Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

472 reviews

_saaraa11's review

challenging dark informative reflective tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

sarahgmo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

I loved the linguistic complexity and research. As a polyglot, I really understand how meaning can be “lost in translation” and I love a book that finds ways to play with that. The book also had me thinking about colonialism a lot more deeply than I ever have before, but it eases you into the idea, along with the apprehensive protagonist. Though I am inherently a pacifist, the thought experiment presented by this book — that violence may be the only thing that brings the colonizer, or whatever power, to the table — feels an especially important thought process since the CEO shooting by Mangione. The only reason I knocked 0.5 off is because it is a very intellectual book that can sometimes feel a bit dense to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, and Deportation

dpsmom's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

This book had so much potential. A group of young individuals finally being offered the opportunity to rise above the lower class society in which they were born to study at the prestigious Oxford Translation college sounds like a winning story. And the story itself was a cool idea, but how it was implemented fell flat. The book is long, so much so that there were certain points that dragged on and didn't feel like they really helped advance the plot. They could have been summed up in fewer pages and still had the same effect. 

The characters were stereotypical in their mannerisms and actions. The author painted these characters in a certain way for the audience, but when some characters did an about face in their actions, dialogue and demeanor, it was hard to find the sudden shift to be wholly believable.  

Additionally, certain elements that contributed exponentially to the plot were only glossed over (Canton opium house). I kept waiting for more to detail the tragic opium epidemic and Robin's reaction/epiphany, but it never materialized. 

This novel was classified as fantasy, but with the exception of the silver bars enhancing technology, there was nothing that stood out and screamed it should belong in that genre. The silver translation portion didn't even seem to be a massive plot point either (until the end), which again, would not have made the cut as a fantasy/dystopian/ etc. novel. 

The ending was completely predictable, so much so, that I was ready to close the book and be done and I still had 50 pages to go. I knew what was going to happen, and how it was going to happen. There were no plot twists or surprise endings. 

The middle dragged. Until about page 300, I struggled to continue reading. Around the 300 page mark, the story picked up and became a little more exciting, but it slowed down again the last 100 pages and just. kept. going. when it needed to be wrapped up. 

The writing was excellent and varied. There is no doubt that Kuang is a talented novelist. 

Overall, this was touted as being a fantastic fantasy/dystopia novel, but as someone who reads fantasy regularly, this would not be one I'd recommend a friend to read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship

readbooksovermygrave's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

chelbuch's review

challenging dark mysterious 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

Babel should be at the the top of everyone’s list who claims to like fantasy or dark academia. Magic being intertwined with language and translation is such a great metaphor that is fragmented the reflected differently through each character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Drug use and Religious bigotry

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

clarissag's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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

Moderate: Suicide and Torture

Minor: Drug use

slimejules's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring

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

5.0

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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

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Is it wrong to move a book up the TBR due to it being listed on a GoodReads challenge? I am glad I read this book but I feel like the challenges are manipulating the readers. Is a book popular on GoodReads because it is good or because I am reading it to tick off one more challenge? 

 

That aside, this is a very good book. The main four characters feel very real and I can empathise with the viewpoints of all of them. It is also an important book. While languages have not been used in the method the book describes with the silver working they have been stolen in a manner not unlike the onebbnn nn nn  h described in the book. The Opium Wars were very real wars that were fought to keep the opium legal in China for the benefit of European trading companies. 

 

We can learn from history and do better, but we have to actually do better. 

 

Stolen labour, stolen land, stolen language, stolen lives. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

46jjsg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

I listened to the AB intermediately and I'm so delighted I did- I don't often listen to ABs but I wanted to accurately understand the pronunciation of all the unfamiliar foreign words I expected given the context of the novel. I thought the narrator was very engaging!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, and Death of parent