Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

549 reviews

chasinggrace's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad 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

5.0

There’s no other rating to give a Kuang book than five stars. 

The magic system and environment that Kuang creates is unmatched - completely transformative, no stone left unturned, no detail spared. 

The way Kuang breaches racism, colonialism, sexism, and exploitation is horrifyingly accurate. And this book is devastating. 

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jdromsky's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring 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

This should be required reading for everyone! It is fantastic! 

And R.F. Kuang’s thoughts on and approaches to the power of language and translation, the difficulties and responsibilities of revolutions, and the contradictions and similarities between life and death feel brand new!

There were moments where it got a smidge slow but it never felt like a struggle to get through. It was always super engaging and thought provoking, whether that was because of a new plot obstacles or because she presented a brand new way of thinking about something. 

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lefthandlou's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0


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polaris1117's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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

5.0


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fractaltexan's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

This was a book that I almost did not finish.

To me, reading this book was a mixture of Donna Tartt's "The Secret History", with its long, winding rhetoric, and its extremely slow moving plot, mixed with a long-winded diatribe about the issues of Imperialism and language as a tool of the colonizer.

Overall, I can see why so many young people and Booktok were enamored by the book. It is a 500 page book dealing with a Chinese-Born, English raised Oxford Don who rebels against the system. But for me, the big issue is the way it approaches this, and glosses over the subject of radicalization that the main characters (save one) goes through, and how that radicalization ranges from action to revolution, and flat out violence. It calls to those who seek violent revolution in the world and who can see themselves as the main character in a major conflict that seeks to burn the world down and start over (let alone that this rarely, if every works like people think)

I think, as a book, this is very mixed in terms of substance versus message. It is long-winded, and to me, half the book is seemingly pointless. I honestly could not discern a proper plot until later in the book. Message is mixed. And to me, it puts revolution on the pedestal, while glossing over the harmful effects of radicalization. All the while, it, at least to me, as a Mexican-America, seems to demonize anyone who is against the revolutionaries, and doesn't allow much room for nuance. One is either a Good Character or a horrible, bad character. And yes, a lot of these characters who are "bad" are white.

Overall, it was too little substance mixed with an in-your-face version of "Imperialism is bad!!" which is common sense, and "Let's not fully burn it down but lets make people, who are also inherently victims of imperialism because they aren't upper-class suffer".

Perhaps it is because this idea of revolution and violence being the only answer is the mindset of people who are new and want immediate change is not my thing anymore. There are always other ways. Perhaps it is something else. But I was really looking forward to this book, and I'm walking away from it rather disappointed.

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teabrewer's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

5.0

I've felt like this about a book and never this intensely. I cried when I closed it for the last time, after reading the last word of the last line of the acknowledgements. I felt like something was being taken from me. Like my skin streched and ripped as the story got farther and farther away. I couldn't let go of the book. Like a mother and her child holding each other after birth, but I didn't feel like a mother, maybe like a child. I feel like my molecules are now organized diferently. I didn't want it to be over, but I don't know if liking would be the correct word for the experience.

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katwolffcreates's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

Would be 5 stars if the pacing were better in the beginning. Took a while for me to get into it and care about the characters, but once this book took off, it was off to the races. Ugly-cried on the subway at the ending. Kuang created an immersive world.

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wheatlyre's review against another edition

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I didn't have enough time to read it, and need to return it soon. It also has been taking me a long while to read, and whether or not it's just my mood the past 5 weeks, but it takes me a while to feel motivated to actually read it. Once I read a paragraph or two I get sucked in for a couple 10-17 pages, but I've been busy and just haven't been able to really get into it in the right way. (Again, just my experience with it so far, and it might not necessarily have anything to do with Babel in particular.) The writing is more advanced than the typical YA novel, but not as period-accurate as a classic Literature novel, still leaning more to the YA style.
I have enjoyed it so far, with a couple parts in particular sticking out to me, especially [spoiler cw:
child abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse
]
when Robin is beat by the Professor for the first time. The way he describes his surprise and the numbness he felt during it was heart wrenching, and the way the professor was described as both detached, reserved, and aloof, yet swift and graceful, was incredible. I'm unable to describe with words how affected I was by it. I'm also in awe with how amazingly the author characterizes Robin through the way he reacts to the abuse, brushing past it and refusing to think about it for anything more than, 'I don't want that to happen again'. The rest of Robin's teenage years were brushed past, which, while I feel it to be a loss for me to see more of his adaption to life in London, I understand from a storytelling point as a reflection of the monotony of his years there, and could possibly be echoing off how the single beating affected him.
The writing in that part is just so beautiful, and I've frequently found myself coming back to that moment. I just wish we got a bit more of his musings.
I really enjoyed his reflections on the professor and cook's disagreement about scones.
Once again, I have not gotten too far in the book, but I have liked it quite a bit so far.

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alfieartheart's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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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snarkycrafter's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

While I really wanted to like this book, the story fell flat for me. Quite flat. When I was about 70% through I still felt like not much had happened and was considering a DNF. 

The magic in the book felt like an afterthought. 

It was an interesting commentary on colonialism and whiteness. But beyond that I found little in this book to be gripping or interesting. I had to push myself to finish it. 

I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn’t land for me.

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