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crusoe's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Can't give this the full 5 stars because I could not connect well to the characters but in every other regard I adore this book! From the slow world-building to a fantastic climactic end; everything lines up. Every character has their own motivations, even the sidecharacters and that breathes real life into the story. It feels like there is much under the surface that can be revealed at a second read.
As someone who was once ensnared in the claws of academia, the way this story weaves theory with history and critique of the institution was quite nice.
Can't wait to read more in the dark academia subgenre of 'WTF RICHARD?!'
As someone who was once ensnared in the claws of academia, the way this story weaves theory with history and critique of the institution was quite nice.
Can't wait to read more in the dark academia subgenre of 'WTF RICHARD?!'
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol
aliyah_d's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
TL; TR: Babel is a young adult fantasy novel that fantasizes about being an academical paper. It's a collection of rightful indignation, studies and observations articulated in a fictional story that verges on rambling. Babel is a recollection of the author’s complex relationship with British academia, lost in a quest of self-valorization that amounted to nothing for me as a reader. The book's premises were fun and engaging but Kuang stretches them in the wrong directions, rendering them unfulfilling. Still, the book might be a solid introduction to the complex politics and economics of colonialism when it comes to historical fiction: the prose is effective and clean, the characters bare bone but clear, the story neatly outlined. Still, the missed opportunities to the already initiated are glaring and frustrating.
Full review (spoilers ahead):
My relationship with this book evolved every hundred pages or so in a way I had never communicated with a book before. The first hundred pages made me worry I had fallen into a power fantasy tale whose sole premise was to paint a scenario where Colonial Britain faced retribution for its sadistic and gluttonous imperialistic expansion (which it is, but not solely). The magical system seemed like a barely characterized after though, the white people failed to distinguish themselves from one another as they were made to fit a one-dimensional trope (characters and historical figures alike), the underutilized footnotes aiming to reinforce who moronic and overtly racist they all were (as if the main text didn't highlight that enough with a full condemning paragraph every time they spoke) felt gimmicky. I felt a bit uncomfortable at times by how condescending the tone of the narration was, forever expanded by the snarky footnotes. The novel, although tightly written, felt simple and hollow the mightier it thought of itself.
From there, I cannot say it ever fell apart as I didn’t witness any sort of worsening nor buildup, and this is when Babel first lost me: it stretches itself thin for... what? I'll give it to Kuang, her writing is effective and accessible, consistent, which is not an easy feat to maintain for seven hundred pages of content. It also means you shouldn’t expect her to treat certain events that require a different kind of sensitivity or details any differently. There is a lack of storytelling quality in Kuang's writing: she chooses to highlight the wrong interactions and linger on the most uninteresting details all the while actively skipping moments that could build our main characters and their relationships. There was enough space for tangent on the delicate work of translation, the (astoundingly romanticized) depths, joys and sorrows of the academical world AND showing examples of Letty's nearly systematical deflective victimization in arguments instead of just telling us "She does that sometimes which is weird".
While narratively, it makes sense for Robin to romanticize is Cohort and blissfully ignorant years as a Babel student, I felt like there was more than enough space in the novel to showcase how delusional he was while still giving us moments of pure love and happiness amongst the tragic four. I would have loved to be sad about their inevitable, terrible separation. At the end of it all, I could hardly feel anything about most of their fates both because the writing was lacking in those scenes and because the build up to it was insufficient. I would have been fine with one or the other problem and I got both. The epilogue would have packed a whole other punch if a fraction of a certain character, one that truly shined the last quarter of the book, had been showcased steadily throughout the novel. That might be Babel's biggest offense: the characters are props until the narrative needs them to be more and that's when you find yourself going "Wait, I want WAY more of you now and forever". But that was their moment, so you won't be getting anything more. Props and purely functional characters have their places in every story, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't give me a crumb of personality and quirks and expect me to feel emotionally attached to these vague ideas of people. Some of these characters simply deserved more.
Similarly, the author seems to misunderstand which mysteries and plot points were worth nurturing, such as Eveline Brook one's whom I am constantly telegraphed by the author that her deal is a dreadful, awful little thing (Kuang's refusal to allow the readers to develop their own perspectives and feelings on the story she developed is exhausting ; also she genuinely doesn’t know how to build a twist).
Yet, the following game changing revelation that should have been Anthony, Victoire and Ramy was treated as a complete side note. It should have been a slow and thrilling unwrapping, sent Robin in a form of turmoil, exploring his conflicted feelings here and there in the middle of a failed heist, friends rediscovering one another in a flash and instead we got... a quick observation. Three pages of clunky dialogue, then hop to the next scene we go, hop to the following plot point. Not that this revelation was well foreshadowed, but an expected twist should still pack a punch. Kuang did not pack anything. It was dry and uneventful because she didn't think it mattered or because she didn’t know how to make these moments shine. Her bare, slightly evocative at times but strictly functional writing style worked against her story here. That one was quite frankly the worst written part of the book (if we are willing to gloss over Griffin's whole "this isn't a novel, this is real life" rant which I believe even the most amateur writers know how to avoid).
Similarly, the author seems to misunderstand which mysteries and plot points were worth nurturing, such as Eveline Brook one's whom I am constantly telegraphed by the author that her deal is a dreadful, awful little thing (Kuang's refusal to allow the readers to develop their own perspectives and feelings on the story she developed is exhausting ; also she genuinely doesn’t know how to build a twist).
Yet, the following game changing revelation that should have been Anthony, Victoire and Ramy was treated as a complete side note. It should have been a slow and thrilling unwrapping, sent Robin in a form of turmoil, exploring his conflicted feelings here and there in the middle of a failed heist, friends rediscovering one another in a flash and instead we got... a quick observation. Three pages of clunky dialogue, then hop to the next scene we go, hop to the following plot point. Not that this revelation was well foreshadowed, but an expected twist should still pack a punch. Kuang did not pack anything. It was dry and uneventful because she didn't think it mattered or because she didn’t know how to make these moments shine. Her bare, slightly evocative at times but strictly functional writing style worked against her story here. That one was quite frankly the worst written part of the book (if we are willing to gloss over Griffin's whole "this isn't a novel, this is real life" rant which I believe even the most amateur writers know how to avoid).
The novel's single most misuses force is Hermes and its agents. Kuang made them interfere so early in the story only to completely elude the shadowy institution from it just as fast, failing to make them relevant or very consequential throughout until the plot demanded it. I understand why she may not have wished to expand the resistance angle, but the crumbs she gave really brought the novel together and refreshed the scenery, expanded the discussions. Hermes is a prime example of what I mean when I said Kuang struggled to recognize the more interesting parts of her own story.
As I find myself reaching the other half of the novel, my issues with Babel choice of narratives to pursue deepen, perhaps from an ideological point. I would have appreciated a wider take on racism that included non-white against non-white racism instead of always circling back to racism perpetuated by white people. It stands to note that every non-white person was imbued of a sense of deep camaraderie and understanding toward one another that they should have simply not possessed, especially religious understanding, as if perpetuating a sense of otherness amongst the colonies wasn’t a colonialist favorite, most polished tool.
Adding to that, I don't think it would have detracted from the novel if the trip to Canton would have explore Robin's identity as a mixed-race child stolen from his homeland and coming back as a weapon of the English crown, a form of rejection should have been explored. Furthermore, something interesting was happening between commissioner Lin and Robin that shed light on the way China viewed and aimed to answer to England with Moreso the same weapons the British had been using to expand their imperialism in Orient, translation, but was cut short and set aside just as quickly, just in case you start thinking about imperialism as not strictly a British issue. I can't quite articulate what went wrong there, but weaving China so tightly to the narrative, another but quite different imperialistic power, yet always reverting to England as sole gluttonous, capitalistic, colonialist forces to dissect and stop seemed like an easy cop-out.
I felt there was, again, more to be spent on the inner workings of imperialism elsewhere (always quickly mentioned and brushed aside), without sabotaging the main study of this book. It could have enriched it, but it was consciously avoided.
In quite the same way, making nearly all the white British characters devoid of any ability to empathize with non-white characters at ANY level and always blindly favoring the crown, or wrapped their allyship in faux-pas, white savior complex or straight shallowness (minus a single character), as if the mere concept of allyship was just a mirage, made many turns of the book predictable and the narration less dynamic and felt like another cop-out.
I rather not even delve into the shaky foundations of this novel (there's a magic that's been around since ancient Rome, but the course of history is barely changed by it?), as I'm willing to exercise a certain form of disbelief to meet this book halfway. So, I rather talk about the way Kuang refuses to address intersectionality as a multi-ways concept and the way Imperialism weaves sexism, classism and racism, instead circling back to "yes but racism (from white against non-white) is clearly way more important", which seems to be often incarnated by Letty's character and subsequent intervention since this rubbed me the wrong way. As it stands, I didn't like a lot of things about the way Kuang chose to write anything regarding Letty. There's a constant coldness and apathy towards her identity and struggles, if not downright contempt and hatred for upper class white women in general, that just oozed from the page every single time she is described and that often deep into misogyny to make a striking point. That’s why as soon as the novel began to dwell into how Robin and Ramy failed to integrate the constant discrimination that Letty and Victoire experienced in Oxford and everywhere else, it was promptly pushed aside.
And while Letty omitting the very existence of Victoire in her chapter is so simple that it is genius... the whole novel omitted the singularity of Victoire's position in the group as a black woman, always recentering her as a non-white PERSON, not a non-white woman, and always highlighting how she evidently had more in common with her two non-white male peers de facto, so it felt incredibly disingenuous. This is made even worse by Kuang making Robin and Ramy incredibly more egalitarian toward women that men of their times and upbringing would have allowed, perhaps so the uncompromising criticism of Letty's white feminism could resonate without concession, which, again, is disingenuous.
I felt there was, again, more to be spent on the inner workings of imperialism elsewhere (always quickly mentioned and brushed aside), without sabotaging the main study of this book. It could have enriched it, but it was consciously avoided.
In quite the same way, making nearly all the white British characters devoid of any ability to empathize with non-white characters at ANY level and always blindly favoring the crown, or wrapped their allyship in faux-pas, white savior complex or straight shallowness (minus a single character), as if the mere concept of allyship was just a mirage, made many turns of the book predictable and the narration less dynamic and felt like another cop-out.
I rather not even delve into the shaky foundations of this novel (there's a magic that's been around since ancient Rome, but the course of history is barely changed by it?), as I'm willing to exercise a certain form of disbelief to meet this book halfway. So, I rather talk about the way Kuang refuses to address intersectionality as a multi-ways concept and the way Imperialism weaves sexism, classism and racism, instead circling back to "yes but racism (from white against non-white) is clearly way more important", which seems to be often incarnated by Letty's character and subsequent intervention since this rubbed me the wrong way. As it stands, I didn't like a lot of things about the way Kuang chose to write anything regarding Letty. There's a constant coldness and apathy towards her identity and struggles, if not downright contempt and hatred for upper class white women in general, that just oozed from the page every single time she is described and that often deep into misogyny to make a striking point. That’s why as soon as the novel began to dwell into how Robin and Ramy failed to integrate the constant discrimination that Letty and Victoire experienced in Oxford and everywhere else, it was promptly pushed aside.
And while Letty omitting the very existence of Victoire in her chapter is so simple that it is genius... the whole novel omitted the singularity of Victoire's position in the group as a black woman, always recentering her as a non-white PERSON, not a non-white woman, and always highlighting how she evidently had more in common with her two non-white male peers de facto, so it felt incredibly disingenuous. This is made even worse by Kuang making Robin and Ramy incredibly more egalitarian toward women that men of their times and upbringing would have allowed, perhaps so the uncompromising criticism of Letty's white feminism could resonate without concession, which, again, is disingenuous.
Final thoughts: I appreciate Babel for inciting me to dive and reflect on history and precise points of history at that, which is something few other fictional authors from my shelves give me a chance to do. Kuang's footnotes increased in maturity, wits and usefulness around four hundred pages in and became a welcome surprise by the end of the novel that I will gladly revisit by themselves. They provided great insight into prominent colonial figures and the institutions belonging to both her story and our real-world history (with some accuracies that belong to the period the story takes place in).
The dissection of capitalism, of the levels of colonial domination, the political confrontations and schemes followed by the brutal disillusions and the repressions that ultimately led to the necessity of violence was often delightful. I wish this would have been given more space in the novel, so it felt like a proper, increasingly more real eruption and less of a sudden explosion. Do not mistake me: the inherent exploitativeness, misery and barbarity of colonialism dripped from the first page of the book, as soon as Lovell arrived in Canton and that suffocating cruelty persisted throughout Robin's childhood then academical instruction. What I wished was for the lingering dread to emerge as raw, uncompromising anger way sooner within the narrative. I needed that transition from martyr to avenger to... something begging for what was lost to happen two hundred pages earlier. But the novel really shone in those moments.
The dissection of capitalism, of the levels of colonial domination, the political confrontations and schemes followed by the brutal disillusions and the repressions that ultimately led to the necessity of violence was often delightful. I wish this would have been given more space in the novel, so it felt like a proper, increasingly more real eruption and less of a sudden explosion. Do not mistake me: the inherent exploitativeness, misery and barbarity of colonialism dripped from the first page of the book, as soon as Lovell arrived in Canton and that suffocating cruelty persisted throughout Robin's childhood then academical instruction. What I wished was for the lingering dread to emerge as raw, uncompromising anger way sooner within the narrative. I needed that transition from martyr to avenger to... something begging for what was lost to happen two hundred pages earlier. But the novel really shone in those moments.
And as I explore the frustrations and joys this novel offered me, I find myself wondering: for how is this for? Was it even meant for me, a French Haitian woman pursuing a literature college degree in a country that enslaved my ancestors' one, sucked up the resources dry and left it to rot? I’d say no.
Babel is a (Young adult) fantasy novel that wanted to be an academical paper. It's a collection of (rightful) indignation, studies and observations articulated in a fictional story that verge on rambling. I wasn't following the story of Robin Swift, I was uncovering the author's diary, recollecting her complex relationship with British academia, lost in a quest of self-valorization that amounted to nothing for me as a reader but that I understood as an individual. It doesn't give me much to reflect on the colonial era and it doesn’t give me anything to dream about as a fantasy. I'd say Babel is a gentle starter for teenagers discovering imperialism, socialism, capitalism. I don’t think it does enough to challenge the people it might want to challenge, if any, and it doesn’t give any new perspective to those who already agree with its premise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, and Colonisation
rizky's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-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: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, and Colonisation
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail
gallifreyanpanicmoon's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A historical fantasy, postcolonial twist on the classic university novel, providing a rich exploration of the colonial violence of the British empire through a Chinese-English pupil's candidature at Oxford University. With a truly unique magic system based on etymological links between translated words, this gripping novel uses magic to interrogate Britain's dark history of colonialism, and transforms Oxford University into a magic institution that manufactures stolen magic off of colonised subjects and their languages.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Minor: Sexism and Cultural appropriation
raynelib's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
my mind is absolutely blown away r.f. kuang is a genius in her field of work and i have huge respect for her.
as for the reading experience, i do admit that the first half of the book is quite slow, it felt like a huge essay while also getting glimpses into the different characters and their dynamic, but dear goodness does the pace and plot pick up drastically throughout the second half and i binged it all
as for the reading experience, i do admit that the first half of the book is quite slow, it felt like a huge essay while also getting glimpses into the different characters and their dynamic, but dear goodness does the pace and plot pick up drastically throughout the second half and i binged it all
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Islamophobia, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, and War
Minor: War
lis98's review
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I don’t think I’ve ever had such an emotional reaction to a book before. Even now I don’t even know how to describe what I felt reading this. Sadness and guilt were a lot of it though. Reading this during the time of the US election and everything else made it hit different too I think.
I heard criticism that this book tackled too many themes and bc of that didn’t go deep enough in some aspects for some people. I personally didn’t feel that way even though I can see where people were coming from. I think it was a choice to make it more about how this affected the individual characters personally and it made it so much more personal for the reader so I really am glad the author made that decision. Especially in hindsight about the importance they put on how people would only care if it affected them personally it was a very powerful choice to focus on the main characters motivations and inner world like this.
I also really enjoyed the academic theory about language and translation a lot. It’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea but as someone who spends a lot of time learning and engaging with other languages this is something I find extremely fascinating. It also made the dark academia themes much more engaging and believable and play into the story more.
I heard criticism that this book tackled too many themes and bc of that didn’t go deep enough in some aspects for some people. I personally didn’t feel that way even though I can see where people were coming from. I think it was a choice to make it more about how this affected the individual characters personally and it made it so much more personal for the reader so I really am glad the author made that decision. Especially in hindsight about the importance they put on how people would only care if it affected them personally it was a very powerful choice to focus on the main characters motivations and inner world like this.
I also really enjoyed the academic theory about language and translation a lot. It’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea but as someone who spends a lot of time learning and engaging with other languages this is something I find extremely fascinating. It also made the dark academia themes much more engaging and believable and play into the story more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism
gossameralbum's review
was almost halfway through when i couldn't take the linguistics lessons anymore and put the book down. the book is brilliant and written perfectly, the subject matter is just something i happen to be not interested in. i will pick this up again someday though
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Vomit
themoostconfused's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
"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." (pg. 535)
I don't even know where to begin. R. F. Kuang has done it again. She has rattled me, shaken me to my core and I thank her for it. Going into it - having read the entire Poppy War series - I knew I was not bound for a happy, carefree book. Coming from an anthropology background, the extent of human destruction and hatred of "the other" it not news to me but it continues to move me every time.
I can already sense that I will return to this book over and over again in the future and will recommend it to everyone I come across, although not without warning.
The book's alternate title "The Necessity of Violence" captures the journey this book takes one on while reading quite succinctly, althought the extent of this might not seem obvious upon first glance.
In the process I have learned a great deal about linguistics and am planning on dealving into that further. But first I am going to have to digest what I have become witness to by reading this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
exzeeti's review against another edition
Too serious for me
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse
esme_may's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Slavery, and War