Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

46 reviews

leweylibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

I have to come back to this later because it's freaking 5am, but I just wanted to leave this bit so I know where the heck to start with this review later. But I just want to start by saying that this book has WRECKED me. Devastated. Shredded me to bits. I really do not know how I just go about my life now?? My brain is throbbing and feeling irrevocably changed. This book hit me so hard in so many ways. I have THREE NOTES WORTH of quotes like what?? How?? How is any one person THAT gifted with words. Kuang is just... I ironically just don't have the words for her brilliance, but it's undeniable. I am pretty sure I have never ever wept reading a book simplt because of how beautiful passages were, but I did at least three times reading this book. This needs to be studied and analyzed in classes not just for its brilliance but for its contents. I know not everyone will, but everyone should read this book. It is just spot on about so many things and can open so many eyes to vital aspects about our society and our own humanity. Everything about how we communicate and interact, the power of words and languages, the bonds we form and the bonds that break, EVERYTHING about academia (the good, the bad, the UGLY), obviously colonialism and racism, just SO MANY powerful and important topics are covered in this book and it has BROKEN my brain. Just shattered to smithereens. I will not sleep another peaceful night now because this book is now my new Roman Empire. I will be on my deathbed and sit up just to be like "okay but I'm just now realizing, there's this one part in Babel where..." 

So yeah. Read this book. LISTEN to this book. Internalize it. But don't do so lightly because yes; it will break you. And you will be grateful for it. It'll hurt like hell in a multitude of ways, ways you didn't even know you could be broken, but you'll be grateful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Child abuse, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Colonisation, Racism, Grief, Death, Religious bigotry, Classism, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Bullying, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, and Drug use

eudaemonics's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Sexism, Xenophobia, War, Racism, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Physical abuse, Suicide, Misogyny, and Alcoholism

jelliestars's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Torture, Colonisation, Gun violence, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Murder, and Misogyny

Moderate: Gore, Torture, Child abuse, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Classism, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, War, and Addiction

Minor: Child death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Trafficking, Car accident, Genocide, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Vomit, Confinement, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, and Panic attacks/disorders

scmiller's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Physical abuse, Racism, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Torture, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Child abuse, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, War, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Addiction, Infidelity, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Deportation, Drug abuse, and Vomit

chiwirite's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Suicide, Racism, Classism, Death, and Drug use

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Bullying, Xenophobia, Violence, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Gun violence, Grief, Deportation, Addiction, Slavery, and Sexism

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-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 book is amazing. It feels classic, riffing on so many known qualities of well known books yet it still does its own thing. The history and ideas are implemented so intelligently that this fantasy feels more historic fiction than anything. The fantasy is really more for quickly explaining action and technology. The magic is in the language, the languages help define the characters and their dynamics with each other, it’s thrilling and heartbreaking at the same time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Xenophobia, Car accident, Cursing, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Trafficking, Violence, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Stalking, War, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Confinement, Death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Rape, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

All the themes said to be triggers are present, particularly the race and religion ones. There’s a scene where it appears that female characters could hypothetically be assaulted. The racism and discrimination on religion angles are throughout the book. The major theme of the book is reconciling existing within educational institutions in the west while the same people you’re learning from are harming your original homelands, whether you remember them or not, and the moral plus political repercussions of that.

goose's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

I really had fun with this book. It hurt though! Just finished it and I gotta sit with it for a while. It's very heavy at times and like others have stated may have benefited from being divided into 2-3 books instead of one large tome. I feel like then the pacing could have felt unified in separate volumes instead of contrasting with itself as the book goes on. The use of footnotes might be cumbersome for people, for me it was okay. It wasn't handled very well in the digital edition I read on Libby (the asterisk to click on to send you to the footnote at the end of the book was small and hard to press, meaning I'd have to sit and try many times before it worked.) Of course a physical edition wouldn't have this problem. Also have a  dictionary on standby, I came across many words I didn't know (in this case the ebook gets a point in favor because it's easy to highlight something to look it up.) All in all despite minor faults here and there (really wish we got to see more of the other characters) this book kept me rapt and I really couldn't put it down once the stakes got high. I also felt like it somehow managed to juggle a lot of ideas and once and knit them together into a great story, which is a feat in it of itself. Wholly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Suicide, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Classism, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Physical abuse, War, Islamophobia, Gun violence, Slavery, and Vomit

Other tags that Storygraph doesn't have:

main character death, main character murder

nialiversuch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Suicide, Violence, Bullying, Confinement, Misogyny, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, War, and Xenophobia

mollyhardt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Racism, Grief, and Colonisation

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, and Death

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I really enjoyed this one! It felt a bit wordy and tedious at times, which is why I gave it the raiting  I did. But overall I really liked it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Addiction, Classism, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Excrement