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Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'
Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang
97 reviews
crybabybea's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Well, I'm disappointed.
First of all, the dark academia aspect was done very well. It felt atmospheric, grand, with a hint of mystery. It felt gloomy in a really fun way. The settings outside of the tower itself were less immersive, but the majority of the story takes place inside the tower anyway so it wasn't too distracting. The dark academia vibe was a genius way to explore a story about decolonization and racism. The magic system was inventive and interesting, and I liked how it stood as a metaphor for the industrial revolution.
The characters were just okay. We get to see Robin, the main character, the most, and I felt really attached to him by the end. The other characters had interesting stories that I felt didn't get explored enough. I understand this book leans in to its literary side, and the characters and arguably the entire plot are just allegories for bigger issues, but I think this made the character work suffer and it made the explosive ending pack less of a punch. Don't get me wrong, I loved the ending, and I still cried, but some of the other moments that were meant to be heavy-hitting fell flat because I didn't feel the connection to the characters. The found family aspect didn't feel fleshed out enough because of this as well.
I think the character work is a side effect of Kuang's tendency to overexplain things rather than actually have things happen. Some of the messaging was so on the nose that it felt pedantic and almost condescending at times. I wanted to read this book to challenge my thinking, and I hoped it would leave me with lots of thoughts to reflect on afterward, but everything gets explained to you so plainly that it completely ruins the amazing research and work Kuang put into telling the story of racism and colonization in academia. I mean, there were literally times when something racist or sexist would happen, then the narrator would have a whole paragraph to say something like "Robin wonders if this white person realized how racist they were being". It got irritating... I felt like I was on Sesame Street. I will say the writing itself was done very well, the prose was accessible despite the scientific, historical, and literary references used, and I appreciated a lot of R.F. Kuang's comments and her sarcastic footnotes.
The last issue is the pacing, which I think is also a side effect of this "telling not showing" issue. This book only gets good around the 60-70% mark. It had an extremely slow start with very little intrigue. We spent a long time in lectures and I felt not enough time was dedicated to furthering either the charcters OR the plot. It was a lot of sitting around and waiting. I don't mind books that have a hill into a snowball second half, but I almost put this book down multiple times because nothing was happening, then one minor action would happen and I would finally think we were going somewhere, just for it to slow down again.
All these issues made for a really weird reading experience where I absolutely dreaded picking the book back up, then when I started reading it was just fine and I wanted to know more, then it would get boring and the cycle repeated. I expected more from the rave reviews but left feeling like its potential got wasted. I still do think it's a good read overall, but it could have been better.
First of all, the dark academia aspect was done very well. It felt atmospheric, grand, with a hint of mystery. It felt gloomy in a really fun way. The settings outside of the tower itself were less immersive, but the majority of the story takes place inside the tower anyway so it wasn't too distracting. The dark academia vibe was a genius way to explore a story about decolonization and racism. The magic system was inventive and interesting, and I liked how it stood as a metaphor for the industrial revolution.
The characters were just okay. We get to see Robin, the main character, the most, and I felt really attached to him by the end. The other characters had interesting stories that I felt didn't get explored enough. I understand this book leans in to its literary side, and the characters and arguably the entire plot are just allegories for bigger issues, but I think this made the character work suffer and it made the explosive ending pack less of a punch. Don't get me wrong, I loved the ending, and I still cried, but some of the other moments that were meant to be heavy-hitting fell flat because I didn't feel the connection to the characters. The found family aspect didn't feel fleshed out enough because of this as well.
I think the character work is a side effect of Kuang's tendency to overexplain things rather than actually have things happen. Some of the messaging was so on the nose that it felt pedantic and almost condescending at times. I wanted to read this book to challenge my thinking, and I hoped it would leave me with lots of thoughts to reflect on afterward, but everything gets explained to you so plainly that it completely ruins the amazing research and work Kuang put into telling the story of racism and colonization in academia. I mean, there were literally times when something racist or sexist would happen, then the narrator would have a whole paragraph to say something like "Robin wonders if this white person realized how racist they were being". It got irritating... I felt like I was on Sesame Street. I will say the writing itself was done very well, the prose was accessible despite the scientific, historical, and literary references used, and I appreciated a lot of R.F. Kuang's comments and her sarcastic footnotes.
The last issue is the pacing, which I think is also a side effect of this "telling not showing" issue. This book only gets good around the 60-70% mark. It had an extremely slow start with very little intrigue. We spent a long time in lectures and I felt not enough time was dedicated to furthering either the charcters OR the plot. It was a lot of sitting around and waiting. I don't mind books that have a hill into a snowball second half, but I almost put this book down multiple times because nothing was happening, then one minor action would happen and I would finally think we were going somewhere, just for it to slow down again.
All these issues made for a really weird reading experience where I absolutely dreaded picking the book back up, then when I started reading it was just fine and I wanted to know more, then it would get boring and the cycle repeated. I expected more from the rave reviews but left feeling like its potential got wasted. I still do think it's a good read overall, but it could have been better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Addiction, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Violence, Torture, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, War, Xenophobia, Death, Vomit, Murder, Drug abuse, Sexism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, and Genocide
ryanandrew23's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death, Gun violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Grief, and Racism
Minor: Religious bigotry, Drug use, Confinement, Hate crime, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Racial slurs
cherryfreckle's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Hate crime, Classism, Death, War, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Grief, Emotional abuse, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Physical abuse, Murder, Sexism, and Racism
Moderate: Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and Alcohol
stephhaigreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Grief, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, Torture, Murder, Death, Child abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking
moond4ncer's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
5.0
Best book I've read in a long time. Intriguing, clever, really well crafted.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Addiction, Classism, Racism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Grief, Misogyny, War, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, and Sexism
cmklaft's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Suicide, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Slavery, War, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Colonisation, Murder, and Cultural appropriation
leonkaspar's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
The way Kuang manages to use symbols and fantasy to recreate the structural issues of our world is mesmerising.
I love the way the footnotes are embedded into the story and how they highlight the necessary passages with a poignant and scarcastic undertone.
I love the way the footnotes are embedded into the story and how they highlight the necessary passages with a poignant and scarcastic undertone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Violence, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Cultural appropriation, Slavery, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief
j315's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
Babel is an incredible, haunted, and passionate tale of talent and betrayal. The incredibly personal aspects of colonialism and the violence of the british empire tower over the narrative, tying together all the disparate experiences of everyone caught under the boot-heel of industrial capitalism.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
ericius's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Double review Italian-English
ITA:
Un Fantasy non Fantasy
ITA:
Un Fantasy non Fantasy
Questo libro mi suscita sentimenti contrastanti.
Iniziando con aspetti positivi, il libro è scritto veramente bene scorrevole e non particolarmente pesante nonostante sia la mole non indifferente di pagine (600 nella versione italiana) con una moltitudine di note a piè di pagina e lezioni di etimologia continue per tutto il libro.
Si nota tantissimo la ricerca su questi fronti e la cura maniacale di questa materia.
Tuttavia non tutto in questo libro gode della stessa cura nella ricerca, ed è qui che iniziano le note dolenti;
Come dico nel titolo questo libro è un fantasy, è infatti quello il motivo principale che mi aveva portato a leggere, tuttavia, nonostante è abbastanza chiaro che ci siano elementi magici questo libro non sembra un fantasy e non trasmette assolutamente niente di quello che ti aspetteresti da questo genere, se all’inizio non capivo perché, con il tempo ho capito: tutto quello che fa la magia infatti è essere un espediente per traino e giustificazione della storia costruita dall’autrice;
Manca infatti un effetto nel mondo circostante,
Il mondo è una replica quasi fedele del 1800 inglese e non si capisce fino a che estensione la magia modifica il mondo intorno (si parla ma non si mostra per lo più) in più l’intero funzionamento della magia è talmente giustificato e costruito a tavolino che taglia di netto la sensazione di incredulità che genera normalmente la magia,
Il risultato è un mondo noioso in cui la costruzione del “Magico” non modifica in nessun modo quello che conosciamo.
Che l’autrice si fosse data la zappa sui piedi sulla costruzione del mondo magico lo si capisce da subito aprendo il libro, quando con una nota iniziale mette le mani avanti su tutte le libertà che si è presa nella Oxford storica per aggiustarla per il proprio progetto, quasi come se non fosse autorizzata a modificare il mondo per una narrazione fantasy, o come se i lettori non avessero l’elasticità mentale necessaria per accettare un qualcosa di troppo distante dalla realtà (forse mi viene da ipotizzare questa elasticità mentale manca proprio all’autrice).
Ho letto diverse recensioni che alzano problemi anche con la modalità linguistica con cui l’autrice tratta il razzismo, ma mi rifiuto di addentrarmi nella materia in quanto non sono abbastanza preparata per esprimermi.
Per concludere: Non è quello che mi aspettavo di leggere e non sono soddisfatta, ma non è un cattivo libro; il finale è alcune scelte di trama non sono il mio genere ma su quelle posso tranquillamente sorvolare.
ENG:
A non-fantasy fantasy
This book gives me mixed feelings.
Starting with positive aspects, the book is really well written, it is smooth and not particularly heavy to read, despite the considerable amount of pages (600 in the Italian version) with a multitude of footnotes and etymology lessons that continue for the whole book.
The research in these areas and the obsessive attention to this subject are very noticeable.
However, not everything in this book enjoys the same attention to research, and this is where the sore points begin;
As I say in the title, this book is a fantasy, that is in fact the main reason that led me to read it, however, although it is absolutely quite clear that there are magical elements, this book does not feel like a fantasy and does not convey anything of what you expect from this genre, if at the beginning I didn't understand why, over time I understood: in fact, all that magic does is to be an expedient to drive and justify the story constructed by the author;
In fact, the effect that magic should bring to the surrounding world is missing,
The world is an almost faithful replica of England in the 1800s and it is not clear to what extent magic modifies the world around (it is mostly talked about but not shown) plus the entire functioning of magic is so justified and planned almost arbitrarily that cuts off the feeling of disbelief that magic normally generates,
The result is a boring world in which the construction of the "Magic" does not change in any way what we know.
That the author had shot herself in the foot with the construction of the magical world can be understood immediately upon opening the book, when with an initial note she lays out all the liberties she has taken in historic Oxford to adjust it for her own project, almost as if she were not authorized to modify the world for a fantasy narrative, or as if readers do not have the mental elasticity necessary to accept something too distant from reality (perhaps I am hypothesizing that this mental elasticity is precisely lacking to the author).
I have read several reviews that also raise problems with the linguistic modality with which the author deals with racism, but I refuse to delve into the matter as I am not prepared enough to express myself.
To conclude: It's not what I expected to read and I'm not satisfied, but it's not a bad book; the ending and some plot choices aren't my thing but I can easily overlook those.
ENG:
A non-fantasy fantasy
This book gives me mixed feelings.
Starting with positive aspects, the book is really well written, it is smooth and not particularly heavy to read, despite the considerable amount of pages (600 in the Italian version) with a multitude of footnotes and etymology lessons that continue for the whole book.
The research in these areas and the obsessive attention to this subject are very noticeable.
However, not everything in this book enjoys the same attention to research, and this is where the sore points begin;
As I say in the title, this book is a fantasy, that is in fact the main reason that led me to read it, however, although it is absolutely quite clear that there are magical elements, this book does not feel like a fantasy and does not convey anything of what you expect from this genre, if at the beginning I didn't understand why, over time I understood: in fact, all that magic does is to be an expedient to drive and justify the story constructed by the author;
In fact, the effect that magic should bring to the surrounding world is missing,
The world is an almost faithful replica of England in the 1800s and it is not clear to what extent magic modifies the world around (it is mostly talked about but not shown) plus the entire functioning of magic is so justified and planned almost arbitrarily that cuts off the feeling of disbelief that magic normally generates,
The result is a boring world in which the construction of the "Magic" does not change in any way what we know.
That the author had shot herself in the foot with the construction of the magical world can be understood immediately upon opening the book, when with an initial note she lays out all the liberties she has taken in historic Oxford to adjust it for her own project, almost as if she were not authorized to modify the world for a fantasy narrative, or as if readers do not have the mental elasticity necessary to accept something too distant from reality (perhaps I am hypothesizing that this mental elasticity is precisely lacking to the author).
I have read several reviews that also raise problems with the linguistic modality with which the author deals with racism, but I refuse to delve into the matter as I am not prepared enough to express myself.
To conclude: It's not what I expected to read and I'm not satisfied, but it's not a bad book; the ending and some plot choices aren't my thing but I can easily overlook those.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Classism, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: War, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Grief, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, and Suicide
chalkletters's review against another edition
challenging
tense
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
3.75
Babel has been an extremely hot topic at book club since it came out, and we've just been waiting for the paperback before we put it on our reading lists. I knew the main conceit going in: that Babel's magic system relies on the difference between similar words in different languages; whatever meaning of the word is left untranslated, manifests as physical reality. As a speaker of only one language, the magic system felt about as distant to me as any other magic system I can't participate in (which is to say, all of them!) but the themes of moving country at a young age are definitely ones I'm appreciative of.
R F Kuang's world building is amazing: not only is there a whole magic system grafted onto historic Oxford, there's detailed interplay between real-world history & empire and the fictionalised versions based on acquisition of silver. Even more impressive, the world is explained clearly enough for readers to follow without getting bogged down in masses of extraneous detail. While parts of the novel are necessarily exposition-heavy, it never seems to slow things down.
Despite the vastness of the world, Babel is peopled with relatively few characters: a class size of only four students in a year at Babel seems to be perfectly normal. This allows R F Kuang to focus tightly on the interpersonal relationships between the four main characters, though there's a lot going on under the surface that there's never quite time to bring to light and explore fully. R F Kuang trusts the reader to connect the dots and make their own inferences, but readers who prefer character-driven novels over plot-driven novels may wish there wasn't quite so much left unsaid.
Fortunately, the plot driving Babel is a gripping one, especially once the four students travel to Canton. It's not too much of a spoiler to say that the latter half of the story had intense The Secret History vibes, albeit with a more overt political and class struggle undermining the main action. R F Kuang's descriptions of Oxford also rival Donna Tartt's for atmosphere, though the mood captured is very different in each.
It's a treat to kick off the year with a book that's firing on all cylinders. The only thing I can find to criticise is very much based in personal preference: early on, Babel seems like it will be a book about found family and friendship, which I love, and it does contain those things, but not in an uncomplicatedly positive way. The ending absolutely fits the novel, but perhaps doesn't entirely fit me as a reader.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, and Suicide
Minor: War, Slavery, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Murder