Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

250 reviews

joeyvelcro's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

this book ruined my life and for that i’d like to thank it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Slavery, and Islamophobia

buffalomj's review

challenging dark sad 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

4.5

I devoured this book. Kuang has written some of the best character work that I have ever seen, and I felt I knew every one of them within a few pages. I loved the simplicity of the magic system at work — it’s barely fantastical which, when combined with the PhD-level attention to linguistics, creates something entirely unique and enrapturing. I feel like the momentum was unsustainable though, and the resolution was kind of abrupt — definitely would have enjoyed more espionage in books IV and V, but I was still invested.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: War and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Deportation

botanicpanic's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Slavery, Grief, and War

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

bookcheshirecat's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

“Betrayal. Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes. So then where does that leave us? How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?” 

➽ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and Slavery

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. 

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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

friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

pencilspeaker's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, and Murder

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

dragonlilly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Quite an excellent book, especially with R. F. Kuang's studies and research. The book is long with slower paced sections, and bursts of crazy events throughout, but it all felt right. The characters were well built (although summarizing their relationships with one another during the school years was a bit off-putting, rather than having consistent scenes and conversations but I get it in the context of a more informational-style story almost), the story was consistently interesting, and while there were repetitive bits, the themes examined within this book were well explored. It took me a while to be convinced by the magic of silver, but I eventually accepted it and was interested in how it worked and how it accelerated the British Empire's power. 

The history of colonization and all that is intertwined within that history is quite thoroughly explored, especially through the ways the characters interact with one another, and the individual difficulties they face as people who are seen as ultimately foreign to England and Europe generally, no matter how long they have lived there or become a part of that land. Yet, we also see the unique difficulties the characters face because of their different phenotypic appearances, genders, races, languages, and religions. So, while our main characters are able to come together to form an immensely strong bond, especially due to the prejudices they face, we can also see how unique all people are generally. Each character came from different parts of the world, grew up differently, and had wholly distinctive experiences that causes them to have their own opinions, biases, and views on the world. This creates conflict in the dear friend group, but they often come back together because they only have one another in the end. I also felt the characterization of these individuals was very consistent, and their actions always seemed to make sense. I liked Ramy instantly, and liked Victoire quite a bit, while the other characters grew on me.

The exploration of translation and etymology, along with the characters and story, was one of my favorite aspects, and the quotes I loved the most from this book all seem to relate to that theme: 

Ch. 6 - "'You don't think that an original language exists?' Robin asked.
'Of course I [Richard] don't. The most devout Christians think it does, but you'd think if the Holy Word were so innate and unambiguous, there'd be less debate about its contents'"

Ch. 8 - "'How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?'"

Ch. 33 - "The bars were singing, shaking; trying, he thought, to express some unutterable truth about themselves, which was that translation was impossible, that the realm of pure meaning they captured and manifested would and could not ever be known, that the enterprise of this tower had been impossible from inception... Language was just difference. A thousand different ways of seeing, of moving through the world. No; a thousand worlds within one. And translation - a necessary endeavour, however futile, to move between them"

 Ch. 33 - "'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.'" - Ramy
(My favorite quote, very likely)

Overall, great book! I just didn't absolutely adore this. I would certainly recommend this to those interested in history, translation, and the uniqueness among people, and those who can handle the slower sections, as I think that can easily bog people down a bit. 

Some spoiler notes I wanted to think on:

What was Richard Lovell reaching into his pocket for at the moment of his death?! I feel like this was an interesting thing that was missed upon. 

The reveal of what was in Griffin's note for Robin was very interesting. It seems Robin may have had other brothers in Hermes abroad! That could have been the hope to allow him to live and believe in a future. But maybe it wouldn't have changed his mind either, as all of his love and love for life was somewhat centered upon Ramy. Quite horrifying to think that Richard Lovell was just impregnating possibly dozens of Chinese women though, as this reveal shows. 

I enjoyed the picnic conversation between Ramy and Robin that was revealed in the last chapter. While I didn't feel any chemistry beyond solid friendship throughout the story, I thought this scene was very cute. Although, I guess Robin wasn't able to put a name to these feelings either until the end, so I suppose it being hard to notice could make sense, I just wish is was a teeny bit more obvious. I had honestly thought there were hints between Robin and Victoire earlier on, but it must have just been platonic admiration. 

Dang it Letty. Yet, I see in how her characterization led to this. 

Lots of unexpected moments in the story, mainly the deaths. It certainly captured my interest and made for some fast reading though. 

The standoff between Griffin and Sterling Jones was a bit comic, playing on them being the 'main characters' of their own stories at one point and in another book, this would be their ending. I didn't love this scene, just found it a bit funny. But Griffin's death was indeed sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Genocide and Slavery

peachmoni's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

idontexizt's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I never go into an RF Kuang book expecting a happy ending but I always forget how much her writing makes you to believe it could end well. If from pure hope alone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Colonisation

Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Violence, War, and Classism

Minor: Addiction and Sexual harassment