Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

965 reviews

mccann_a10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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: Gun violence, Racism, and Suicide

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Drug abuse

smaller_fries's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Homophobia, Blood, Death of parent, and Deportation

norab99's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative mysterious tense 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? No

3.0

I did like this book. I loved that I read/heard it via audiobook, as some of the information was hard to comprehend and process through reading alone. Listening to it made it much easier to follow and kept me more engaged.  

The reason for my relatively low rating of 3 stars is that, as interesting as the book was to listen to, I went into it blind and wasn’t entirely sure what it was about. That lack of preparation left me feeling confused for a large portion of the book. To be honest, even now, I’m still not entirely sure I grasped everything.  

That’s not to say the book was bad—far from it. I think the issue was more that my brain struggled to absorb all the information, and as a result, I felt lost for most of the story. However, I absolutely loved R.F. Kuang’s writing style. Even though I didn’t fully understand what was happening until the end (sort of), her writing drew me in completely. The way she crafted the world was so immersive that whenever I was on the bus listening to it, I would forget where I was.  

I really enjoyed the writing, but I think next time, I should be a bit more prepared before starting a book like this. 😊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Sexism, Slavery, and War

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and War

sashajwolf's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

This is a jewel of a book, so well crafted that you don't even realise it until it sneaks up on you and floors you with a single well timed and perfectly executed blow. 

Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the history of empire and decolonisation, philosophy, linguistics and/or translation. It's also extremely evocative of Oxbridge academia, but if you aren't prepared to see that atmosphere problematised... well, it's all the more important that you read this, but approach with the caution you'd show an unexploded bomb.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Gun violence, Infidelity, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

moonbasket's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative 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

This book was extremely good. I found the overall exploration of language and the exploitation of British colonialism extremely well done within the context of the novel. It was also extremely well researched and the footnotes made it feel like a non-fiction book in a way that really fit the theme.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Slavery, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Child abuse is in chapter 2 and not telegraphed. The blood and violence is pretty well telegraphed by the narrative. The racism is part and parcel for the time period, but still upsetting.

aliyahs's review

adventurous dark informative reflective 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

5.0

I wish I could read this book again for the first time. Beautifully written a 6-star read. But i did hear the footnotes are very relevant to the story and I couldn’t see them on my kindle so I would suggest reading a physical copy . 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

eri002's review

dark reflective tense slow-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

4.0

I felt like the metaphors were incredibly obvious and, while I do understand that makes the point unmissable, I prefer something a little more subtle. Still a very enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

absington's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative 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: Child abuse, Death, Racism, Death of parent, and Murder

megbert00's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

The plot was interesting and held good dialogue on colonialism and academic elitism. Incredible and unique magic system. 

The academic elitism was simply too convincing for my taste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

alsoapples's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Death of parent, Colonisation, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use