Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

426 reviews

endlessallison's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative 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

This book is so relevant to today and captures the perspectives of both the colonizers and the colonized on such beautifully blunt painful ways I truly believe everyone should read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

This is a book of fiction that uses a slightly fantastical element of silver/magic to be a placeholder for any and all resources valuable to an empire. It deals with sexism, racism, colonization, revolution, workers revolt, strikes, rebellions, war, academia, and more. Within those topics there are really heavy pieces of content but it is handled tactfully and effectively to convey a message to look at the world today through the lens of this narrative.

aidamaria_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This is a literary middle finger to colonialism, capitalism, racism, classism, sexism and all the other -isms, basically. I admire the way the author came up with the magic system (as a former translation student, it was truly amazing) and how it plays into the historical setting. The writing was wonderful. I wonder how long we’ve got until some government(s) bans this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Classism

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

20sidedbi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Genocide, Infidelity, Misogyny, Slavery, Blood, Islamophobia, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

maresuju's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Xenophobia, Murder, and War

Minor: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, and Death of parent

_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

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

sara_in_iceland's review

dark reflective 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? N/A

4.75

wow what a read, A MUST

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

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