Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

77 reviews

wordywashington's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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

All I can say right now while I process everything this book made me feel  is that I'm surprised no one in the US has tried to get this book banned yet.
I don't think I've considered a book this much of a must-read in at least a decade. I'll elaborate further once I get my thoughts and emotions in order, but right now, I struggle to think of a more relevant and poignant fiction book to read in the current state of the world. Just...wow. Please read Babel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

fronk10's review

adventurous challenging informative mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

An excellent and thought provoking read. I loved the characters, and Robin’s journey was so interesting to watch. It also has such a unique magic system that I adored, I just feel it got a little bogged down in semantics sometimes - but they are language scholars after all! A hard read at times, but a necessary one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and War

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

ramizrafimirza's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and War

bookswithlauren's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

swagdana's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Classism

bababookmatt's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

Harry Potter 1-7 meets the politics, economics, history of English academia, colonialism, and imperialism. I hope this book has a large influence on the conversation of racial injustice. Just when you’ve fallen in love with the student life at Babel and Oxford, the story’s intensity ramps up and never stops. The mystical characteristics endowed to silver working and translation is a well crafted symbol for the power behind language and communication. Further, this approach made linguistics and etymology, which I always found scholastically intimidating, comprehensible and fascinating. The characters are absolutely fantastic throughout and so well developed. They become your friends. I found myself picking sides during their disagreements, celebrating their achievements, and mourning their hardships. This is a book that will stick with you and influence the way you view social injustice historically and at present. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Classism

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

wheatlyre's review

I didn't have enough time to read it, and need to return it soon. It also has been taking me a long while to read, and whether or not it's just my mood the past 5 weeks, but it takes me a while to feel motivated to actually read it. Once I read a paragraph or two I get sucked in for a couple 10-17 pages, but I've been busy and just haven't been able to really get into it in the right way. (Again, just my experience with it so far, and it might not necessarily have anything to do with Babel in particular.) The writing is more advanced than the typical YA novel, but not as period-accurate as a classic Literature novel, still leaning more to the YA style.
I have enjoyed it so far, with a couple parts in particular sticking out to me, especially [spoiler cw:

child abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse

]

when Robin is beat by the Professor for the first time. The way he describes his surprise and the numbness he felt during it was heart wrenching, and the way the professor was described as both detached, reserved, and aloof, yet swift and graceful, was incredible. I'm unable to describe with words how affected I was by it. I'm also in awe with how amazingly the author characterizes Robin through the way he reacts to the abuse, brushing past it and refusing to think about it for anything more than, 'I don't want that to happen again'. The rest of Robin's teenage years were brushed past, which, while I feel it to be a loss for me to see more of his adaption to life in London, I understand from a storytelling point as a reflection of the monotony of his years there, and could possibly be echoing off how the single beating affected him.

The writing in that part is just so beautiful, and I've frequently found myself coming back to that moment. I just wish we got a bit more of his musings.

I really enjoyed his reflections on the professor and cook's disagreement about scones.

Once again, I have not gotten too far in the book, but I have liked it quite a bit so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and Deportation

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Slavery and Trafficking

all content warnings mentioned were put in intentionally by the author and are seen clearly to be character flaws or problematic.

amalas_bookstop'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 think I am still gasping for breath. I am clapping, if all dark academia is not written like this I do not want it. She was able to write what could have been such an elitist topic to something that was very easy to grasp, you don't even have to go searching. I want more!

This book is a straight masterpiece. It is so refreshing to read a victorian age dark academia novel through the eyes of people of color. I cannot fully grasp how she was able to touch on so many topics. From classism to racism to economics she covered it all masterfully. I was learning new scopes of language as I was trying to read this. 

Her characterization of Letty and the and white guilt was so spot on. My mind is still reeling. Her characterization of being a person of color who is provided opportunity and the guilt/shame you can sometimes feel was also spot on. I did not know that my soul needed to read a view point of this age that is not told by the white majority. This was like therapy and a history lesson all in one.

A required read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Slavery