Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

1664 reviews

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

razmatazt's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery, Suicide, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Racism, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Grief, and Gun violence

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

shesreadingagain_'s review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Colonisation, Racism, Xenophobia, War, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, and Murder

naisdayz's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

I finished this book during class and could BARELY hold myself back from crying.

While Babel took me quite long to get through, I really enjoyed it. I really loved the cohort, though I would have wished for their relationships to be a little more fleshed out here and there. I could believe that Robin would die for Ramy no doubt - but the boys didn't seem as close to the girls and vice versa.

Anyhow, its safe to say that Letty's betrayal WRECKED me.

Kuang is really good at writing morally grey characters. Letty will do all those horrible things and then her intermission comes and you're like... Oh. That's why. And it doesn't excuse her shooting one of her friends or being the way she is, but it makes you understand and somewhat emphasize with her.

I found the footnotes that explain things that are relevant to the story, both fictional and (mainly) real to be pretty cool - it allows you to understand the story and what was happening on an even deeper level.

Babel is a very important book, in my opinion, that should be read by everyone (especially white people). It's so much more than a dark academia book, or a fantasy book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Classism, Child abuse, Blood, and Physical abuse

Minor: War

snugglor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A really enjoyable critique of colonialism and cultural theft, parcelled in the easily digestible form of fiction. I loved this story and couldn't read it fast enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Violence

Minor: Drug abuse

emmas_reads_'s review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

did i cry? absolutely.

did that make this book better? not really. (please don’t kill me)

let me preface with this: babel is such an important book for me, especially as a white woman, to read. and i’m glad i did. i think every white person should read this. a lot of it felt like colonialism and imperialism 101, but there were perspectives that i appreciate reading from, especially the difference between violent resistance to oppression and revenge (and if there’s any at all).

all of my problems with this book are purely technical - writing, characters, and pacing.

r f kuang’s writing: i found a lot of it a bit amateur-ish, there was a lot of infodumping on how the british empire functioned with the silver rather than industry. some of it felt natural, but i’d suddenly realize that i was being infodumped on. it was a jarring experience. i felt a lot of the foreshadowing was obvious, but that also could be on purpose and i didn’t pick up that subtext. i don’t think her writing style is for me - however she makes writing about grief her BITCH, and i love her for it.

the characters: i actually really appreciated these characters. sometimes they felt like the preachy twitter user engaged in race and colonialism discourse (which was also a weird aspect to the writing style of this book). i think they are all (minus letty) good representations of being raised within a privileged society yet experiecing racism and being molded as tools for furthering the colonization of their countries.

pacing: it was a bit odd. i saw someone say it should’ve been two books, and i’m a little inclined to agree. the first 3 parts of this book should’ve been a first book, to build up to the action of a sequel (the last 2 parts of this book).

extra misc. stuff:

armed/violent resistance is so, so important to learn about. as much as we preach “nonviolent protests,” so much of historical revolutions and decolonization (which is still ongoing) was armed resistance. it’s important to understand the buildup to violence because it happens over, and over, and over again - it’s literally on loop as we speak.

also: robin and ramy were so in love, i’m happy i got surprised by a bit of LGBTQ+ (it is pride month). if anyone needs scenes/quotes for evidence, i will provide.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

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

meg_thebrave's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. What an absolute masterpiece. Not for a moment could I predict what would happen. I am unwell, and I have read one of the best written books in this century. I cannot wait to return to this story again and again and again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia

Moderate: Violence and Gun violence