Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

26 reviews

senga15's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, and Car accident

nikki_flowers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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 was brilliant in so many ways that I cannot even begin to adequately put into words. 

This is a book to help you decolonize your mind. The story itself is beautiful and the message is powerful. Fiction like this is so important. People need to see, these stories, to read these stories. Decolonial fiction like this gives us insight and hope and community and so much more. 

As I reflect back on my journey reading this masterpiece I cannot help but think of the events that were unfolding in the world at the same time. 

As I very slowly (for thoroughness sake, not a lack of interest) made my way through the book, I watched the world justify the genocide of Palestinians and the further colonization of Palestine. I watched so so many people, white girls and women in particular, obsess over this book but refuse to put the message into practice. If felt like a fetishization or infantilization of the book and its decolonial efforts. How many read this book and took what they wanted from it for their own selfish reasons and then watch Palestine burn and called Hamas terrorists or stayed completely silent. A completely colonizer move to take what you want from the book and leave the rest to burn regardless of the harm caused.

And yet, how many others read this work and felt its message in their bones. How many saw themselves on the page for the first time. How many people were awakened to liberations struggles. How many felt and cried and turned it into action. How many had hard and necessary conversations with themselves and/ or others because of this book.

That is the legacy of this book. The change it brought about to so many. The perverse colonizer response is not its legacy but rather further example of exactly why we need books like this. 

May this book live on in the hearts of those who have read it and may it fuel our souls in the liberation/mutual aid/revolution/abolition work we do.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, and Alcohol

cursed10fold's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-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

1.0

This book was quite a bit too long for what story was there. It feels like it should have been heavily edited so that the author could put more focus on the best parts of the story. Or if the author didn't feel like any parts could have been dropped, it should have been two books so that the poorly focused parts could have been explored more thoroughly. 

For example, I was disappointed with how the women were handled in the story. In real-life Victorian England, less than half of women could read at all (much less go to university) so I thought that there would be interesting angles to explore as two main characters were women and students but the issue of sexism wasn't really explored beyond a few token mentions even though it was raised by the narrative. The more important of the two characters (whose POV comes at the very end as a sequel hook) didn't really get any focus until quite late in the story even though she was in most scenes throughout the book. 

The author also adds a gay romance(?) which would be interesting to explore except that it happens so little that I forgot it was even a plot until the end of the book which leaves me wondering why it wasn't edited to either give it the time and breathing room it deserves (as it could have added a lot of depth to the two other characters in the core four) or removed to tighten up the main plot. 

Lastly, I thought the anachronisms were jarring and distracting. One character is fairly modern for the most part (even speaking like someone from the 2020s/using modern terms like "narco-military state") but then goes back to blaming a woman for being sexually harassed with her friend by drunk men at a party. He blames her for suggesting going to the party in the first place and putting herself and her friend in danger instead of the men for harassing the two of them. When she brings up that she was almost assaulted too the narrator calls it "a bizarre line of argument". The way that scene was handled put a really bad taste in my mouth and I almost DNF-ed there. I kept going as I was hoping it would be used as a learning opportunity but it never comes up again and the character that blames her is treated as one of the most likeable characters by the story. I get that his attitude would have been common for the time but for that to be the one thing that's time-period accurate in how he speaks seems to be a really strange choice given that the narrative doesn't examine it or challenge him in any way. There are quite a few other unchallenged sexist remarks/tropes used throughout the story. 

The stuff I did like was the first book/section; it was a good set up for the story and the racism/attitudes of Prof. Lovell and his colleagues was very well done and fairly accurate to real-life Victorian academic figures (check out some of the real figures that worked with King Leopold II). I also liked the magic system and wish there was more of it. Also some people were complaining about the slow pace but I actually liked the atmospheric descriptions in the early story. This book was ultimately very disappointing given that it had a relatively strong start and a very rushed/disjointed ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

razmatazt's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Grief

aleyajo's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Classic college experience: magic, colonization, exploitation, racism, slavery, murder, and revolution

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

teddie_valetine98's review against another edition

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

This reread was eye opening again. 
Still a five star read that needs to be read at least once.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Islamophobia, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

koiolee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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

5.0

I was teetering on the fence about giving this book 5 stars or not, but I decided that it rightfully deserves that 5th star. 
I love how symbolic the book is, and how soon the events are foreshadowed. This is an incredibly literary book. This book is about language and the nuances between languages and it challenges the space between language so masterfully. This book tackles the art of writing, translation, and the life beneath what is seen. And we haven't even got to the actual plot and story contents. 
Each character felt fully fleshed out and incredibly real. Oh my boy Ramy, poor Ramy. Robin, the main character, makes so many mistakes in all the best ways. I love how he overanalyzes every opportunity he's given, weighing the pros and cons only to uncharacteristically act on emotion and impulse, the very thing he's been taught not to do. In a book where words are everything, Robin tends to give himself away in his mind, yet never quite says the words that give away what he truly means. Victoire and Ramy probably had the best setup to be the best revolutionaries. They had their brains and wits about them, and the ability to rally the crowd, but Robin was the best choice they could've made. Robin was the one with the most and least self-control, and they bet on that. Victoire is the moral compass of the group and they all respect that. Ramy a fearless leader. Letty was the unfortunate sacrifice they needed to make. The one who couldn't hear what the world truly looked like, what didn't confirm what she knew about her world. Robin described her best, if she couldn't have the world, no one could have it. To be loved is to be heard, and she was deaf to their pleas.
As for the story, it's very neatly organized and linear, there were the climaxes that have you on the edge of your seat mixed with the wonderful lulls of normality. I felt like I was with them with the way Kuang described their second and third years. It reminded me starkly of my third and fourth years respectively (and the fallout that occurred around that time as well), it's good to know that it's a common experience (minus revolution of course).
My only qualm thus far is that all the villains are white people. We could've realistically had some brown people turn their backs on their own like what happens in real life, and given how realistically based this story is, I'm surprised there were no brown traitors. I guess you could say that Robin filled that role actually, but he came back so?
The Dark Academia I was looking for to satisfy the itch fr.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

victoriav22's review

dark informative 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

Minor: Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

jaywb's review

dark emotional sad 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

An extremely enjoyable read - the author is now an insta-buy of mine! The characters have depth and the story evokes emotions. (

I spent the last few chapters having to read through tears.

) The only thing that threw me off occasionally was the pacing, as it began very slowly and picked up pace closer to the end, although I believe this added to my overall enjoyment as it allowed me to fully connect with the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual harassment