Reviews tagging 'Death'

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

950 reviews

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

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

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

rafritz1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Grief, Death, Abandonment, and Misogyny

Minor: Drug abuse, Genocide, Car accident, and Classism

rmperezpadilla's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide, Murder, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Death, Racism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Minor: Deportation

mcollier1's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This was a good book, but it definitely harps on the same points excessively.

This book is also very depressing. Almost everyone dies.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, and Suicide

winterjasmine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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: Colonisation, Racial slurs, Classism, Death, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicide, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Blood, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Grief, Alcohol, and Cultural appropriation

justinea's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Very very slow to take off book. I think this would do very well in literature classrooms. Incredibly well written with very important themes. I think it could’ve been shorter. For my part, I found it educational but not always highly enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Colonisation, Racism, Death, and War

namelessreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Colonisation, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, Gun violence, Drug abuse, and War