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xxdon_schmelz_69xx's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.0
eachz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Absolutely engrossing and brilliant
The only reason it wasn't a 5 was because I was ever so slightly disappointed by the "reveal". I wanted a juicier explanation!
The only reason it wasn't a 5 was because I was ever so slightly disappointed by the "reveal". I wanted a juicier explanation!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Violence, and Death
Minor: Fatphobia
ohtarelenion's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
jovanas_cloud's review against another edition
1.0
God, this is so close to being as bad as Neuromancer.
Everything is so confusing, most of it doesn't even make any sense. I truly thank however came up with audiobooks because without listening to some chapters here I would've been even more lost.
Everything is so confusing, most of it doesn't even make any sense. I truly thank however came up with audiobooks because without listening to some chapters here I would've been even more lost.
mizzzfortune's review
challenging
mysterious
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? No
3.0
rhoadesd20's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
smelendez's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-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
hakimbriki's review against another edition
4.0
Babel-17 is an incredible book and a superb achievement for Samuel R. Delany. Let's quickly recap what the author accomplished here.
- He created a majestic, intelligent, compelling and totally badass protagonist and incredibly endearing secondary characters.
- He makes the reader think throughout the whole book - not necessarily about the plot, which I think is pretty minimal, but about the incredible power of language and its role in human relationships.
- He managed to make language less esoteric, and FUN ! Eat your heart out, Ferdinand de Saussure!
- He blows the reader's mind when Rydra attempts to explains the concept of I and You to the Butcher.
- He introduced many language-related ideas and notions which will inspire a whole generation of authors (Neal Stephenson, China Miéville, Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler...)
I could list a dozen other accomplishments.
Babel-17 is a novel any language enthusiast should read. Though it might not be the most entertaining science fiction book of all time, Delany had the merit of building a strong novel around fascinating concepts.
Oh, and, for the record, Mr. Delany's translation of Jebel Tarik is wrong.
"Tarik, that's mountain in Old Moorish. Jebel's Mountain, maybe."
...
'Tell you some other time. Jebel could be somebody's name."
It's the other way around, sir.
Jebel (جبل) is Arabic (or Moorish) for Mountain.
Tarik is one of the most popular given names in North Africa. It also means Path, Route.
This just proves that doing research and getting the facts right was not an easy task back then. You know, before the internet.
- He created a majestic, intelligent, compelling and totally badass protagonist and incredibly endearing secondary characters.
- He makes the reader think throughout the whole book - not necessarily about the plot, which I think is pretty minimal, but about the incredible power of language and its role in human relationships.
- He managed to make language less esoteric, and FUN ! Eat your heart out, Ferdinand de Saussure!
- He blows the reader's mind when Rydra attempts to explains the concept of I and You to the Butcher.
- He introduced many language-related ideas and notions which will inspire a whole generation of authors (Neal Stephenson, China Miéville, Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler...)
I could list a dozen other accomplishments.
Babel-17 is a novel any language enthusiast should read. Though it might not be the most entertaining science fiction book of all time, Delany had the merit of building a strong novel around fascinating concepts.
Oh, and, for the record, Mr. Delany's translation of Jebel Tarik is wrong.
"Tarik, that's mountain in Old Moorish. Jebel's Mountain, maybe."
...
'Tell you some other time. Jebel could be somebody's name."
It's the other way around, sir.
Jebel (جبل) is Arabic (or Moorish) for Mountain.
Tarik is one of the most popular given names in North Africa. It also means Path, Route.
This just proves that doing research and getting the facts right was not an easy task back then. You know, before the internet.
accidentalspaceexplorer's review against another edition
2.5
This is based on the same concept as Ted Chiang's story Story of Your Life, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, but while I find it really compelling in Arrival & his story, I did not find it very compelling here. Part of that I think is that I've taken a linguistic anthropology class since then, & one of the things we talked about is that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis doesn't work! For very specific tasks that you practice a lot, yes, it works, like if your language uses N/E/S/W instead of left & right for relative positioning you will be much better at determining the cardinal directions, but otherwise no. So I know it's false, which undermines the plot.
But more than that, I didn't particularly find the characters compelling. I never felt like I wanted to DNF, but I also could have stopped at any time and not cared. There was some interesting worldbuilding but it was counterbalanced for me by the random fatphobia & disgust characters would have for each other.
But more than that, I didn't particularly find the characters compelling. I never felt like I wanted to DNF, but I also could have stopped at any time and not cared. There was some interesting worldbuilding but it was counterbalanced for me by the random fatphobia & disgust characters would have for each other.