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Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'
Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang
1088 reviews
lizzie24601's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-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
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Suicide, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Grief, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
littlecake's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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
5.0
This book resonated with me on a deeply emotional and political level. It felt really personal, touching on themes that are both important and highly relevant today, especially with the ongoing genocide in Palestine.
At the heart of the story, set within the dark academia and fantasy genres, are deep themes like colonialism, imperialism, revolution, and language. Babel Tower in Oxford serves as a powerful metaphor for colonialism, while the Hermes Society captures the essence of every revolution - a small force trying to tip the balance. R.F. Kuang could have turned these topics into an academic essay, but weaving them into a novel made them more accessible and tangible. The dark fantasy elements support her narrative. The dark fantasy elements really support her narrative, and I especially enjoyed her magic system. It felt original, well-crafted, and thoroughly researched.
At the heart of the story, set within the dark academia and fantasy genres, are deep themes like colonialism, imperialism, revolution, and language. Babel Tower in Oxford serves as a powerful metaphor for colonialism, while the Hermes Society captures the essence of every revolution - a small force trying to tip the balance. R.F. Kuang could have turned these topics into an academic essay, but weaving them into a novel made them more accessible and tangible. The dark fantasy elements support her narrative. The dark fantasy elements really support her narrative, and I especially enjoyed her magic system. It felt original, well-crafted, and thoroughly researched.
The characters had a big impact on me. As a South Asian, I really understood Robin’s struggles with the weight of the "model minority" label. I related strongly to Ramy, as an Indian Muslim, and Victoire moved me as a racialized woman. Letty broke my heart, reminding me of many of my white female friends, both past and present. Their character arcs were perfect yet so painful to witness. Griffin also captured my heart— —his rage and the burden of being the eldest child really resonated with me. The sibling relationship and the abusive father are central themes in the book that hit close to home.
While Babel deeply moved me, it’s not without a few small flaws. The world-building could have been more developed, but the narrower focus actually made sense given Robin’s perspective and heightened the “ivory tower” effect of academia. Some characters,
I could write endless essays on this book, from the abusive parent dynamics between Robin and his father, to the fragile friendships within the group, to the brutal reality of academia, the necessity of violence in revolution and the disappearance of languages. There’s just so much to unpack and discuss.
And this is why, despite its flaws, Babel deserves a full 5-star rating. I felt represented. It makes you think, makes you feel and this is what I expect from a good book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
bengibbreid's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A beautiful journey of a book. Hit me extremely hard, whilst also being immersive and fascinating at every turn. I highly commend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism
justagirlwithbooks's review against another edition
4.0
“That's just what translation is, I think. That's all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they're trying to say. Showing yourself to the world, and hoping someone else understands.”
Wow. I have a lot to say about this book.
I thought that this book was good. The first half was a bit slow, and the second half felt really fast. Everything was happening all at once, and it was a lot to take in. The audiobook was also long, and this book took me a while to finish. But once I did, oh my gosh.
I really liked how this was 'historical fiction adjacent', and the fantasy element wasn't a lot, but it was interwoven nicely. The whole discussion and introspection about colonialism and how it's affected countries all around the world was also really well done. I did feel like at times, it was a bit more telling rather than showing, and also some parts did feel like listening to an academic textbook, which was probably why it was feeling slow. But it did put me in the mood for going back to university.
Something that really, genuinely surprised me was the representation in this novel. This is the first book that I've read by a non-Muslim author that actually features a good Muslim character. Rami/Ramy was my favorite character.
And about the ending...
As you can tell, I liked this book better than Yellowface.
With all that being said, this was a solid book, and I can't wait to pick up The Poppy War trilogy and see what happens there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation
Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexism, and Suicide
mice_are_nice's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Slavery, Torture, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic
noura's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Sexism and War
Minor: Death of parent
laguerrelewis's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
R. F. Kuang, you have such a way with words. Ba Dum Tss.
But in all honesty, this is a masterpiece. It is absurd that it works so well on so many levels—but in 2024, it’s anti-colonial call to arms rings the most topical. I was utterly enthralled by this book, and I am glad it is as popular as it is—though I won’t rest until there’s a copy on every shelf!
But in all honesty, this is a masterpiece. It is absurd that it works so well on so many levels—but in 2024, it’s anti-colonial call to arms rings the most topical. I was utterly enthralled by this book, and I am glad it is as popular as it is—though I won’t rest until there’s a copy on every shelf!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism and Self harm
findleydunn's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, and Death of parent
pey333'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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, and War
Minor: Addiction, Child death, and Death of parent
liesvdm's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
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
2.75
This felt very YA to me. I don't understand the hype this book got :-(
The start of the book did pull me in: the boy being "chosen" to get a special, kind of magic education. And when Robin arrives at Babel I really enjoyed the part where he and Ramy become friends.
But things were extremely and repeatedly spelled out. I think the message of this book would have been a lot more powerful if it wasn't so... preachy.
Colonialism had/has horrible consequences and I do love how the author used the translation-based magic to condense a lot of these issues - exploitation and abuse of power and racism etc.
But unfortunately she then deemed this too subtle and decided to hammer her point home. Is this book meant for people who didn't know yet that colonialism was erm... not great?? In any case, those people might not be the people who pick up this book anyway...
The characters were also very one dimensional.Robin, Ramy, Victoire, Anthony, basically all POC = GOOD
Letty and all whities = BAD . I guess she had 1 (one) non-totally-evil white person in there? The professor who stayed with them in the tower. Letty was, from the start, clearly going to betray all of them and it felt incredibly silly that they didn't see that coming. They excluded her anyway and didn't like her from the start. It was actually caricatural how she was portrayed - killing Ramy because he rejected her? And "she would hunt Victoire to the ends of the earth". Really though? That doesn't even fit in the white supremacy portrayel of Letty - she doesn't care enough to do that, she'll just stay in her cushy life. And I guess that caricatural nature was a conscious choice the author made in this book - to go to that extreme as a way of - again - hammering her point and showing how damaging it is to see an entire group of people in a reductive, negative light. I get what she was going for (I think) but it didn't work for me.
I unfortunately also *hated* all the footnotes. They were used for such different purposes: showing the Chinese characters, adding some random examples of evil deeds by the British Empire, or examples of etymology, but also sometimes adding relevant info that should 100% just have been in the main text!
Example: When they have hijacked the Babel building, Robin opens the door for someone but as he is an intruder now, that shouldn't be possible anymore because of the wards. So, the author added a footnote to explain they had replaced their vials of blood when they took over the tower. WHY did she not just put this in the text, it would have made so much more sense. There are descriptions of their circumstances in the tower - sleeping arrangments, food etc - why leave this important fact for the footnotes?
This book was also WAY too long IMO. A short novella with the same central idea (the language-based magic as a way of showing how colonialism used other cultures to their gain) could have been a striking story. Instead, we got a lot of *description* comma *different description* comma *another description* etc and a lot of repetition and spelling out of things that dragged on and unfortunately often started to annoy me.
I love language, I love academia and some of this book was enjoyable. But overall it wasn't my thing.
I also read Yellowface by Kuang and she is a great writer. In Yellowface, her message is a lot more subtle but because of that, a lot more powerful (for me anyway).
The start of the book did pull me in: the boy being "chosen" to get a special, kind of magic education. And when Robin arrives at Babel I really enjoyed the part where he and Ramy become friends.
But things were extremely and repeatedly spelled out. I think the message of this book would have been a lot more powerful if it wasn't so... preachy.
Colonialism had/has horrible consequences and I do love how the author used the translation-based magic to condense a lot of these issues - exploitation and abuse of power and racism etc.
But unfortunately she then deemed this too subtle and decided to hammer her point home. Is this book meant for people who didn't know yet that colonialism was erm... not great?? In any case, those people might not be the people who pick up this book anyway...
The characters were also very one dimensional.
Letty and all whities = BAD . I guess she had 1 (one) non-totally-evil white person in there? The professor who stayed with them in the tower. Letty was, from the start, clearly going to betray all of them and it felt incredibly silly that they didn't see that coming. They excluded her anyway and didn't like her from the start. It was actually caricatural how she was portrayed - killing Ramy because he rejected her? And "she would hunt Victoire to the ends of the earth". Really though? That doesn't even fit in the white supremacy portrayel of Letty - she doesn't care enough to do that, she'll just stay in her cushy life. And I guess that caricatural nature was a conscious choice the author made in this book - to go to that extreme as a way of - again - hammering her point and showing how damaging it is to see an entire group of people in a reductive, negative light. I get what she was going for (I think) but it didn't work for me.
I unfortunately also *hated* all the footnotes. They were used for such different purposes: showing the Chinese characters, adding some random examples of evil deeds by the British Empire, or examples of etymology, but also sometimes adding relevant info that should 100% just have been in the main text!
Example:
This book was also WAY too long IMO. A short novella with the same central idea (the language-based magic as a way of showing how colonialism used other cultures to their gain) could have been a striking story. Instead, we got a lot of *description* comma *different description* comma *another description* etc and a lot of repetition and spelling out of things that dragged on and unfortunately often started to annoy me.
I love language, I love academia and some of this book was enjoyable. But overall it wasn't my thing.
I also read Yellowface by Kuang and she is a great writer. In Yellowface, her message is a lot more subtle but because of that, a lot more powerful (for me anyway).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia