Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

481 reviews

friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

joshkiba13's review against another edition

informative mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I reeaaallly wish I'd not also been swamped with school as I read this. It seriously would have been a 10 to 14 day read had I not had (literallly) 900-1,000 pages of assigned school readings for the quarter. Still, Babel takes place over several years at Oxford University, so having it be an intermittent and prolonged delight had its own charms, in a way.

I loved this book. It was my by first R. F. Kuang, and it was so atmospheric and immersive (again, maybe it helped that I was also in school, lol). I loved the chapters watching Robin grow up and question his relationship with his guardian and with Britain as a whole. My Race and American history course happened to touch on the Opium Wars between Britain and China as I was reading this, and we talked a lot about colonialism in general too, so lots of crossover haha.

As someone who has learned a second language, I was soo intrigued by the translation-based magic system, and I loved all the notes and explanations of different translations and lost meanings. It was all such a clever concept. 

Absolutely adored Robin's relationship with Ramy, Victoire, and Letty, his cohort at Oxford. Beyond the academia portion of the novel, it explored some heavy concepts about imperialism, race, rebellion, and power. The ending surprised me, and left me with powerful things go consider. Even though the story takes place in the mid 1800s, many of the moral quandaries remain as relevant today as they did back then.

Again, I wish I could have absorbed the story more regularly, but I really have no gripes about the book. It was a 5/5, and was would be a special treat for anyone who speaks two languages, is an immigrant, or a POC. Which reminds me, knowing the author is Chinese American, it added another level of depth to Robin, since I assume R. F. Kuang poured many of her own experiences into Robin's story. Great stuff :))

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Racial slurs, Racism, and Blood

luxton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

This is an emotionally intense, dark, and long book. I had to take a break halfway to read something lighter because I felt myself starting to resent the bleakness of it all.

But I'm glad I stuck with it, and overall I felt invested throughout the story, unlike some other bleak books I've read in the past. The ending was (minor/vague spoilers)

devastating

and I'm still processing it all. It didn't feel dark just for the sake of it either, the emotional heaviness of the story was used very intentionally to reflect the past and present of the real world that we live in.

I think this will sit with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Drug use, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Slavery, Police brutality, Islamophobia, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

dragonlilly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Quite an excellent book, especially with R. F. Kuang's studies and research. The book is long with slower paced sections, and bursts of crazy events throughout, but it all felt right. The characters were well built (although summarizing their relationships with one another during the school years was a bit off-putting, rather than having consistent scenes and conversations but I get it in the context of a more informational-style story almost), the story was consistently interesting, and while there were repetitive bits, the themes examined within this book were well explored. It took me a while to be convinced by the magic of silver, but I eventually accepted it and was interested in how it worked and how it accelerated the British Empire's power. 

The history of colonization and all that is intertwined within that history is quite thoroughly explored, especially through the ways the characters interact with one another, and the individual difficulties they face as people who are seen as ultimately foreign to England and Europe generally, no matter how long they have lived there or become a part of that land. Yet, we also see the unique difficulties the characters face because of their different phenotypic appearances, genders, races, languages, and religions. So, while our main characters are able to come together to form an immensely strong bond, especially due to the prejudices they face, we can also see how unique all people are generally. Each character came from different parts of the world, grew up differently, and had wholly distinctive experiences that causes them to have their own opinions, biases, and views on the world. This creates conflict in the dear friend group, but they often come back together because they only have one another in the end. I also felt the characterization of these individuals was very consistent, and their actions always seemed to make sense. I liked Ramy instantly, and liked Victoire quite a bit, while the other characters grew on me.

The exploration of translation and etymology, along with the characters and story, was one of my favorite aspects, and the quotes I loved the most from this book all seem to relate to that theme: 

Ch. 6 - "'You don't think that an original language exists?' Robin asked.
'Of course I [Richard] don't. The most devout Christians think it does, but you'd think if the Holy Word were so innate and unambiguous, there'd be less debate about its contents'"

Ch. 8 - "'How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?'"

Ch. 33 - "The bars were singing, shaking; trying, he thought, to express some unutterable truth about themselves, which was that translation was impossible, that the realm of pure meaning they captured and manifested would and could not ever be known, that the enterprise of this tower had been impossible from inception... Language was just difference. A thousand different ways of seeing, of moving through the world. No; a thousand worlds within one. And translation - a necessary endeavour, however futile, to move between them"

 Ch. 33 - "'That's just what translation is, I think. That's all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they're trying to say. Showing yourself to the world, and hoping someone else understands.'" - Ramy
(My favorite quote, very likely)

Overall, great book! I just didn't absolutely adore this. I would certainly recommend this to those interested in history, translation, and the uniqueness among people, and those who can handle the slower sections, as I think that can easily bog people down a bit. 

Some spoiler notes I wanted to think on:

What was Richard Lovell reaching into his pocket for at the moment of his death?! I feel like this was an interesting thing that was missed upon. 

The reveal of what was in Griffin's note for Robin was very interesting. It seems Robin may have had other brothers in Hermes abroad! That could have been the hope to allow him to live and believe in a future. But maybe it wouldn't have changed his mind either, as all of his love and love for life was somewhat centered upon Ramy. Quite horrifying to think that Richard Lovell was just impregnating possibly dozens of Chinese women though, as this reveal shows. 

I enjoyed the picnic conversation between Ramy and Robin that was revealed in the last chapter. While I didn't feel any chemistry beyond solid friendship throughout the story, I thought this scene was very cute. Although, I guess Robin wasn't able to put a name to these feelings either until the end, so I suppose it being hard to notice could make sense, I just wish is was a teeny bit more obvious. I had honestly thought there were hints between Robin and Victoire earlier on, but it must have just been platonic admiration. 

Dang it Letty. Yet, I see in how her characterization led to this. 

Lots of unexpected moments in the story, mainly the deaths. It certainly captured my interest and made for some fast reading though. 

The standoff between Griffin and Sterling Jones was a bit comic, playing on them being the 'main characters' of their own stories at one point and in another book, this would be their ending. I didn't love this scene, just found it a bit funny. But Griffin's death was indeed sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Genocide and Slavery

river69rat's review

adventurous challenging dark informative tense medium-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? No

4.75

An absolutely fantastic and clearly deeply researched novel surrounding the power of language at the height of British colonialism.

The way past colonial actions shape our world today is something I'm really interested in, this book opened my mind up to so many perspectives and challenged me at points. I also loved the use of ideas around the 'good' immigrant and the way that means assimilating yourself entirely to a culture that will never actually respect you.

I think this book is especially poignant with the current extremely hostile atmosphere around immigrants in the UK, and a rise in the racist depiction of who is 'actually' British.

I had one small gripe that stopped this being 5* and that's the authors notes. Personally I did not need the authors own voice and I found it very distracting throughout. 

Still a fantastic book that I'm ashamed I'd put off reading until now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Blood

peachmoni's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

cloverandmoss's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

3.25

WY too many unnecessary footnotes that could have easily been incorporated into the story 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

tiredenglishteacher's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.75

This book is so incredibly unique. The exploration of language and translation in itself is enthralling, but the characters bring the book to life. Incredible world-building and multidimensional characters. I will note, I read this via audiobook. There is a LOT of exposition, and I imagine if I’d read it in text form I would have given up. Last four hours were crazy - that degree of action would have been appreciated earlier on as well. Also, for a giant tome, the romance (implied) needed to be either developed or dropped. Immediately, I want to reread. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Slavery, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Addiction

infusionofviolets's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Vomit, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

liadh's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicide, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Child death