Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

126 reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

bilal_shumuus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mirandyli's review

dark emotional 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

Amazing book, especially if you like magical realism and linguistics. Anti-colonialist in a historically realistic way. This was the best book I've read this year. It made me really think about my own simultaneous oppressions and privileges, and how violence is necessary for anti-colonialist, anti-capitalist revolution. This book destroyed me in the best way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kitkatmacattack's review

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

Has a slow start that sort of made me want to put down the book, but I'm glad I didn't. The second half is amazing and heartbreaking. You will get teary-eyed. This book will make you think and I love it for that! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

annabella's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring 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 got chills! This is a long book but I haven’t felt so on tenterhooks and wanting to know what happens in such a long time when reading. It’s such an in depth exploration of colonialism and resistance and privilege. It is complex and has hard hitting moments, and you are brought through the plot by the friendship between the four characters that has been written so strongly. I’ve never thought about translation before in this way. It’s made me think of educational institutions, learning, and you can easily relate it to what is going on today, which is chilling. White people basically stealing, grooming, etc etc people’s talents and languages and cultures for their own benefit, and as a violent act of white supremacy. The five books I thought gave it lots of structure because there is a lot that goes on here. The development of Robin is so interesting, and the loss he and everyone around him experiences feels heartbreaking. This book will make me think for a long time! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War

kalagrace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? No

4.25

Fascinating double edged sword on the foibles of colonialism and empire set against the warmth and heartbreak of university friendships. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism

teabrewer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

5.0

I've felt like this about a book and never this intensely. I cried when I closed it for the last time, after reading the last word of the last line of the acknowledgements. I felt like something was being taken from me. Like my skin streched and ripped as the story got farther and farther away. I couldn't let go of the book. Like a mother and her child holding each other after birth, but I didn't feel like a mother, maybe like a child. I feel like my molecules are now organized diferently. I didn't want it to be over, but I don't know if liking would be the correct word for the experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Slavery, Islamophobia, Medical content, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Genocide, Trafficking, and War

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Islamophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

crybabybea's review

challenging dark informative slow-paced

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

2.0

Well, I'm disappointed.

First of all, the dark academia aspect was done very well. It felt atmospheric, grand, with a hint of mystery. It felt gloomy in a really fun way. The settings outside of the tower itself were less immersive, but the majority of the story takes place inside the tower anyway so it wasn't too distracting. The dark academia vibe was a genius way to explore a story about decolonization and racism. The magic system was inventive and interesting, and I liked how it stood as a metaphor for the industrial revolution.

The characters were just okay. We get to see Robin, the main character, the most, and I felt really attached to him by the end. The other characters had interesting stories that I felt didn't get explored enough. I understand this book leans in to its literary side, and the characters and arguably the entire plot are just allegories for bigger issues, but I think this made the character work suffer and it made the explosive ending pack less of a punch. Don't get me wrong, I loved the ending, and I still cried, but some of the other moments that were meant to be heavy-hitting fell flat because I didn't feel the connection to the characters. The found family aspect didn't feel fleshed out enough because of this as well.

I think the character work is a side effect of Kuang's tendency to overexplain things rather than actually have things happen. Some of the messaging was so on the nose that it felt pedantic and almost condescending at times. I wanted to read this book to challenge my thinking, and I hoped it would leave me with lots of thoughts to reflect on afterward, but everything gets explained to you so plainly that it completely ruins the amazing research and work Kuang put into telling the story of racism and colonization in academia. I mean, there were literally times when something racist or sexist would happen, then the narrator would have a whole paragraph to say something like "Robin wonders if this white person realized how racist they were being". It got irritating... I felt like I was on Sesame Street. I will say the writing itself was done very well, the prose was accessible despite the scientific, historical, and literary references used, and I appreciated a lot of R.F. Kuang's comments and her sarcastic footnotes.

The last issue is the pacing, which I think is also a side effect of this "telling not showing" issue. This book only gets good around the 60-70% mark. It had an extremely slow start with very little intrigue. We spent a long time in lectures and I felt not enough time was dedicated to furthering either the charcters OR the plot. It was a lot of sitting around and waiting. I don't mind books that have a hill into a snowball second half, but I almost put this book down multiple times because nothing was happening, then one minor action would happen and I would finally think we were going somewhere, just for it to slow down again. 

All these issues made for a really weird reading experience where I absolutely dreaded picking the book back up, then when I started reading it was just fine and I wanted to know more, then it would get boring and the cycle repeated. I expected more from the rave reviews but left feeling like its potential got wasted. I still do think it's a good read overall, but it could have been better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism