Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

26 reviews

not_asha01's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction

beccaaa's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

deedubb's review

challenging hopeful 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

One of my only 5 stars ever. It is enlightening and exposes the nasty truth of colonialism and white supremacy.

I genuinely could not have predicted the ending. I didn’t burst into tears until robin and victoire separated

I will think about this book often

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

griffin_7's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

lil_bokchoy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Colonisation

giulianasbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective 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? It's complicated

3.5

La relación tóxica que tengo con este libro es inexplicable. Me lo compré por todo el hype que tenía y por la sinopsis me pareció un libro bastante interesante. Me tarde un poco en ponerme con él porque tenía otros libros pendientes hasta que, después de unos meses, por fin he podido leerlo. La verdad es que la autora escribe increíblemente bien, su pluma es una pasada. Sé perfectamente que es un libro de ficción histórica pero a mí me lo habían vendido como un <i>dark academia</i> con mucha magia con vibes de Harry Potter pero no ha sido así para nada. En algunas ocasiones hasta parecía que estaba leyendo mi libro de historia del instituto y la verdad es que eso me desilusionó un poco, ya que la magia aparece bastante menos de lo que pensaba y sinceramente hay información que se podría haber omitido del libro (porque, en mi opinión, le sobran bastantes páginas) y haber sido mucho más corto. 

El mensaje que quiere transmitir la autora con este libro sí que me ha parecido súper bueno, además que en el libro ves cómo los personajes son tratados y estereotipados por sus razas/colores de piel, así como una misoginia tremenda hacia las mujeres que, por desgracia, aún sigue pasando. Los personajes me han encantado, sobretodo Victoire y Ramy, y me encanta cómo la autora ha plasmado a Letty para representar lo que una persona blanca nunca podría llegar a entender (la razón por la cual llevaron a cabo el desmantelamiento de los planes que tenían entre manos los profesores de Babel con respecto a China) básicamente porque nunca ha tenido que pasar por racismo. 

Aunque yo tenía otras expectativas, no es un libro para nada malo, pero ha habido veces que se me ha hecho insufrible, y no es hasta más de la mitad del libro que empiezan a pasar cosas interesantes. Lo del tema de la traducción me ha parecido bastante interesante, eso sí. A eso me refiero a lo de mi relación toxica, porque me parece un libro súper pesado pero que está increíblemente escrito.
Por supuesto, leeré más libros de R. F. Kuang. La verdad sea dicha: ella es increíble.


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The toxic relationship I have with this book is inexplicable. I bought it because of all the hype it had and from the synopsis it seemed like a pretty interesting book. It took me a while to get to it because I had other books on my tbr, but after a few months, I was finally able to read it. The truth is that the author writes incredibly well, her pen is amazing. I know perfectly well that it is a historical fiction book but I had been told that it was a a dark academia with a lot of magic (Harry Potter-ish vibes) but it wasn’t like that at all. On some occasions it even seemed like I was reading my high school history book and the truth is that that disappointed me a bit, since magic appears much less than I thought and honestly, there’s information that could have been omitted from the book (because, in my opinion, it had more pages than needed) and it could’ve been much shorter. 

The message that the author wants to transmit with this book is incredible, in addition to the fact that in the book you see how the characters are treated and stereotyped because of their race/skin color, as well as a tremendous misogyny towards women which unfortunately it's still happening. I loved almost all the characters, especially Victoire and Ramy, and I love how the author wrote Letty to represent what a white person could never understand (the reason why they carried out the dismantling of the plans of the Babel professors regarding China) basically because they’ve never had to go through racism. 

Although I had other expectations, it's not a bad book at all, but there were times when I found it insufferable, and it's not until more than halfway through the book that interesting things start to happen. However, all the translation stuff was quite interesting to me. That's what I mean about my toxic relationship with it, because it’s such a dense book but it's incredibly written.
Of course, I will read more books by R. F. Kuang. Truth be told: she is amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use

kayfab's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective 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: Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

evanmcomer's review

dark emotional informative reflective 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 books is brilliant and important. R.F. Kuang is a talented writer, and her story deconstructs themes of colonialism, and oppression in a masterful way. Using an inventive hard magic system, her setting places the violence and exploitation at the heart of daily life in Empire front and center. Because of this, Babel is an impressive work of literature and one of the best pieces of fantasy to be written in contemporary fiction. 

To be sure, this is not a happy story. Babel is not Hogwarts. And while the book is beautifully written, it is tragic, historically accurate, and unfair to the characters that I grew to love while reading it. But that’s precisely what makes Kuang’s work so compelling. It interrogates and problematizes the tropes, settings, and characters that we take for granted as readers of fantasy. 

The one complaint I have with Babel is how it deals with mental illness, depression, and suicide. The main character clearly (and understandably) suffers from depression. Unfortunately, I found that the resolution of the book glorifies suicide and furthers the myth of noble self-sacrifice in a way that was troubling. The book is a tragedy and never tries to convince you otherwise, so I didn’t dock any stars for this. And the author does present compelling contrary points of view on the subject.

However, readers with a history of depression or suicidal ideation should be careful before reaching for Babel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, and Suicide

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Trafficking, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

winterwoodbooks's review

emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

One the best books ever written.
One of my favorite books of all time, this feels like my soul.

For everyone who loves Addie LaRue! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Deportation