Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

207 reviews

sheyri's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective 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, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Violence, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and War

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

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

ethuiliel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Drug use

au_conn1'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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

Minor: Drug abuse and Religious bigotry

findingnobody's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Overall a solid read, there was some amazingly written character work, and the research added a good but of depth to the book. The back half of the book had some issues with feeling artificial, especially the political discussion felt contrived at times, but still had many good parts.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

miss_maq's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

One of the best books I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

ford_defect's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Slavery, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Minor: Islamophobia, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

ekgranstro's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, and War

sas_lk's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed this less than I thought I would have, but I still enjoyed it. I think there are 3 main reasons why this wasn't a 5 star for me.
1- The pacing was a bit off, I felt that we spent too much time with some scenes, and not enough with others.
2- The friendship of the characters never felt truly real to me; it felt more like telling than showing, so I never felt like I could truly "feel" the depth of their relationship. And that only worsened throughout the book to the point where in the 2nd half of the book, it felt like nothing anymore.
3- I was expecting it to be more mind-blowing in terms of the discussion of colonialism. Don't get me wrong, I think the writing was brilliant in terms of making you feel that constant dread that colonialism makes you feel when you slowly start understanding the reality of how things were. However, if you already have quite a good understanding of colonialism and its depth, then this book isn't so mind-blowing which is unfortunate. 
I feel bad for saying this, but I think once more books like these (that discuss colonialism in fiction like this) get published, I think this book will go under a little bit.

Either way, I think my expectations were simply too high. However, I still enjoyed it.
Although now I want to study more languages in depth.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Islamophobia, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Toxic friendship and War

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use