Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

2489 reviews

nwara's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Toxic friendship

very_mellifluous's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-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

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

nie_fertig's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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

hellichipmunk's review against another edition

5.0

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

beckyvh523's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark hopeful informative slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I had a hard time staying invested and did not like the main character Robin - kept wait for his arc to crest and I felt like it never did. Language history was fun though

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Cultural appropriation

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, Deportation

k_noodlesoup's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

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I don't think I can adequately review this novel. The amount of research and dedication to it astounds me. I read this as part of my book club and it was an incredible experience. I cried so much while reading this. The poignant way this novel looks at capitalist and imperialist structures of society gave me so much to think about and resonate with. It was slow going in the beginning, but the way the story came together for me deserves a 5 star rating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Death

wretched_divine's review against another edition

5.0

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: Complicated

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

Moderate: Bullying

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

glund_01's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Murder, Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts

mr_ryancowboy's review against another edition

5.0

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic

bellsdixon's review against another edition

4.75

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

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Content Warnings

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

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