Reviews with content warning for Racism - Babel

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

2476 reviews

reb_knits's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Truly baffled by how one person can make a book that’s both academically specific and written with such beautiful prose

It took adjusting to adapt to the magical realism/fantasy elements but I really like how it simplified and represented the complicated facts of colonial empire

Learned a lot too - felt like what people do with hiding medication in peanut butter for dogs - like oh here’s a novel whoops bonus you also just read a textbook!

Content Warnings

interrobang_1's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous informative mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Definitely still digesting this book, and I expect I will be for a while. There's a lot to love about it - it discusses colonialism, racism, xenophobia, ethics and the intersectionality of different identities with depth and nuance. I also really enjoyed the discussions around language and etymology, the history, cultures and ideas around different languages, and thoughts around the concept of translation.

That said, there were aspects I felt could have been stronger too -

class becomes a key motivating factor, but is not really mentioned until late in the book (maybe partly because the main characters don't understand it until then, but it felt a little hurried), and the sexism that Victoire and Letty face isn't explored in depth (although again, maybe that's down to a flaw in Robin's character in not recognising, or even actively participating in, that part of their experience)

. I feel like the main characters could possibly have been developed further - some of their personalities feel a little inconsistent or unclear throughout the book. Letty however, is written so well -

obviously she's a villain of the story, and to an extent that's clear from the start - but the story still manages to build an element of sympathy for her and then challenge that sympathy again and again,

providing a strong critique on white privilege and white fragility.

The pacing of the book is great, and I was pretty hooked throughout. It has (for me) the ideal amount of world building. The story is engaging, but it's the way it deals with major issues facing the world today that really makes this book stand out for me.

Content Warnings

aturb92's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This book is only getting three stars because I enjoyed the first couple hundred pages so much, and genuinely wanted to love it. For how much struggle the four main characters go through I feel there was no depth to them. Other than being minorities at Oxford, which isn’t a personality type but a fact of each of their lives. For how talented I have heard Kuang is, I feel she could have made them more relatable and alive.
We wont’ talk about the ending, but it is what it is.

Content Warnings

jiwiz's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

I'll start off with a disclaimer; This was my first time listening to an audiobook, and I've often had trouble paying attention to audio so there may be some portions that I missed. For example, I didn't realise Robin was wasian until much later than when it was revealed.

I'd describe this book in one sentence as a very loud 'Fuck you' to western colonialism. I've seen people criticise how on-the-nose it is. It drives its point home in such a glaringly obvious way that it's impossible to misinterpret it. I think it definitely could stand to deliver its message in a more subtle, nuanced manner. That being said, it was a solid read. I think R.F. Kuang does a good job at writing less-than-perfect protagonists and the magic system is very fresh and unique.

Content Warnings

psitstorrie's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is extremely well written. The characters are so complex and flawed from the start, the prose is gorgeous, and overall it is incredibly thought provoking. The magic system is simple, but effective. History, language, revolution, academia, and comradely are the main focuses, and seeing how the characters and situations evolve is fascinating. I cannot recommend this book enough

Content Warnings

neonskylite's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

Hard to quantify the scale of this book. Such a deep and deconstructive approach to language and how we express ourselves. A stark reminder for academics and translators and linguists, anyone, what we are upholding and how to fight it.

Content Warnings

liafiles's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative 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

Content Warnings

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

If you put aside all the magical elements you have a bunch of realistic characters and many are vile. You may see your own decision making reflected in certain characters. For example choosing to not take actions in order to keep oneself comfortable despite what effect that has on unprivileged people. This is no [Child Wizard Series] book so if you go in expecting the 'good people are good because the author says so' treatment you will find the characters disappointing.

The character arc of Letty choosing to take actions that doom her supposed close friends because her idea of protecting them is to chain them into a life that is comfortable for her while refusing to accept that society prevents them from being able to live that life. I think Letty will be a very aggravating character for many but she embodies 'white woman tears.'

There are several characters that I wish had been explored more

Griffin and his group, Ramy, Victoire. Victoire and Anthony feel almost like the 'magical negro' stereotype since one doesn't really do much (until we need the conflict of 3 of the friends secretly being in the same rebel group without telling each other) and the other going on to take action after everyone else is no longer able to.

It also would have been interesting to see the effects Britain was having on other places in addition to China, which may have helped cement each of our four main characters' motivations a bit better. We know explicitly that Robin and Ramy want to help their homelands but Victoire is a little unclear and Letty is Letty.
There is a really great quote about Letty and how her upbringing shapes her world:

"And Letty, if she could not belong to a place, would rather tear the whole thing down. "

This is a really great demonstration of who Letty is as a person. Her privilege is so blinding she refuses to accept the path her friends are taking and ultimately kills Ramy to protect him. She literally destroys, betrays, and tries to manipulate her friends in order to prevent changes that would be uncomfortable for her in particular and Britain in general. She does not care about China or its people so long as the silver it contains can be acquired and used by Britain. She thinks her friends should be grateful and do whatever they need to so they may stay in Britain and not care about the homelands they were (literally) stolen from because Britain is HER homeland and it could become their homeland if they work/pretend hard enough.

I have Opinions about Letty and disturbingly have seen some of her arguably worst behaviors in myself and others when asked to boycott certain products or block certain 'beloved' persons.
The ending was unsatisfactory because of the epilogue.

It is set up for two people to have a conflict in the spirit of Javert and Jean Valjean. One is on a quest to see how big the rebel group is and the other is seeming back to their comfortable life after all the events.

The actions involving the tower would have felt empty without it however. Babel is set up to have a sequel but the author has been reported to have no interest in writing a sequel or any other book in the Babel universe so that setup just becomes loose ends. The audiobook handles the footnotes very well and the reading experience is best enjoyed by listening and reading simultaneously.

Content Warnings