Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

499 reviews

sulkshift's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

payeswoods's review against another edition

dark funny informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Overhyped. Aside from the mention of certain literary art that peaked my reading interest, I found nothing else worth retaining to memory or heart.  The anti-colonial message maintained the same mundane vitriol throughout; very redundant and uninspiring. The thesis is over explained, leaves no room for the reader to explore concepts. The magic of language and translation is brilliant, and I wish so furiously that she would’ve explored into that more. More history of the secret society would’ve made this more enjoyable. More details would’ve made it more enjoyable. Instead it was filled with facts, facts that we all already know. I had hoped that this unique magic system would be used in a more ingenious manner than the predictable, lackluster ending it received. This was far from a historical/political masterpiece for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

joeyvelcro's review

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

5.0

this book ruined my life and for that i’d like to thank it

ramy, robin, i am so, so sorry. you deserved a life together at a picnic on a hill at sunset. rest in the most peaceful peace.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Slavery, and Islamophobia

buffalomj's review

challenging dark sad slow-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

4.5

I devoured this book. Kuang has written some of the best character work that I have ever seen, and I felt I knew every one of them within a few pages. I loved the simplicity of the magic system at work — it’s barely fantastical which, when combined with the PhD-level attention to linguistics, creates something entirely unique and enrapturing. I feel like the momentum was unsustainable though, and the resolution was kind of abrupt — definitely would have enjoyed more espionage in books IV and V, but I was still invested.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: War and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Deportation

chantellimus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Classism

onmypocket's review

adventurous challenging informative tense 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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

eldervampire83's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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

Phenomenal narration. It made an already brilliant story all the more gripping, with individual voices for each character portrayed by Chris Lew Kum Hoi. He captures all of the emotions and even the inflections of each quote. An excellent touch, as well, to have a separate reader narrate the footnotes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, and War

raynearchv's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

5.0

my mind is absolutely blown away r.f. kuang is a genius in her field of work and i have huge respect for her.
as for the reading experience, i do admit that the first half of the book is quite slow, it felt like a huge essay while also getting glimpses into the different characters and their dynamic, but dear goodness does the pace and plot pick up drastically throughout the second half and i binged it all

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Islamophobia, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, and War

Minor: War

katerepp's review

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I unfortunatley did not enjoy this book. I could not stand robin. It was way to slow with little character development

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

lis98's review

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don’t think I’ve ever had such an emotional reaction to a book before. Even now I don’t even know how to describe what I felt reading this. Sadness and guilt were a lot of it though. Reading this during the time of the US election and everything else made it hit different too I think. 

I heard criticism that this book tackled too many themes and bc of that didn’t go deep enough in some aspects for some people. I personally didn’t feel that way even though I can see where people were coming from. I think it was a choice to make it more about how this affected the individual characters personally and it made it so much more personal for the reader so I really am glad the author made that decision. Especially in hindsight about the importance they put on how people would only care if it affected them personally it was a very powerful choice to focus on the main characters motivations and inner world like this. 

I also really enjoyed the academic theory about language and translation a lot. It’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea but as someone who spends a lot of time learning and engaging with other languages this is something I find extremely fascinating. It also made the dark academia themes much more engaging and believable and play into the story more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism