Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

42 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

annakh16's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

Ah. She gets it. 

I’ve held off on writing this review for a little while, mainly to process. I feel like I have a lot and at the same time very little to say. The key thing is that the intensity of emotions this book induces - the betrayal and guilt and grief - is such a poignant way to bring its message to the public. And for that, hats off. 

More “superficial” things first: the language nerd in me adored having a magic system based around translation. Additionally, I found the footnotes very effective as a method of world-building, as they made it feel like a real history. I also loved all of the thinkers and literary references included.

The Plato quote right at the end nearly made me cry in the office

. 

Really, I had so many thoughts about 3/4 in regarding how cleverly this book was set up and how much I appreciated the analysis. And then it just went a bunch of places I didn’t think it would and that made it so much better. 

In my opinion, the pacing was off around the middle - there were too many repetitive bits and the plot dragged. But the ending brought this back a hundred times over.

Griffin was my favourite character for most of it, not because he’s overly likeable though. The clarity of his conviction and analysis, as well as how much he predicts correctly made for a pessimistic but poignant reading. I truly didn’t expect Robin to follow in his footsteps. To see this play out - the conclusion of the themes of this book so clearly brought onto the page, not to be inferred, not to be denied - was a welcome if very sad surprise

.

An incoherent review for a not at all incoherent novel. Overall, while parts of this book were a little raw, I loved it. There are many quotes and moments I will carry with me from now on and I’m already “looking forward” to re-reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, Car accident, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Drug use

laffi's review against another edition

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

4.5

Great work, but I saw about every plot twist coming miles ago

I predicted that

Ramy would die

at the start of the book, I saw the

Griffin/Anthony/Evie/Sterling history

,

Lovell being Robins father

,

Babel being destroyed by the translate-silver-work

, and many more.

Great book nevertheless

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, Misogyny, Slavery, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Vomit, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Deportation

teawitchontravel's review against another edition

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, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Slavery, Death of parent, and Deportation

Minor: Vomit, Antisemitism, Car accident, and Alcohol

the_bookwormhole_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, and Alcohol

the_scribe_of_amyklai's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Deportation

gwyllion's review

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

 Excellently written and researched, loved the footnotes, but, and I hate to say it, I docked points for petty reasons.

As soon as Ramy and Robin met, I was like “don’t be a coward and make them gay”. Instead, she fucking killed Ramy (well, I guess she killed them both). I almost DNFd because of this. And like, ok, she did throw in that line on the last page about Robin falling in love. And like, ok, it was obvious (to me) that they were more than platonic besties the whole time. And like, ok, there was no explicit romance, het or otherwise, in the book. But still, if you’re not gonna let them kiss, at least don’t kill them 🥲. like yes, whatever, romantic tragedy, my love dies I go on a grief fueled rampage whatever whatever. Letty Price, you incel ass, you better not let me catch you in these streets.

Was really disappointed that, given the parallels between Griffin’s cohort and Robin’s, she chose to take Letty in the same direction as Evie. I think it would have been more subversive if Letty DIDNT betray them literally two pages after we found out Evie did the same.

Ok, maybe this is childish (I did say I docked points for petty reasons!), but DAMN, did she have to kill everyyyyyone what the fuck. I feel like she lost her thesis at times? It was difficult to understand the point she was trying to make. IS violent rebellion the only solution or no? IS martyrdom as a way to get the (white) man to take you seriously valid/fair or no? Maybe I just lack reading comprehension skills, but if most of your characters are dead by the last chapter of your book, their sacrifice painted as the only path to success, but you are ambiguous about the outcome AND the character you leave alive was the most levelheaded and logical, what am I supposed to believe about the necessity of violence?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Drug use, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Car accident

eefjeee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Islamophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident

offthecarousel_'s review

dark informative mysterious tense

• 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

4.0

I was 60% through, giggling and kicking my feet, and ready to give this book a straight 5 star rating. Then I read the rest of it.

This is a book with some incredible elements. The prose, the characters and their interactions, the incredibly detailed grounding in history... it was all there. 

To escalate the problem from their immediate surroundings to taking on world politics with only 25% of the book left.... it was always going to have pacing issues. The last quarter is way too fast, and highlighted other pacing issues I was willing to let go in the first half. 

I also understand logically how a character can have such a dramatic personality change after a trauma, however... this book did not convince me with the words on the page. The characterizations in the last arc fell apart for me, as I wasn't convinced he would change like that.

I'm so tempted to drop the rating lower because I had such high hopes for this book and then I was extremely disappointed. But a lot of the elements here were genuinely good, so I've given it a four.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Car accident