Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

1623 reviews

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

naeara's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Colonisation, Suicide, War, and Racism

nicklybear's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Violence, Racism, and Child abuse

bernika999's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

This book was amazing.
I would recommend 100 per cent. I had finished the Poppy War series and would recommend reading that first. Not because you have to. You don't. But I think this book hits harder when you do. 
The connections between them kills man.
I'd admit that it's a slow start, I mean it was for me. The footnotes are lengthy and sometimes the terminology goes over your head. However, that doesn't matter, at all, it didn't prevent the book from getting five stars from me. Very painful but definitely worth it. Wish I could read it again for the first time.
 And all her other books, are all 5 stars for me, must read them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Grief, and Suicide

Moderate: War, Racism, Death of parent, Child abuse, Murder, and Blood

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

tranvnguyen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Racism, Gun violence, Death of parent, Death, and Colonisation

hufflepuffer13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

I simply did not enjoy this book. I felt like I accidentally picked up a nonfiction text on the study of languages and was going to fail miserably at the end of subject test. 

It didn't get any easier and I only pushed myself to finish to try understand what all the fuss was about. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism and Racial slurs

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