Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

271 reviews

joey_estrada's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

The writing is beautiful and poetic and flows smoothly. I like how the dialogue is written.
I really liked all the literary references and just the general atmosphere of the book. Reading it made me feel smart and uneducated at the same time. 

The way that colonialism, racism, slavery, etc. were talked about was very interesting and felt brutally honest, which I appreciate and think is needed when talking about this sort of thing. 
Language was intertwined with and used as an example of how colonialism affects people and their identity. I thought it was done very well. 

The character development for everyone but especially Robin was very interesting to see and perfectly shown. 
You can see how drastically Robin's thoughts, feelings, and morals change and go back and forth. You can see his inner turmoil and contradictions so vividly.

This book did not go quite how I expected it to based on some happenings towards the beginning, but truthfully, it got so much better and more interesting than I thought it would and I already had high hopes for this book. I cried and teared up multiple times while reading for multiple different reasons.

I think everyone should read this at least once.
The feeling of being alone as a person of color, the different yet similar experiences people of color can have from each other, the devastating cruelty of how racism and colonialism work, the tragic realizations all throughout, and even more emotional, heavy, complicated, upsetting topics are somehow put into words perfectly.

(I realize that this is a very long review, but this book is so packed full with emotion and information that I feel it's only right. For all I know, I'll add more thoughts later.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Islamophobia, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Slavery, and Death of parent

snowiceblackfruit77's review

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lararajs's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative 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

4.0

4 stars bc i LOVED this book personally but i also think theres a lot that could be improved, mainly i wish the characters had been more fleshed out & the footnotes were overused. i could write an essay of a review but i cant be bothered. also fuck all the reviewers saying this book is just a load of white people slander… you have obviously missed the point of the book ❤️ (sorry i was tipsy when i wrote this review)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

alicatreadsstuff's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

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?!'

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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

elysiumreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.5

This was everything I enjoyed from The Secret History and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

The book obviously wants to make a point about intersectionality and the ethics of the British empire and it is has an essay-like quality to it, but due to the setting of the novel I didn’t find it disruptive or alien. The underlying ‘essay’ is well structured so it flows well. I had the opposite issue reading The Goldfinch by Tartt, where I felt like there was an attempt at an underlying ‘essay’ but it surfaced in bursts, at surprising times and from characters that weren’t normally that eloquent, so it felt quite jarring.

As a foreigner who studied languages and lives abroad, this hit home many times. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Racism, Slavery, Blood, Murder, and Classism

burningskyes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, and War

angelsplash's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

What a ride! I cannot find the words to describe the feeling of reading this book! Not only did this book get me interested in the history of languages, but also interested in a completely different country and time period! The first half of this book is mostly happy and fun, it practically flows! And then the shadows creep in, and suddenly the whole thing is shadows and an angry type of sadness. 

I fell in love with the 4 main characters (yes even that one). It was such a journey to see all of the ways they connected and differed and how it ultimately comes together. 

My only issue, which is really quite small, is that sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm reading from the perspective of the characters and more like I'm reading the authors' thoughts instead. For example "For a country that profited so well from trading in spices, it's citizens were violently averse to actually using them." Which read as a joke I had sworn I'd seen on Tumblr but with more casual language. This happens a fair few times throughout the book and causes some characters to be talking encyclopedias. They remember exact dates and names of every relevant fact and correction. And while it makes sense, since they are scholars, it doesn't quite read like that. It doesn't quite carry their individual voices as well as I'd hoped. Again, very minor problems.

At risk of any spoilers, I will stop her, but just know that this book was just on the cusp of a perfect 5 Stars! It moved me to tears and everything came to a mostly satisfying conclusion! Highly recommend to just about everyone!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Torture, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Addiction, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

sirpandacat's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

slimejules's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury