Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

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

342 reviews

devirtualized's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Sexism, and Torture

bababookmatt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Harry Potter 1-7 meets the politics, economics, history of English academia, colonialism, and imperialism. I hope this book has a large influence on the conversation of racial injustice. Just when you’ve fallen in love with the student life at Babel and Oxford, the story’s intensity ramps up and never stops. The mystical characteristics endowed to silver working and translation is a well crafted symbol for the power behind language and communication. Further, this approach made linguistics and etymology, which I always found scholastically intimidating, comprehensible and fascinating. The characters are absolutely fantastic throughout and so well developed. They become your friends. I found myself picking sides during their disagreements, celebrating their achievements, and mourning their hardships. This is a book that will stick with you and influence the way you view social injustice historically and at present. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Drug use, Gaslighting, Slavery, Child abuse, War, Physical abuse, Murder, Addiction, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, and Domestic abuse

rcarri264's review against another edition

dark emotional 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: Violence, Blood, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Child death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Suicide, War, Murder, Physical abuse, and Slavery

polaris1117's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Torture, Slavery, War, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Colonisation, Hate crime, Grief, Gun violence, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, and Gaslighting

teabrewer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

5.0

I've felt like this about a book and never this intensely. I cried when I closed it for the last time, after reading the last word of the last line of the acknowledgements. I felt like something was being taken from me. Like my skin streched and ripped as the story got farther and farther away. I couldn't let go of the book. Like a mother and her child holding each other after birth, but I didn't feel like a mother, maybe like a child. I feel like my molecules are now organized diferently. I didn't want it to be over, but I don't know if liking would be the correct word for the experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Classism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Torture, and Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Islamophobia, Medical content, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Slavery, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Trafficking, War, and Genocide

wheatlyre's review against another edition

I didn't have enough time to read it, and need to return it soon. It also has been taking me a long while to read, and whether or not it's just my mood the past 5 weeks, but it takes me a while to feel motivated to actually read it. Once I read a paragraph or two I get sucked in for a couple 10-17 pages, but I've been busy and just haven't been able to really get into it in the right way. (Again, just my experience with it so far, and it might not necessarily have anything to do with Babel in particular.) The writing is more advanced than the typical YA novel, but not as period-accurate as a classic Literature novel, still leaning more to the YA style.
I have enjoyed it so far, with a couple parts in particular sticking out to me, especially [spoiler cw:

child abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse

]

when Robin is beat by the Professor for the first time. The way he describes his surprise and the numbness he felt during it was heart wrenching, and the way the professor was described as both detached, reserved, and aloof, yet swift and graceful, was incredible. I'm unable to describe with words how affected I was by it. I'm also in awe with how amazingly the author characterizes Robin through the way he reacts to the abuse, brushing past it and refusing to think about it for anything more than, 'I don't want that to happen again'. The rest of Robin's teenage years were brushed past, which, while I feel it to be a loss for me to see more of his adaption to life in London, I understand from a storytelling point as a reflection of the monotony of his years there, and could possibly be echoing off how the single beating affected him.

The writing in that part is just so beautiful, and I've frequently found myself coming back to that moment. I just wish we got a bit more of his musings.

I really enjoyed his reflections on the professor and cook's disagreement about scones.

Once again, I have not gotten too far in the book, but I have liked it quite a bit so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Confinement, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Terminal illness, and Colonisation

Minor: Trafficking and Slavery

all content warnings mentioned were put in intentionally by the author and are seen clearly to be character flaws or problematic.

snarkycrafter's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

While I really wanted to like this book, the story fell flat for me. Quite flat. When I was about 70% through I still felt like not much had happened and was considering a DNF. 

The magic in the book felt like an afterthought. 

It was an interesting commentary on colonialism and whiteness. But beyond that I found little in this book to be gripping or interesting. I had to push myself to finish it. 

I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn’t land for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Classism, Xenophobia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Islamophobia, War, Sexual harassment, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Drug abuse and Addiction

blomil's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense

• 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

This is an all-time great work. Very clearly a labor of love and passion, heavily researched with a magic system that seamlessly works in as a stand-in for any resource that a society demands. At the same time, this book feels like an effortless coming of age story about growing in a system that wants and needs you while telling you you’re nothing without it. This is a story about the rawest form of radicalization where everything can be taken from you if the right people call for it. As bleak as this premise is, this book has immense heart and respect for the characters trying to survive in this brutal world and champions their hope like nothing else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, Colonisation, Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

imds's review against another edition

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Suicidal thoughts, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Misogyny, Torture, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Sexism, Islamophobia, Murder, Racism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Classism, Colonisation, Grief, and Physical abuse

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Deportation, Dysphoria, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Confinement, Hate crime, Misogyny, Violence, Abandonment, War, Racial slurs, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Grief, Islamophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking