Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

323 reviews

fronk10's review

adventurous challenging informative mysterious sad 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

4.0

An excellent and thought provoking read. I loved the characters, and Robin’s journey was so interesting to watch. It also has such a unique magic system that I adored, I just feel it got a little bogged down in semantics sometimes - but they are language scholars after all! A hard read at times, but a necessary one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, War, Racism, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Death of parent, and Child abuse

penofpossibilities's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

the first half was incredibly slow paced and at times a drag to get through. If it wasn't for some long train rides with nothing better to do, I would've taken much longer to finish. The last quarter or so was really exciting though! I even got emotional and started crying near the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Racial slurs, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Blood, Sexism, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Cultural appropriation, Ableism, Xenophobia, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Colonisation, Classism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime

Moderate: Addiction, Vomit, Islamophobia, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Slavery, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Child death, and War

annamary54's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

I am at a loss for words right now. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It also doubled my vocabulary. I have been contemplating going back to school for linguistics, and this book made me want to go even more, until it didnt. And at the same time this book had everything and nothing to do with linguistics. Incredible topical time for me to be reading the this (although I’m sure you could stay that about any time). I’m just thinking of the protests happening at colleges around the US calling for a ceasefire. Very much resembles the back half of this book. I will say, it was a slow start for me, only because I started reading this when I was in a reading slump and the world building was just a lot of translation. Once I got about 40% of the way though, things started picking up. I really was going to give this 4.75 just because it was so hard for me to get into it, even with my love of language, but book five was so good I had no choice but to give this 5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Police brutality, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Hate crime, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

hellichipmunk's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Torture, Grief, Drug abuse, Suicide, Racism, Colonisation, Death, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Gun violence, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, War, and Confinement

quinn24's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative reflective 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

5.0

I am absolutely floored. I was so fucking stressed reading this I had to keep taking breaks and honestly I’m a little pissed at how intelligent R.F. Kuang is. Insane. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Drug use, Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Vomit

bellsdixon's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, Death, War, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Grief, Emotional abuse, Deportation, Classism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Child death, Mass/school shootings, Trafficking, Gun violence, and Gore

samugranjo's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Classism, Murder, Grief, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, War, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Sexism

Minor: Confinement, Alcohol, Blood, Addiction, and Genocide

alexsouslesetoiles's review

challenging dark emotional informative 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

5.0

Merveilleux et terrible à la fois. Je ne me suis pas du tout ennuyé. C'est très bien écrit, très percutant et pertinent, avec beaucoup de réflexion politique encore d'actualité. Les personnages sont attachants et complexes. A mettre entre toutes les mains.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Torture, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Racial slurs

ka_cam's review

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective tense fast-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

This was well written and researched as relates to translation- an exploration of identity, friendship, family and academia and critique of colonialism and empire. I was intrigued by many threads of philosophy of translation- of words, of individual minds, of cultures and backgrounds. The historical part of the fiction (translation between past and present!) fell flat for me- it felt like conversations i heard on my college campus in the late 2010s copy-pasted into the 1830s. Though contemporary movements were referenced it didn’t seem like their time, or the magical part of their world, meaningfully impacted how they understood themselves and the world. Rather than history ‘rhyming’ this felt like one of the heavily biased and explanatory translations so often criticized in the text. Though I enjoy how this premise makes you wonder about and question all translations-bringing this critique to the fore! Maybe because of this I also found the plot suspenseful but largely predictable. For me the most interesting parts were the etymology and the internal grappling/soul searching, exploration of complexities, and theorizing of robin (and occasionally other characters, whose brief interludes both validated and challenged Robin’s worldview/analysis of them).  4 stars for readability, great writing, and interesting meditations. Folks might enjoy this more if they are more familiar with/attachment to Oxford and academia/academic identity though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Hate crime, Torture, Murder, Racial slurs, Addiction, Death, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Pandemic/Epidemic, Slavery, and War

emlibe's review

dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Violence, Trafficking, Racism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Grief, Sexism, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gaslighting, Classism, Death of parent, and Blood

Minor: Suicidal thoughts