Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Babel: An Arcane History

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Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

184 reviews

tarasoraptor's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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monicalaurette's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

I knew from the beginning that I was going to like this book, I just didn’t know how much - and isn’t that a lovely feeling?

Part of me wanted to make this review short and almost like a joke by saying “5 stars, made me feel bad for being white” but truly I never felt bad for being white while reading the book so I also didn’t want to be false in my review. I took more time to look at my privileges as a white woman in the USA and what that meant for me and all those around me.

So many people say that books should not be political or talk about controversial topics, but I think having books like that only enhance a person, even if the book is escapism. If a book helps you to understand your place in the real world, but still offers you a haven from it - I think that makes it an absolutely wonderful book and I don’t know why others don’t see it or refuse to allow themselves that sentiment.

But now back to the book because I’ve gone a slight tangent - sorry!

I loved following Robin and seeing things through his eyes and also the fact that he would acknowledge the challenges of all his cohort as the years went on. I also enjoyed the way that Kuang wrote the divide in Robin’s mind about his feelings for Hermes vs Babel. The struggle he went through was so vivid that at times I was feeling conflicted while reading. I was also feeling stressed out while the cohort was preparing for their exams, so much so that I had to not read those parts at work so I could focus better!

"Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes."

Certain parts of this book happened and I said to myself - this is not a middle of the book event, what else is going to happen now that this has come to pass? - and was just taken on a wild ride for the last like 40% of this book. And that 40% had so much emotions swirling in my head that I rarely took breaks unless necessary.

Very happy that this was my first book by R.F. Kuang and looking forward to my other book of hers on my shelf. And I know that the message and characters of this book will stay with me longer than normal while I move on to other books. The way this book ended I feel was such a testament to the characters and what they all stood for in their hearts and how they knew they could change the world both as a group and individually.

"A mind was not meant to feel this much. Only death would silence the chorus."

I liked Miss Piper and hated Lovell from the start - I’m glad those feelings never changed as the book moved forward.

Honestly thought Evie was also a part of Hermes somehow and not really dead - and I know that I trust Griffin’s version of the story more than Lovell’s on what happened to her with the bar.

Had I not been at work when I read it I would have cheered a little when Robin killed Lovell. He would’ve done something to him either while on the boat or when they returned from Canton so to me it was both self-defense AND revenge for his mother.

Removing .25 stars because of Ramy, and listen: I GET why he had to die, but it just made me so incredibly sad when it happened because I never handle character deaths well.

When Robin & Victoire were talking about the tower burning all I could picture in my head was the burning Elmo meme and I’m so sad I wasn’t able to paste it into my reading journal.

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xx_salem's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The first 200 pages of this book where incredibly difficult to get through, I would put it down for weeks and only get through a couple pages. Reading it made me feel good and intelligent and yet I don’t think I picked up nor absorbed much of the content or the message for the first while. The last 200 pages though were intense and interesting and I couldn’t put it down. The ending was satisfying and made me want a second book so I could watch the fallout, it felt realistic. But I never loved the characters, their deaths meant nothing and I simply couldn’t be attached to any of them. They felt so lackluster and unfeeling, it was really the plot and the intrigue and what thoughts it provoked that made this book good.

Content Warnings

ericius's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Double review Italian-English

ITA:
Un Fantasy non Fantasy

Questo libro mi suscita sentimenti contrastanti.

Iniziando con aspetti positivi, il libro è scritto veramente bene scorrevole e non particolarmente pesante nonostante sia la mole non indifferente di pagine (600 nella versione italiana) con una moltitudine di note a piè di pagina e lezioni di etimologia continue per tutto il libro.

Si nota tantissimo la ricerca su questi fronti e la cura maniacale di questa materia.

Tuttavia non tutto in questo libro gode della stessa cura nella ricerca, ed è qui che iniziano le note dolenti;

Come dico nel titolo questo libro è un fantasy, è infatti quello il motivo principale che mi aveva portato a leggere, tuttavia, nonostante è abbastanza chiaro che ci siano elementi magici questo libro non sembra un fantasy e non trasmette assolutamente niente di quello che ti aspetteresti da questo genere, se all’inizio non capivo perché, con il tempo ho capito: tutto quello che fa la magia infatti è essere un espediente per traino e giustificazione della storia costruita dall’autrice;

Manca infatti un effetto nel mondo circostante,

Il mondo è una replica quasi fedele del 1800 inglese e non si capisce fino a che estensione la magia modifica il mondo intorno (si parla ma non si mostra per lo più) in più l’intero funzionamento della magia è talmente giustificato e costruito a tavolino che taglia di netto la sensazione di incredulità che genera normalmente la magia,

Il risultato è un mondo noioso in cui la costruzione del “Magico” non modifica in nessun modo quello che conosciamo.

Che l’autrice si fosse data la zappa sui piedi sulla costruzione del mondo magico lo si capisce da subito aprendo il libro, quando con una nota iniziale mette le mani avanti su tutte le libertà che si è presa nella Oxford storica per aggiustarla per il proprio progetto, quasi come se non fosse autorizzata a modificare il mondo per una narrazione fantasy, o come se i lettori non avessero l’elasticità mentale necessaria per accettare un qualcosa di troppo distante dalla realtà (forse mi viene da ipotizzare questa elasticità mentale manca proprio all’autrice).

Ho letto diverse recensioni che alzano problemi anche con la modalità linguistica con cui l’autrice tratta il razzismo, ma mi rifiuto di addentrarmi nella materia in quanto non sono abbastanza preparata per esprimermi.

Per concludere: Non è quello che mi aspettavo di leggere e non sono soddisfatta, ma non è un cattivo libro; il finale è alcune scelte di trama non sono il mio genere ma su quelle posso tranquillamente sorvolare.

ENG:

A non-fantasy fantasy

This book gives me mixed feelings.
Starting with positive aspects, the book is really well written, it is smooth and not particularly heavy to read, despite the considerable amount of pages (600 in the Italian version) with a multitude of footnotes and etymology lessons that continue for the whole book.
The research in these areas and the obsessive attention to this subject are very noticeable.
However, not everything in this book enjoys the same attention to research, and this is where the sore points begin;

As I say in the title, this book is a fantasy, that is in fact the main reason that led me to read it, however, although it is absolutely quite clear that there are magical elements, this book does not feel like a fantasy and does not convey anything of what you expect from this genre, if at the beginning I didn't understand why, over time I understood: in fact, all that magic does is to be an expedient to drive and justify the story constructed by the author;

In fact, the effect that magic should bring to the surrounding world is missing,
The world is an almost faithful replica of England in the 1800s and it is not clear to what extent magic modifies the world around (it is mostly talked about but not shown) plus the entire functioning of magic is so justified and planned almost arbitrarily that cuts off the feeling of disbelief that magic normally generates,
The result is a boring world in which the construction of the "Magic" does not change in any way what we know.
That the author had shot herself in the foot with the construction of the magical world can be understood immediately upon opening the book, when with an initial note she lays out all the liberties she has taken in historic Oxford to adjust it for her own project, almost as if she were not authorized to modify the world for a fantasy narrative, or as if readers do not have the mental elasticity necessary to accept something too distant from reality (perhaps I am hypothesizing that this mental elasticity is precisely lacking to the author).
I have read several reviews that also raise problems with the linguistic modality with which the author deals with racism, but I refuse to delve into the matter as I am not prepared enough to express myself.

To conclude: It's not what I expected to read and I'm not satisfied, but it's not a bad book; the ending and some plot choices aren't my thing but I can easily overlook those.

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samick23's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is probably one of my favorite books I have ever read. I also don't know when I'll be able to handle reading it again. I know I want to but I am devastated. You should read this book, it is incredible. R. F. Kuang's world building never ceases to amaze. Equally so her ability to let you live and breathe in the world and really make you feel like you understand it moments before she pulls the rug out from under you. I am equal parts in mourning and in love.

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mishasbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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gualdhar's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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lilly24's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

5.0

A beautiful book, in and out. Loved it. Let you staring at the wall

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leweylibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I have to come back to this later because it's freaking 5am, but I just wanted to leave this bit so I know where the heck to start with this review later. But I just want to start by saying that this book has WRECKED me. Devastated. Shredded me to bits. I really do not know how I just go about my life now?? My brain is throbbing and feeling irrevocably changed. This book hit me so hard in so many ways. I have THREE NOTES WORTH of quotes like what?? How?? How is any one person THAT gifted with words. Kuang is just... I ironically just don't have the words for her brilliance, but it's undeniable. I am pretty sure I have never ever wept reading a book simplt because of how beautiful passages were, but I did at least three times reading this book. This needs to be studied and analyzed in classes not just for its brilliance but for its contents. I know not everyone will, but everyone should read this book. It is just spot on about so many things and can open so many eyes to vital aspects about our society and our own humanity. Everything about how we communicate and interact, the power of words and languages, the bonds we form and the bonds that break, EVERYTHING about academia (the good, the bad, the UGLY), obviously colonialism and racism, just SO MANY powerful and important topics are covered in this book and it has BROKEN my brain. Just shattered to smithereens. I will not sleep another peaceful night now because this book is now my new Roman Empire. I will be on my deathbed and sit up just to be like "okay but I'm just now realizing, there's this one part in Babel where..."

So yeah. Read this book. LISTEN to this book. Internalize it. But don't do so lightly because yes; it will break you. And you will be grateful for it. It'll hurt like hell in a multitude of ways, ways you didn't even know you could be broken, but you'll be grateful.

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jamieleepilk's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

Have I finally read Babel? Yes.
Am I kicking myself about how long it took me to get around to it? Yes.
What a book! This was one hell of a story that had me hooked from page one. The prose and use of language and translation is nothing short of stunning. Reading this in the current world is startling. Between this and reading YellowFace earlier this year, R.F Kuang is quickly becoming an auto buy Author - 2024 I will tackle the Poppy War series.

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