Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

121 reviews

painausten314's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

r.f. kuang takes a little bit of history, some of her own life experience, and a bit of magical thinking to create the story of babel, 19th century oxford's prestigious translation institute. babel is a fantasy, but with accurate reflections on empire, colonization, whiteness, and racism. promising children from around the world are taken from their homes to be taught and trained in the english way, so they can someday attend babel and use their language skills to work for the empire. 

this book explores what happens when the life you want to live directly conflicts with your personal identity and values. it's a harrowing story of heartbreak, resistance, and the ripple effect of white saviorism. but it is also one of love, friendship, sacrifice, and solidarity. 

maybe my favorite part of kuang's writing in babel were the footnotes. it's not often that i read a novel that has footnotes, and she writes them beautifully. some of them are historical references that support the plot line and others are fictional elements that explain the story or characters. if you read babel - and you should - definitely don't skip the footnotes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Drug use, Grief, Outing, Abandonment, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Death, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Racism, Classism, Islamophobia, Sexism, and Racial slurs

stephlikestoread's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Torture, War, and Vomit

applejacksbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? Yes

4.5

I'll start this off by saying this book isn't for everyone, but everyone should read it. Its ending alone isn't a happy one. That being said I absolutely enjoyed my time while reading it. From the footnotes, to the history of how we understand language today, to the conversations about colonialism and racism and how we (as white people) have abused and taken from everyone not to better and learn but because we can, this book is a master class in all of it. It's well researched and executed and I couldn't put it down when I was reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Abandonment, Colonisation, Violence, Classism, Gun violence, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

alisonvh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is so good and so well written! Although my first instinct is to say the author doesn’t give people enough credit for their capacity for empathy, I can’t deny that white people don’t have a great track record when it comes to empathy for people of color. In that way the book is similar to Power, which I loved. I’m going to have to sit with this one for a while before I can determine how I feel about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Torture, Xenophobia, Racism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Bullying, Violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Addiction, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, Drug use, Islamophobia, Death, Toxic friendship, and Terminal illness

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-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: Classism, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Misogyny, Sexism, Cultural appropriation, Kidnapping, and Slavery

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicide, Abandonment, Addiction, War, Genocide, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, and Slavery

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, and Alcohol

nils_0's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Colonisation, Death, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Slavery, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Torture

Minor: Kidnapping, Police brutality, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

beanbob's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective 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: Child abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Death of parent, Death, Racism, Colonisation, and Abandonment

Deals with themes of colonisation, racism and sexism

lucaslovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

This book's just amazing. The way you can take on different perspectives on racism, politics and discrimination is not just really interesting to read, but also affects you emotionally. It's so well written and the world, how Babel is described and how the view of the mcs change is truly captivating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Death, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual assault and War

abibliophobic_nerd's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Abandonment, Blood, and Child abuse

Minor: Violence, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Slavery, and War

athenium's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Cultural appropriation, Death, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Sexism, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Racism, Classism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Slavery, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Suicide, and Abandonment