Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

536 reviews

bababookmatt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

Harry Potter 1-7 meets the politics, economics, history of English academia, colonialism, and imperialism. I hope this book has a large influence on the conversation of racial injustice. Just when you’ve fallen in love with the student life at Babel and Oxford, the story’s intensity ramps up and never stops. The mystical characteristics endowed to silver working and translation is a well crafted symbol for the power behind language and communication. Further, this approach made linguistics and etymology, which I always found scholastically intimidating, comprehensible and fascinating. The characters are absolutely fantastic throughout and so well developed. They become your friends. I found myself picking sides during their disagreements, celebrating their achievements, and mourning their hardships. This is a book that will stick with you and influence the way you view social injustice historically and at present. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Drug use, Gaslighting, Slavery, Child abuse, War, Physical abuse, Murder, Addiction, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, and Domestic abuse

megnut's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? No

4.5

This book is not for everyone.

It's philosophical about languages and tactics of struggle... while also anchoring them all in (modified) history.

There's a lot going on, but it's one I'd like to read again to really consider what is shared. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Grief, Racism, Sexism, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Drug use, Racial slurs, War, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

chasinggrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious 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? No

5.0

There’s no other rating to give a Kuang book than five stars. 

The magic system and environment that Kuang creates is unmatched - completely transformative, no stone left unturned, no detail spared. 

The way Kuang breaches racism, colonialism, sexism, and exploitation is horrifyingly accurate. And this book is devastating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicide, Racism, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Grief, Bullying, Colonisation, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Child abuse, and War

jdromsky's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

This should be required reading for everyone! It is fantastic! 

And R.F. Kuang’s thoughts on and approaches to the power of language and translation, the difficulties and responsibilities of revolutions, and the contradictions and similarities between life and death feel brand new!

There were moments where it got a smidge slow but it never felt like a struggle to get through. It was always super engaging and thought provoking, whether that was because of a new plot obstacles or because she presented a brand new way of thinking about something. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Physical abuse, War, Xenophobia, Racism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Misogyny, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Blood and Suicide

This book is an exploration and discussion about dismantling a colonial empire that does not shy away from describing the horrors that colonization wrecks on the oppressed people. It is for a mature reader who understands/is ready to confront their biases about colonization and European/white influenced history.

rcarri264's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Child death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Suicide, War, Murder, Physical abuse, and Slavery

polaris1117's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Torture, Slavery, War, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Colonisation, Hate crime, Grief, Gun violence, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, and Gaslighting

teabrewer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

5.0

I've felt like this about a book and never this intensely. I cried when I closed it for the last time, after reading the last word of the last line of the acknowledgements. I felt like something was being taken from me. Like my skin streched and ripped as the story got farther and farther away. I couldn't let go of the book. Like a mother and her child holding each other after birth, but I didn't feel like a mother, maybe like a child. I feel like my molecules are now organized diferently. I didn't want it to be over, but I don't know if liking would be the correct word for the experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Classism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Torture, and Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Islamophobia, Medical content, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Slavery, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Trafficking, War, and Genocide

fernanda_o's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Slavery, and Grief

anushaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

 

'...when they wouldn't have to go through endless distortions just to be understood.'

This book fascinated me because I went into knowing nothing about what was going on, but loving every bit of it.  This is beautiful. This is horrifying. This is fictionalised. this is true. This was life for them. and still is. I wanted to laugh and cry and all of the above, I simply loved it. Thats not to say it was without its imperfections, but the overall message was beautifully done.

This is a quote I laughed about how blunt but how true it was:

It revealed the sheer dependence of the British, who, astonishingly, could not manage to do basic things like bake bread or get safely from one place to another without words stolen from other countries.

Ironic this is a 544 page book, but I said its a fast paced book. My only comments would be I wish it were longer, maybe even a duology because some parts could have been fleshed out more, I felt the climax came too quickly, and ending the story on Victoire had no significance. Otherwise I loved Kaung's intricate world building and the little notes at the end of the pages that made aspects of Babel feel real.

I didn't have high expectations after reading R.F. Kaung's Yellowface which I mildly enjoyed, but this by far is my favourite book out of the two, and its everything I didn't expect it to be, and more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Suicide, Death, Xenophobia, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Slavery

blomil's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is an all-time great work. Very clearly a labor of love and passion, heavily researched with a magic system that seamlessly works in as a stand-in for any resource that a society demands. At the same time, this book feels like an effortless coming of age story about growing in a system that wants and needs you while telling you you’re nothing without it. This is a story about the rawest form of radicalization where everything can be taken from you if the right people call for it. As bleak as this premise is, this book has immense heart and respect for the characters trying to survive in this brutal world and champions their hope like nothing else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, Colonisation, Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs