Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

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

455 reviews

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

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

julia_eve_r's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious 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? No

5.0

This book is incredible. The magic system is rich and well fleshed out, the characters are foils to each other, they represent bigger ideas/beliefs. The way the book is written uses references uniquely and well, and the rich language is amazing. Best book of the year. Also it educated me on etymology and expanded my experiences with ‘double consciousness’ and systematic discrimination and so much more. This book should be studied at school. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Addiction, Toxic friendship, and War

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

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

chelseaisreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

It is rare to read a book and just be in sheer awe of the author’s brilliance, but Babel is one such book. The intricate layers of history, language study, and colonial critique packed into this story following these four academics is nothing short of extraordinary. I find reading this book is timely, but realize that’s the point—these power struggles and structures are at the heart of most conflict we see throughout the modern world. Can you love something knowing what it is built upon? Can we make a difference? Is there a point in trying? In trying to translate that which can’t be described exactly in another language?
This one has me full of tears and thoughts.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia

Minor: War

oceanelle's review against another edition

adventurous 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

Absolutely fucking brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide, Classism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse

lucyatoz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

Babel by R.F.Kuang is a brilliant read although it does challenge and engage you in so many disparate themes of race, class, colonialism, slavery,  violence and  exploitation of the many by the few. 

It tells the story of four young adults, Robin, Victoire, Ramy and Lettie, as they come together as the 1st year cohort at the Oxford University's Royal Institute of Translation in 1836, as they each have amazing talents when it comes to learning languages that can be used for the benefit of the British Empire, regardless of the cost for them and those they love and care about. 

It is a big and  ambitious novel tackling big topics although it starts off quite slowly, but when the group come together, the action starts apace and takes you on a fantastical journey, which, at times, I could not tell was real or imaginary.  

I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on BorrowBox. I read this for prompt 26, hybrid genre, for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2024. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Gore, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Misogyny, Racism, Grief, Toxic friendship, Death, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, and Blood