Reviews tagging 'Torture'

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

444 reviews

xxlynxx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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

Ow… 5 stars tho

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Grief, Classism, and Racism

Moderate: Blood, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and War

trashbinfluencer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Blood, Confinement, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, War, Cultural appropriation, Racial slurs, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Abandonment, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Drug use, Xenophobia, Suicide, Sexism, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, and Slavery

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

dripdrop's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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, Death, Torture, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Racism, War, Gun violence, Violence, Physical abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Domestic abuse

emviolet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Racism, Colonisation, Torture, Death, Xenophobia, Suicide, Slavery, Murder, War, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Blood, and Cultural appropriation

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

leeshajoy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, and War

elizabeth_helmer's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, War, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Racism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Slavery, Murder, and Sexism

Minor: Torture

laurawho's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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: Blood, Colonisation, Police brutality, Suicide, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Murder, Racial slurs, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Death, Sexism, War, Child abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Slavery and Drug use

sunnyscholar's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

I don't think I'll ever forget this book. What started as a soothing "slice of life" among unlikely friends evolved into painfully honest acknowledgement of the inherent differences that threaten to tear them apart. I can not do the story justice by trying to eloquate how it continues to resonate with me now. 

R.F. Kuang is an artist in portraying the humanity of each of her characters. In my years of reading, I'd developed a habit of blindly accepting the perspective in which the story was delivered - excusing character flaws and mistakes for the sake of the plot. Kuang doesn't give the reader the opportunity to take anything at face value. She challenges you to grapple with the harsh consequences and moral debate that follows even the smallest decisions her characters make. I love her for it. 

This is no mere story - but a lesson in learning to see people. An exercise in setting aside one's innate biases to appreciate other walks of life they previously felt no right to consider a connection to. 

"Language was just difference. A thousand different ways of seeing, of moving through the world. No; a thousand worlds in one. And translation - a necessary endeavor, however futile, to move between them."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Child abuse, Classism, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts