Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

622 reviews

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

catmisae's review against another edition

challenging informative sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

There was a lot I liked about this book, but I didn’t end up enjoying it as much as I wanted to. The world building was great, and all the talk of match pairs and translation made me nostalgic for my time studying linguistics as an undergraduate.

Unfortunately I think Kuang put so much work into the world building and linguistics content that she didn’t have a lot of space left for the character development. For a story about belonging, alienation and a conflicted sense of national identity, our protagonists felt pretty flat to me. The reader would often be told that characters felt certain ways for specific reasons, but as a result their various reactions and changes in perspective felt forced. They almost seemed more like figures in a case study rather than characters in a work of fiction. Maybe this was deliberate? I’m not sure.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Slavery, War, and Islamophobia

genorgana's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Slavery, Child abuse, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Classism, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Violence, Murder, Sexism, and Death

2shadowsdeep's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Death, Classism, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Child abuse, War, Sexism, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual harassment, Vomit, and Religious bigotry

bugsybugs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

Easiest 5 stars I've given in years. An exceptional read. Detailed, epic, tackling ambitious themes of empire, colonialism, and the costs of freedom from them. I couldn't put it down.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Torture, Violence, Death, Grief, Blood, Colonisation, Misogyny, Racism, and Classism

butlerebecca's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

Wish this was 100 pages shorter but feels ridiculous to give this less than 5 stars

Truly baffled by how one person can make a book that’s both academically specific and written with such beautiful prose

It took adjusting to adapt to the magical realism/fantasy elements but I really like how it simplified and represented the complicated facts of colonial empire

Learned a lot too - felt like what people do with hiding medication in peanut butter for dogs - like oh here’s a novel whoops bonus you also just read a textbook! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Classism, Death, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, War, Colonisation, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Racism, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide

psitstorrie's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is extremely well written. The characters are so complex and flawed from the start, the prose is gorgeous, and overall it is incredibly thought provoking. The magic system is simple, but effective. History, language, revolution, academia, and comradely are the main focuses, and seeing how the characters and situations evolve is fascinating. I cannot recommend this book enough

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Colonisation

Moderate: Islamophobia, Physical abuse, Death of parent, War, Classism, and Child abuse

liafiles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Colonisation, War, Death, Misogyny, Gun violence, Classism, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Sexual harassment

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

If you put aside all the magical elements you have a bunch of realistic characters and many are vile. You may see your own decision making reflected in certain characters. For example choosing to not take actions in order to keep oneself comfortable despite what effect that has on unprivileged people. This is no [Child Wizard Series] book so if you go in expecting the 'good people are good because the author says so' treatment you will find the characters disappointing.

The character arc of Letty choosing to take actions that doom her supposed close friends because her idea of protecting them is to chain them into a life that is comfortable for her while refusing to accept that society prevents them from being able to live that life. I think Letty will be a very aggravating character for many but she embodies 'white woman tears.'

There are several characters that I wish had been explored more

Griffin and his group, Ramy, Victoire. Victoire and Anthony feel almost like the 'magical negro' stereotype since one doesn't really do much (until we need the conflict of 3 of the friends secretly being in the same rebel group without telling each other) and the other going on to take action after everyone else is no longer able to.

It also would have been interesting to see the effects Britain was having on other places in addition to China, which may have helped cement each of our four main characters' motivations a bit better. We know explicitly that Robin and Ramy want to help their homelands but Victoire is a little unclear and Letty is Letty.
There is a really great quote about Letty and how her upbringing shapes her world:

"And Letty, if she could not belong to a place, would rather tear the whole thing down. "

This is a really great demonstration of who Letty is as a person. Her privilege is so blinding she refuses to accept the path her friends are taking and ultimately kills Ramy to protect him. She literally destroys, betrays, and tries to manipulate her friends in order to prevent changes that would be uncomfortable for her in particular and Britain in general. She does not care about China or its people so long as the silver it contains can be acquired and used by Britain. She thinks her friends should be grateful and do whatever they need to so they may stay in Britain and not care about the homelands they were (literally) stolen from because Britain is HER homeland and it could become their homeland if they work/pretend hard  enough.

I have Opinions about Letty and disturbingly have seen some of her arguably worst behaviors in myself and others when asked to boycott certain products or block certain 'beloved' persons. 
The ending was unsatisfactory because of the epilogue.

It is set up for two people to have a conflict in the spirit of Javert and Jean Valjean. One is on a quest to see how big the rebel group is and the other is seeming back to their comfortable life after all the events.

The actions involving the tower would have felt empty without it however. Babel is set up to have a sequel but the author has been reported to have no interest in writing a sequel or any other book in the Babel universe so that setup just becomes loose ends. The audiobook handles the footnotes very well and the reading experience is best enjoyed by listening and reading simultaneously. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexism, Slavery, Cultural appropriation, War, Blood, Child death, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Ableism, Classism, and Drug use

Minor: Death of parent, Gun violence, Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

We see body horror-esque violence precisely in one scene. There is a lot of blood-related description from that scene on.

jrae_miller's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Colonisation, Torture, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Cultural appropriation, Islamophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Torture, Sexism, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Alcohol, Violence, Death, and Classism