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adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
This is a phenomenal, spellbinding epic. Breath-takingly powerful and awe-inspiringly clever. I cannot put into words how magnificent the experience of reading Babel was and can only plead others to read it themselves. I have just put it down and I feel like it is still vibrating through me the way that brilliant writing does.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder
Minor: Sexism
This is a very heavy read. With very little happy moments. I may come back to it but as a mood reader this was not my vibe right now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
Babel is one of those books that completely blew me out of the water. It's beautifully written, richly imagined and has characters that leap off the page. It's a dire shame that the Hugo's scandal prevented it from being put forward, as I have no doubt in my mind that it would have been a top contender. It's a novel that will undoubtedly stick in my mind for some time to come.
Set in an alternate 1800's Oxford, Kuang has envisioned a world in which translation powers magic and in doing so has altered the history of the world. Kuang merges fantasy, academia and historical fiction wonderfully, creating a clever and logical magic system that works through the pushes and pulls of language itself. And within this, she dissects the art of translation, examining how many different elements there are to a 'good' translation; the exact words, the author's tone and style, the underlying or secondary meanings, the poetry of the phrase itself. Yet despite going into fair detail about these various facets of translation, it never felt bogged down by the detail, but instead enriched.
Into this alternate Oxford walk our characters; Robin, Ramy, Victoire and Letty. All language students, all looking to find a place in the great tower of Babel as silver workers, yet all confronted in their own way by the imbalance of power and the corruption at the heart of society. Told almost entirely from the perspective of Robin, Kuang doesn't flinch from a challenging character arc; from orphaned Chinese boy, trained by Professor Lovell in Ancient Latin, Greek and Chinese, and propelled into the Royal Institute of Translation, Robin's character grows and changes throughout the novel. All of the characters do, nobody excepting some of the Professor's are static, but Robin in particular is a character you can't help but root for even when you think he's behaving like a moron.
And throughout this, Kuang faces difficult topics head on; racism, colonialism, sexism, capitalism and how the powerful beget more power. Robin, Ramy and Victoire all come head on with ingrained racism, some to lesser degrees than others depending on how well they can 'pass' for white. Victoire and Letty have other issues, being two of the few female students at Oxford, unable to dorm with the boys and often treated differently due to their gender. Kuang writes these encounters well, infusing them with emotion and a rawness that it's impossible to look away from. She writes the issues into the very heart of the narrative, rather than leaving them on the outskirts to be looked away from uneasily.
All in all, Babel is an excellent read and undoubtedly one of my favourite reads of 2024. It's emotional, evocative, thought-provoking and I enjoyed the academic tone to it.
Set in an alternate 1800's Oxford, Kuang has envisioned a world in which translation powers magic and in doing so has altered the history of the world. Kuang merges fantasy, academia and historical fiction wonderfully, creating a clever and logical magic system that works through the pushes and pulls of language itself. And within this, she dissects the art of translation, examining how many different elements there are to a 'good' translation; the exact words, the author's tone and style, the underlying or secondary meanings, the poetry of the phrase itself. Yet despite going into fair detail about these various facets of translation, it never felt bogged down by the detail, but instead enriched.
Into this alternate Oxford walk our characters; Robin, Ramy, Victoire and Letty. All language students, all looking to find a place in the great tower of Babel as silver workers, yet all confronted in their own way by the imbalance of power and the corruption at the heart of society. Told almost entirely from the perspective of Robin, Kuang doesn't flinch from a challenging character arc; from orphaned Chinese boy, trained by Professor Lovell in Ancient Latin, Greek and Chinese, and propelled into the Royal Institute of Translation, Robin's character grows and changes throughout the novel. All of the characters do, nobody excepting some of the Professor's are static, but Robin in particular is a character you can't help but root for even when you think he's behaving like a moron.
And throughout this, Kuang faces difficult topics head on; racism, colonialism, sexism, capitalism and how the powerful beget more power. Robin, Ramy and Victoire all come head on with ingrained racism, some to lesser degrees than others depending on how well they can 'pass' for white. Victoire and Letty have other issues, being two of the few female students at Oxford, unable to dorm with the boys and often treated differently due to their gender. Kuang writes these encounters well, infusing them with emotion and a rawness that it's impossible to look away from. She writes the issues into the very heart of the narrative, rather than leaving them on the outskirts to be looked away from uneasily.
All in all, Babel is an excellent read and undoubtedly one of my favourite reads of 2024. It's emotional, evocative, thought-provoking and I enjoyed the academic tone to it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Sexism
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, Classism
adventurous
dark
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Blood, Murder
Minor: Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Murder
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rating this feels really hard because I liked the plot and the characters but the writing and construction of the story made it hard for me to connect fully with what was going on.
I can definitely appreciate the message R.F. Kuang is trying to convey and I liked the discussion of colonialism, the empire etc. But the story felt too much like a lecture at times and the description of the silverworking was very confusing and went on for too long in my opinion. The way the story is told made it really hard to connect to the characters and made them feel kind of surreal. That got better towards the end but it couldn't make up for the distance created in the beginning and middle.
All in all, I think R.F. Kuang might just not be for me but I can still appreciate the story of Babel and how it handles the topic of racism, colonialism, slavery etc.
I can definitely appreciate the message R.F. Kuang is trying to convey and I liked the discussion of colonialism, the empire etc. But the story felt too much like a lecture at times and the description of the silverworking was very confusing and went on for too long in my opinion. The way the story is told made it really hard to connect to the characters and made them feel kind of surreal. That got better towards the end but it couldn't make up for the distance created in the beginning and middle.
All in all, I think R.F. Kuang might just not be for me but I can still appreciate the story of Babel and how it handles the topic of racism, colonialism, slavery etc.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Torture, Violence, Grief
Moderate: Sexism, Suicide, Death of parent, War
adventurous
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Colonisation
Moderate: Death
adventurous
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
Babel was a book I had heard about rumbling around when I was completing my undergraduate degrees and again when I was working on my postgrad. I remember taking a look at this book, saying "That's too many pages right now." and never going back to it. Until last month. I had been wanting to read it for ages at this point, and I finally found myself in a pocket of time where I could just read. Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of Oxford Translators’ Revolution was one of those books that needs serious dedication. It's a slow, meaty text, rich with interesting, magical twists on 19th Century England and British Colonial/Imperialism. R.F. Kuang succeeds at shifting the known notions of this time period to fit the magic system she created. Kuang balances complex characters, academia, translations, and the Oxfordian Superiority Complex (/hj) to create such a compelling narrative of pushing against institutionalized racism and exploitations caused by centuries of imperialism and colonialism.
This book is almost completed experienced through the perspective of Robin Swift, a Cantonese boy taken from Canton following his mother's death due to cholera. Robin is raised by Professor Lovell and a host of tutors that prepare him in languages like Classic Greek, Latin, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Lovell's training and tutelage is solely to make Robin a tool of Babel at the Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford. Lovell's goal is to make Robin a translator and silver-worker, creating the magic that helps their world run. It isn't until Robin attends Oxford where we met the other primary characters: Ramiz Rafi "Ramy" Mirza (Indian - from Calcutta), Lettica "Letty" Price (British, specifically English), and Victoire Desgraves (Haitian-French). These four form the cohort we spend the bulk of the narrative with. It isn't until this group is entrenched with the lifestyle Babel offers with riches and devotion to academia, that the aspects of colonialism and exploitation begin to shine through.
I am in love with the footnotes. I spend a lot of time going over nonfiction texts and historical documents. This book, for all of these reasons, fascinated me. There is an intense focus that Kuang places on blending historical accuracies with fictional-historical accuracies. You would not believe the amount of time I spend with translations and translating for my dissertation and on-going academic research. The translations provided in Babel, how the words link together is fascinating. Kuang balances the need for translation within the narrative by providing the concise etymology for the words that hold significance in the narrative and to Robin.
[The match-pairs and etymology reminded me of my early days in linguistics courses, trying to figure out where our English words derived from and how those words came from other words that came from sounds that, as a species, we arbitrarily assigned meaning to. (Nothing beats a breakdown in linguistics for an English Literature major trying to figure out how words are just sounds that mean nothing and everything all at once.)]
The characters in Babel are very compelling. There are points where they feel like simply foils to push the plot along. (Howdy, Griffin!) Yet, when a book is this long and this complex, this is almost a necessity. Robin had, by far, the most interesting character arcs as he began to understand the systematic issues and how it pertains to the colonies and him. It was fascinating to watch as he began unfolding these deeply rooted issues. Ramy, Victoire, and Letty were perfect to demonstrate the imbalance of racial issues in 19th-century England. Major Spoiler Warning. And let me tell you, Letty's character arc? A fucking doozy. Going from white friend who doesn't get it to white friend who is trying to get it to WHITE FRIEND WHO KILLS FRIENDS BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T FUCKING GET IT is insane. I get why Ramy had to die, truly, but his character could have done so much good. I think his death is really what set Robin off on his crusade. It's understandable, it's traumatic. The way Robin and Victoire simply don't have time to understand the gravity of this murder is heart-wrenching.
As I parsed through the GoodReads and The Story Graph reviews of this book, I found myself shocked at some of the lower ratings. The plot is, truly, in the expanded title of the novel. Of course there is revolution with violence. Kuang does not hide that from us. It is apparent from the very first page we open to. It is this violence, this reconciliation that demonstrated the necessity of violence in revolution. It was gut-wrenching and I cried at least twice.
I feel like I need to end with this: Babel did not take me a month to read. It was my "read at work" book, and then I couldn't just "read at work". I finally had some down time today to just sit and read. My god am I glad I finally finished this book.
This book is almost completed experienced through the perspective of Robin Swift, a Cantonese boy taken from Canton following his mother's death due to cholera. Robin is raised by Professor Lovell and a host of tutors that prepare him in languages like Classic Greek, Latin, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Lovell's training and tutelage is solely to make Robin a tool of Babel at the Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford. Lovell's goal is to make Robin a translator and silver-worker, creating the magic that helps their world run. It isn't until Robin attends Oxford where we met the other primary characters: Ramiz Rafi "Ramy" Mirza (Indian - from Calcutta), Lettica "Letty" Price (British, specifically English), and Victoire Desgraves (Haitian-French). These four form the cohort we spend the bulk of the narrative with. It isn't until this group is entrenched with the lifestyle Babel offers with riches and devotion to academia, that the aspects of colonialism and exploitation begin to shine through.
I am in love with the footnotes. I spend a lot of time going over nonfiction texts and historical documents. This book, for all of these reasons, fascinated me. There is an intense focus that Kuang places on blending historical accuracies with fictional-historical accuracies. You would not believe the amount of time I spend with translations and translating for my dissertation and on-going academic research. The translations provided in Babel, how the words link together is fascinating. Kuang balances the need for translation within the narrative by providing the concise etymology for the words that hold significance in the narrative and to Robin.
[The match-pairs and etymology reminded me of my early days in linguistics courses, trying to figure out where our English words derived from and how those words came from other words that came from sounds that, as a species, we arbitrarily assigned meaning to. (Nothing beats a breakdown in linguistics for an English Literature major trying to figure out how words are just sounds that mean nothing and everything all at once.)]
The characters in Babel are very compelling. There are points where they feel like simply foils to push the plot along. (Howdy, Griffin!) Yet, when a book is this long and this complex, this is almost a necessity. Robin had, by far, the most interesting character arcs as he began to understand the systematic issues and how it pertains to the colonies and him. It was fascinating to watch as he began unfolding these deeply rooted issues. Ramy, Victoire, and Letty were perfect to demonstrate the imbalance of racial issues in 19th-century England. Major Spoiler Warning.
As I parsed through the GoodReads and The Story Graph reviews of this book, I found myself shocked at some of the lower ratings. The plot is, truly, in the expanded title of the novel. Of course there is revolution with violence. Kuang does not hide that from us. It is apparent from the very first page we open to. It is this violence, this reconciliation that demonstrated the necessity of violence in revolution. It was gut-wrenching and I cried at least twice.
I feel like I need to end with this: Babel did not take me a month to read. It was my "read at work" book, and then I couldn't just "read at work". I finally had some down time today to just sit and read. My god am I glad I finally finished this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Murder, Colonisation
Moderate: Slavery, War
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Racism