Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang

228 reviews

theasi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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: Sexual assault, Body horror, Classism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, War, Blood, Bullying, Death, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Grief

Moderate: Slavery, Child abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Deportation and Drug use

idabwells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Probably the most impactful book I've ever read besides Jemisin and Butler.

Manages to capture the devastating scope of colonial genocide while also portraying the courage and brilliance of those around the world struggling to survive and triumph over it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Violence, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Trafficking, Suicide, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Addiction, Murder, Police brutality, Sexism, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Misogyny, Racism, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, and Kidnapping

Minor: Hate crime, Religious bigotry, War, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Rape, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail

bidpat's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Slavery, Colonisation, Suicide, War, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Misogyny, and Sexism

fionamclary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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

4.5

If you've ever found yourself wondering what it would take for you to give up your current way of life and join an uprising, this book is for you.

As a huge language nerd, I was absolutely delighted with the magic system. It's clear that Kuang is also a language lover and has put a lot of research and passion into all the many languages that play a part in Babel. It's not a complicated magic system by any means, but it doesn't have to be when the intricacies are SO fascinating (at least to me).

Also, as a current physics grad student, the descriptions of Robin and his classmates' first few years at Babel were all too familiar and at times painfully relatable. The intense workload, the way it makes you a bit crazy, the closeness it can bring about when shared with others. The first third of the book set up the perfect premise for dark academia: golden summer days of picnics with your best friends, long nights in the library, and many hints that all is not right within the institution. And Kuang certainly delivered on that premise, escalating matters all the way.

I'm aware that this book made several white women quite angry. As a white woman, I can see why. Through one particular character, Kuang delivers an unflattering portrait of how white women can harm their friends of color simply by inaction and ignorance, and how they can fail when presented with the opportunity to commit to liberation. Although in some ways simplified for the purposes of fitting within the story and conveying the author's point, this portrait is not exactly wrong. I think there's some validity to criticism that the book does not do enough to address Robin and Ramy's internalized sexism, which hurts both Victoire and Letty. I think the fact that only Robin and to a somewhat lesser extent Ramy are fully fleshed-out for about the first half of the book does hamper some of the book's messages. But to say that this book indicts white women or even white people is ridiculous. The climax involves an immense show of solidarity across class and racial lines. Professor

Craft

, in my mind, serves to show what

Letty

could have been if she had fully confronted her biases and her complicity and done the right thing.

Speaking of which, the climax of this book was beautiful and destructive. I cried for fully the last 20 pages, which never happens. In the end, I don't think I fully agree with Robin. I'm not sure if Kuang does, either. I don't think we're meant to feel one way or the other -- just consider his choices and his beliefs, and hopefully we understand how he came there, having grown up with him, as it were, and seen him through all the events that led up to his decisions in the last chapters of the book.

Highly recommend for language lovers, academics who feel complicated about their funding sources, and first-world leftists trying to understand their place in the world and their role in a frightening future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Xenophobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Colonisation, Death, Murder, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Racial slurs, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Hate crime, Blood, Sexism, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Suicide

Minor: Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Addiction, Islamophobia, Slavery, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Pandemic/Epidemic

pkonno96's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Racial slurs, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Racism, Misogyny, Death, and War

Moderate: Slavery, Islamophobia, Toxic friendship, Murder, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Blood, Genocide, Hate crime, Gun violence, and Physical abuse

Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Police brutality, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexual harassment

lonka's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Murder, Physical abuse, Cultural appropriation, Gun violence, Hate crime, Colonisation, Grief, Islamophobia, Death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

aleyajo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Classic college experience: magic, colonization, exploitation, racism, slavery, murder, and revolution

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Death, Murder, Child abuse, Classism, Medical content, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, Misogyny, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and War

rafritz1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Grief, Death, Abandonment, and Misogyny

Minor: Drug abuse, Genocide, Car accident, and Classism

yorggeorg's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Sexism, Trafficking, Hate crime, and War

discocaptain's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.25

what else do i fucking say, r. f. kuang has brought me to my knees. i have things to pick at but they're not important right now. all that comes to mind is how painfully real it felt to me. i can already see this being a "dark academia" staple in the same way that a secret history or the dead poets society is, which is not necessarily a bad thing and i want to say i ALSO like them but can we be real for a second and forget that? its an evolution past these stories. it's an attempt to infiltrate and blast through the silver laden halls of the ivy league. it's the futility of trying to love a place that does not love you back. it's trying to hold two things in your mind at once, two contradictory things. robin is an excellent protagonist and the undergrads are a wonderful ensemble. it's a bit obvious and a bit overt and a bit heavy handed but, well, as those that have read it to completion know: toppling empire necessitates violence. learn. internalize. listen. understand. this book is just begging you. listen, and then act.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Misogyny, Suicide, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Cultural appropriation, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, War, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Gun violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail