Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

498 reviews

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: Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Racial slurs, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Blood, Sexism, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Cultural appropriation, Ableism, Xenophobia, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Colonisation, Classism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime

Moderate: Addiction, Vomit, Islamophobia, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Slavery, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Child death, and War

annamary54's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

I am at a loss for words right now. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It also doubled my vocabulary. I have been contemplating going back to school for linguistics, and this book made me want to go even more, until it didnt. And at the same time this book had everything and nothing to do with linguistics. Incredible topical time for me to be reading the this (although I’m sure you could stay that about any time). I’m just thinking of the protests happening at colleges around the US calling for a ceasefire. Very much resembles the back half of this book. I will say, it was a slow start for me, only because I started reading this when I was in a reading slump and the world building was just a lot of translation. Once I got about 40% of the way though, things started picking up. I really was going to give this 4.75 just because it was so hard for me to get into it, even with my love of language, but book five was so good I had no choice but to give this 5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Police brutality, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Hate crime, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

very_mellifluous's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-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

godDAMN this book was incredible. For fans of The Magicians, Ninth House, Jhumpa Lahiri's In Other Words, dark academia, linguistics slowburn revolutionary politics with a touch of whimsy. 

The finish is still fresh in my mind and it hurts to think about too much. Possible revisions of this review to come as it percolates. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, Racism, Colonisation, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

nie_fertig's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Babel is like Maus where I believe everyone should read it just for the intense experience and understanding. It's so incredibly wild how different the two acts of the book are, as it starts out pretty calm, although with a definite disturbing undertone (I hated the professor from the beginning for being so manipulative and abusive toward Robin, the main character). It's particularly calm when Robin starts college, makes friends, and studies and learns in his classes (btw kudos to the author for RESEARCHING linguistics omg you'll learn more about the overall study of language from this book then from a 300 level undergrad linguistic college class), but then it slowly comes crashing down and I won't spoil too much, but there's a sudden moment where everything gets extremely dark and Robin and his friends lose everything they've worked for, but I won't say it was their faults--not even Robin's fault--nor will I say losing all their privileges was particularly a bad thing because they escaped the biased, white privileged system where they'll never fully receive respect because they're not white (besides Letty and hoooboy her character and what happens,,,,)
I don't want to spoil anymore, but it's absolutely worth the read and I will say here and now ROBIN X RAMY !!! 🥺🥺🥺

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Murder, Misogyny, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death, Sexism, Colonisation, Drug use, and Death of parent

hellichipmunk's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

Graphic: Classism, Torture, Grief, Drug abuse, Suicide, Racism, Colonisation, Death, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Gun violence, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, War, and Confinement

quinn24's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

I am absolutely floored. I was so fucking stressed reading this I had to keep taking breaks and honestly I’m a little pissed at how intelligent R.F. Kuang is. Insane. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Drug use, Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Vomit

mr_ryancowboy'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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Xenophobia, Violence, Grief, Racism, Murder, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Misogyny, Blood, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Slavery, and Physical abuse

Minor: Addiction, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Drug use

bellsdixon's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, Death, War, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Grief, Emotional abuse, Deportation, Classism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Child death, Mass/school shootings, Trafficking, Gun violence, and Gore

samugranjo's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Classism, Murder, Grief, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, War, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Sexism

Minor: Confinement, Alcohol, Blood, Addiction, and Genocide

julbel's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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

4.5

A wonderfully written story about the very real struggle against empire. Seeing how the powerful manipulate and warp both their own people and those whom they oppress to think that their way is inevitable is seeped in truth, and the struggle of the oppressed to make those who benefit from the system see the truth is poignant. The slow burn of the revelation of truth allows for such a painful rejection of their willful ignorance, and makes the fracturing of the group so much more painful. The book is also filled with interesting perspectives on translation and languages, which I found deeply interesting as a bilingual individual. 

Would not recommend to read as a student going through exams because those school days sections are *real*. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Xenophobia, War, Slavery, Death of parent, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Grief, Violence, Torture, Cultural appropriation, and Racism