Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

132 reviews

anniejh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexism, Hate crime, Police brutality, Gun violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Child abuse, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

eleanora's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Classism, Islamophobia, Slavery, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Police brutality

Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, and War

mariebrunelm'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A warning, first: no amount of gushing can do justice to this masterpiece.

Babel feels like the ultimate book. It’s captivating, thought-provoking, moving, beautiful, intricate but not complex. It was the perfect book for me at this moment of my life and I’m just happy to have read it, and sad that it’s over. It was probably the most hyped book of 2022 and 2023, which is why I took my time before starting it. Also because I couldn’t find a copy when it came out in 2022 and I was in Oxford, so I waited a year to come back and buy the paperback. I’m that kind of person. But back to the book.

Its narrative starts out deceptively classically, although the focus is put very early on the many types of violence enacted by colonialism. Babel is at its heart a bildungsroman, which is a genre I’m getting a little fed up with, except when it’s done brilliantly. We meet Robin Swift, born in Canton and soon taken from his dying relatives to be raised in England by a benefactor that is determined to help Robin enrol at Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. And so Robin is fed languages, is encouraged to keep practising his native Chinese language, and despite the ambient racism, gets entry at Oxford’s prestigious institution, where he slowly learns about silver and the translation-based magic that underlines every aspect of English life. He also learns about friendship and trust with his cohort, three other students cherry-picked to make their way up Babel’s eight floors. And little by little, he learns about the less savoury side of this grand English endeavour. How colonialism preys on foreign cultures and peoples, how everything is linked in a web of privilege and racism.

This novel is as brilliant and mind-opening as it is crystal-clear. It relies heavily on the research the author made and the knowledge she acquired as an Oxford student herself, but all this treasure of information, part fiction, part revolting facts, is handed out to the readers through an engaging narrative with characters you’d give the world to, and through a scattering of footnotes that delighted me highly. It is a deep dive in the mechanics of colonial violence through the veneer of dark academia, a genre which thrives the most when it addresses the privileges surrounding who has access to knowledge and who gets to write the books from which knowledge is acquired.

There are other parts I could go on and on about but they’re spoiler-territory so I’ll refrain.

Tldr; this book was catnip to me, and yes, I cried at the end.

CW : racism, colonialism, suicide ideation, suicide, police violence, gun violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gun violence, Colonisation, and Sexism

Moderate: Racial slurs, War, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Police brutality

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

fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

i adore this book. its messages about colonialism, industrialisation and solidarity came across so well and so personal. and while the book is set in 19th century, they are just so current and important.
i love how much time it takes in the beginning to set up the cohort and their friendship in their "easy" lives in Oxford. it takes the time to really explore their characters and relationships, which really drives later points home so much better and makes later happenings so much more devastating. and Robin is such a good main character. seeing his character grow from childhood, seeing his mistakes, excuses, tries to make it right; it makes him very relatable.
i also really enjoyed the academia aspect of this book. all the language and translation theory was really interesting.
the use of footnotes in this novel was perfection. i always love getting extra information and the footnotes gave us so much of that. plus Kuang used it to comment on the shit some of the characters did, and also gave us closure for some things.
the names in this book are also so special to me. Robin and Griffin as birds, symbolising their want for freedom, and that we never find out their real names. Ramy calling Robin Birdie and how that nickname gets used throughout the book and by different characters. Victoires name being derived from Victory. its all very heartbreaking for me.
there are so many other great things about the book: how it all comes back to Robin's mom, how the quotes disappear suddenly, when all goes to shit, the intermissions, the last scene at Babel with its cinematic feel, the freedom of research

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexism, Police brutality, Violence, Racism, Colonisation, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death, Grief, Child abuse, Gun violence, Murder, War, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, and Slavery

goldenlake's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Torture, Violence, Toxic friendship, Racism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Classism, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Body horror, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Gore, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Grief, Colonisation, and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Genocide, Drug use, Child abuse, Cursing, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, War, and Sexism

Minor: Deportation, Slavery, Infidelity, and Alcohol

pejms's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Colonisation, Classism, Child abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, and Xenophobia

Moderate: War, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexism, Misogyny, Grief, Torture, and Police brutality

This novel dwells heavily on the atttitudes and actions of the British Empire, as seen from the perspective of several people of color

squishmallow161's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Genocide, Police brutality, War, and Misogyny

emsavors's review against another edition

dark emotional 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: Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Confinement, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, Child death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Xenophobia, Genocide, Grief, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Hate crime, Torture, and Toxic friendship

lizzie_b99's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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

This book. Wow. Just wow. It's amazing. Make sure you check triggers as needed because this books has A LOT of triggers. I love the reimaging of the Industrial Revolution as powered by silver rather than coal and the focus on how academia is implicated in colonial systems. The ending was so good. I wished for more, but the elisions I think are intentional and are part of Kuang's point. I both have too many thoughts and no thoughts. Be prepared to stay up super late once you get to the latter parts, because you'll need to know how this book ends immediately. I'm going to have to get The Poppy War trilogy ASAP now to read more of Kuang's amazing work. 

Did anyone else see Ramy/Robin's relationship as queer-coded? I'm wondering if part of the reason Ramy doesn't see Letty in a romantic light is because he's queer? (Though to be clear, there are A LOT of reasons why Ramy might not want to be in a relationship with Letty. Like so many). In a lot of passages throughout the novel, but especially Ramy/Robin's instant connection and Robin's response after Ramy's death really made me see their relationship as being more than just a close friendship

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Violence, Torture, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Racism, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Genocide, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexism, Child death, Alcohol, Addiction, Drug use, War, Classism, Slavery, and Police brutality

Minor: Confinement and Infidelity