered or felt repetitive while other parts felt sparse. I wanted to love it.

mckaylasmith's review against another edition

4.5

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Wow, what an incredibly well done book. Silver-working was such a brilliant set up to make comparisons to our world. It can be a bit heavy handed, but honestly, it feels necessary given how little most people actually explore colonialism, racism, classism, sexism, and their impacts. I am heartbroken and I will not see the world around me the same.

“'But that's the great contradiction of colonialism.' Cathy uttered this like a simple matter of fact. 'It's built to destroy that which it prizes most.' “

“Robin wondered then how much of Anthony’s life had been spent carefully translating himself to white people, how much of his genial, affable polish was an artful construction to fit a particular idea of a Black man in white England and to afford himself maximum access within an institution like Babel. And he wondered if there would ever be a day that came when all this was unnecessary, when white people would look at him and Anthony and simply listen, when their words would have worth and value because they were uttered, when they would not have to hide who they were, when they wouldn’t have to go through endless distortions just to be understood.”

hannahelizabooks's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark reflective sad 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

fawnee0214's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

cjb25's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional inspiring sad 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

This. This is one of the most beautiful tragedies I've ever read. I have so many thoughts and emotions surrounding this book, but ultimately, all that I could say about it is boiled down to:
1) this is stunningly beautiful prose and maybe the most poetic work of fiction I've ever read
2) Babel deserves every ounce of hype it receives
3) reading Babel when I did has led to one of my timeliest reads

I would have appreciated the commentary and the importance of this book less had I read it any earlier than this year. Thankfully, I read it when I needed to read it, and isn't that how all great books find us?

mtd_'s review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense 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: Yes

This reads like a classic, the writing and storytelling is so expertly done and the ending while bleak felt like a realistic ending and perfectly complimented the situation if not the tone of the entire book. Might be one of the best books I've ever read.