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Minor: Death, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Grief, War
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Deportation
Graphic: Death, Colonisation
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia
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I am a political person. I like to educate myself, I like to listen, I like to learn. I like to take my sources from historical events, i like to interpret and correct my mistakes. But i’m still a white person, therefore i cannot understand deeply how poc feel. I can use my privileges, i can relay messages, but deep down, i will never experience racism and injustices the way they do. And i’m deeply, deeply sorry for the way white people take place in the debates that don’t concern them.
Babel felt like a pamphlet. Like a vindictive but somewhat poetic pamphlet that all white people should read, with all the others resources we could apprehend. Somehow, the writing skills of R.F Kuang made me feel like Robin, like Victoire, and like Ramy. I, for 545 pages, felt all the discriminations, the injustice, the despair and the passion of the poc youth. As a white woman, i also felt like i understood Letty, even if i strongly disagreed with her actions and her apprehension of Robin, Victoire and Ramy’s actions (and cried, of course, OF COURSE). I am trying to make this review as clear as possible, but im not lying, this book has shaken me to the core. I was infuriated. I was humiliated. I was crying like a baby whenever Robin was crying.
R.F Kuang made colonialism a subject of a fantasy novel, and she did it greatly. She used it, she criticized it, she tore it apart and made it shameful. We all know it is, but with her characters living it for 545 pages, it felt different. It made me feel like Robin, for i could never feel like a poc in real life — how could i ? The fact that i could impersonate him is already something.
I don’t have many words to express how much i loved this book. I too, as Griffin, believe in the necessity of violence in every revolution, in every combat. I believe in the necessity of ultimatum. In the necessity of studying the past, of annotating every books, every testimony. Babel felt like a deep and personal point of view on colonialism and therefore on translation and use of the languages in domination. Every time we see a community endangered, it’s the same routine : the language, the books and the ancestral culture is torn apart by the colons. For that, i’m very grateful for all the notes she made in the book, showing how many researches she made, how historically, everything is accurate and heart breaking. Heart wrenching.
I think everyone should read Babel. Not only did she wrote it with a magnificent prose, not only are the characters beautifully human, but it shows the necessity of educating yourself. The necessity of criticizing the environment in which you grow and evolve, the necessity of having a critical look on politics, on history, on white testimony. And because i think we should do better in the future. Even if it’s fiction, it happened. I mean the minds, i mean the criticism, i mean the second opium war in China. It all happened. Everyone should read Babel, even if you don’t like R.F Kuang, even if you don’t like her writing skills please please i’m begging you, read this book. Read all the books you can find on this subject. Let the concerned people talk. Don’t turn a blind eye on what’s happening in the world, on what happened in history just because you can.
Babel is a testimony, Babel is necessary.
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Death of parent
Moderate: Racial slurs
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Colonisation
Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt
Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Murder
Minor: Drug use, Torture, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship
Minor: Homophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, War, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic