Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
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:
No
Right book (all of the linguistics stuff is right up my alley), wrong time (I need snappy and engaging right now and this plot is so freaking slow it’s basically nonexistent). Will maybe return to it one day but I don’t think it will be anytime in the next several months so I’m calling it a DNF for now.
Wow this book is hard to read but you can’t put it down. I don’t agree with everything but it certainly made me think. One of my biggest hesitancies with a book of fiction like this is knowing what in the story is fictionalized and what is true. The book speaks of topics that are emotionally charged and it would be a mistake to form opinions and make choices based on a fictionalized story. In addition the book has footnotes that lend to the feeling that the book reports on fact not fiction.
Topics:
Anti-colonialism
First or unifying language
Linguistic anthropology
Mandarine
Latin
French
English
Oxford
Cultural blindness
White supremacy
Abolitionist movement
Anti-capitalism
Slavery
Opium wars
SPOILERS:
I found the hardest part for me was the stance held by some of the characters that made the only possible solution was rage and annihilation. At the same time the examination of corruption didn’t seem to go far enough. What was it that made one group of humans so corrupt just because of the color of their skin?
Topics:
Anti-colonialism
First or unifying language
Linguistic anthropology
Mandarine
Latin
French
English
Oxford
Cultural blindness
White supremacy
Abolitionist movement
Anti-capitalism
Slavery
Opium wars
SPOILERS:
I found the hardest part for me was the stance held by some of the characters that made the only possible solution was rage and annihilation. At the same time the examination of corruption didn’t seem to go far enough. What was it that made one group of humans so corrupt just because of the color of their skin?
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
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
Blew my mind. The end had me sobbing. Such a powerful take on colonialism, and the role of language in the Empire, whiteness and the kind of blissful ignorance people of privelage may lean into. An absolute must read.
dark
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:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
As someone who has a Bachelors in English literature when it is not their native language, this book resonated a lot. Especially when growing up with another language as well.
All my life, I have felt like I’m between two countries, never fully belonging to one. Never feeling the same to my peers, because other traditions gave me a different perspective. For me it is unimaginable to not translate languages in my head since I learned to speak. There never just excited one language, always two that, as it says in the book, that there can never exist a true translation. Translation is inherently biased, it is informed from our experiences, our knowledge about ourselves and the other and how our opinions about the world shape how we translate languages, customs and ideologies. But colonisation is not just a physical act. It shows in language as well. Loan words get incorporated and erase native words and their meanings and it gets harder and harder to separate them. Languages have always borrowed from another or have been influenced, but not to the extend as it is now with how connected the world is through the internet. With how fast everything is, no one can notice exactly what is changing because suddenly, the change has already happened and the language is changed.
R.F. Kuang is such a masterful writer in engaging in this topic critically and creating a character with Robin that many can identify with and therefore understand the story. The fact that the reader never even learns Robin’s chinese name is so profound, because he still managed to keep a piece of his own identity, of his sense of self to himself and stay connected to his motherland. That’s why in the end, he defied being colonised and stood up for what is right.
All my life, I have felt like I’m between two countries, never fully belonging to one. Never feeling the same to my peers, because other traditions gave me a different perspective. For me it is unimaginable to not translate languages in my head since I learned to speak. There never just excited one language, always two that, as it says in the book, that there can never exist a true translation. Translation is inherently biased, it is informed from our experiences, our knowledge about ourselves and the other and how our opinions about the world shape how we translate languages, customs and ideologies. But colonisation is not just a physical act. It shows in language as well. Loan words get incorporated and erase native words and their meanings and it gets harder and harder to separate them. Languages have always borrowed from another or have been influenced, but not to the extend as it is now with how connected the world is through the internet. With how fast everything is, no one can notice exactly what is changing because suddenly, the change has already happened and the language is changed.
R.F. Kuang is such a masterful writer in engaging in this topic critically and creating a character with Robin that many can identify with and therefore understand the story. The fact that the reader never even learns Robin’s chinese name is so profound, because he still managed to keep a piece of his own identity, of his sense of self to himself and stay connected to his motherland. That’s why in the end, he defied being colonised and stood up for what is right.