Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

46 reviews

saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

“They would never change the fabric of the world by simply wishing it.”

The fact it took me six months to actually get this review written is appropriate, a book called Babel leaving me speechless.

Babel drove me into the cliff of insanity. It is a dark academia novel heavy on both the dark and the academia. Its magic system focused around linguistics in an alternative history where translators work literal magic. At the center of it is a found family doomed by the narrative that absolutely destroyed me and the main character, Robin Swift, who is a poor little meow meow. The first half of the narrative is slow, getting the reader familiar and comfortable with this cast and world before throwing you off the aforementioned cliff of insanity as the second half is a metaphorical avalanche built up from the first.

It mainly discusses colonialism, and here is where I’ve seen readers get the most divided over the story. My interpretation is not that Kuang was preaching the reader, but rather that the characters are contradictions. They say a lot about fighting colonialism, but they struggle to actually turn that talk into actions, specifically with how much of their privileges they are willing to give up and what methods are the most effective. When the stakes heighten in the second half and they have to actually put their talk into practice, it is no longer a debate and lives are on the line as they try to figure out how to strike in a way that hits the most important people.

With all this praise, I will critique the historical inaccuracies. It opens with an author’s note about the intentional inaccuracies and I found the excuses kind of weak, mostly chalking up to Kuang wanting the characters’ experiences to reflect her own at Oxford. They’re mostly small details and I don’t see why she couldn’t have just stuck to the actual history. The dialog is also a little too modern. These mostly didn’t bother me, but I do think the world building would have been stronger and I imagine these inaccuracies might annoy people who really know this history.

Babel was my favorite book of 2023, or my Roman Empire to use a very 2023 term. It’s an extremely clever and shocking dark academia fantasy that follows a tragic cast of translators dealing with colonialism in academia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Torture, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Death, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcohol, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Child abuse, and Religious bigotry

rebelscum's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexism, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, and Colonisation

Minor: Medical content

catherinedsharp's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

Really interesting exploration of colonialism, racism and sexism (amongst other topics) within academia. Found it a little difficult to grapple with at times as despite it being fiction, it includes a lot of information and facts. Would recommend although check out the trigger warnings as it can be brutally described at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Blood, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Cultural appropriation, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Slavery, Medical content, War, and Misogyny

applejacksbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? Yes

4.5

I'll start this off by saying this book isn't for everyone, but everyone should read it. Its ending alone isn't a happy one. That being said I absolutely enjoyed my time while reading it. From the footnotes, to the history of how we understand language today, to the conversations about colonialism and racism and how we (as white people) have abused and taken from everyone not to better and learn but because we can, this book is a master class in all of it. It's well researched and executed and I couldn't put it down when I was reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Abandonment, Colonisation, Violence, Classism, Gun violence, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

krows_ink's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

"A permanent dialogue with oneself and an increasingly obscene narcissism never ceased to prepare the way for a half delirious state, where intellectual work became suffering and the reality was not at all that of a living man, working and creating himself, but rather words, different combinations of words, and the tensions springing from the meanings contained in words." - Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, Transcribed by Dominic Tweedie.

Initially, when I picked up Babel I didn't think that I would like it nearly as much as I do now that I have finished. There is something hauntingly beautiful and soul-wrenching contained in these pages. The world feels real because it mostly is. The characters are deeply flawed - each one of them. The writing is exceptional and the use of language use is so profound that I cannot seem to comment on it. Truly, most of my words (ironically) seem to have escaped me even almost 24 hours after completing the novel.

R.F. Kuang's commentary on imperialism and colonialism is incredibly well crafted. Not to mention her exploration of internalized oppression, white supremacy culture, and white feminism. While some may state that the commentary or exploration of these themes felt heavy-handed, I cannot bear to agree. I believe that there are times to be blatant about what you mean and this novel is a perfect example. However, it is not without nuance and room to explore. I will be rereading this book, possibly later this year.

The rest will be marked as spoilers because there are some things I cannot express without possibly delving into the book's later sections.

R.F. Kuang's use of parallels and mirroring of previous scenes in the book blew me away. Everything surrounding Ramy and Robin broke my heart. Not to mention Victoire's backstory and how she was orphaned and the relatability of that to Robin's backstory. To say that I am heartbroken after reading this book is an understatement. A piece of me almost simply wrote "I am empty inside". However, that would be a disservice to this book.

The final scene. The final scene took my breath away. I was a sobbing and incoherent mess as I read it, blabbing nonsense as I broke down all over again reading "She smiles. She says his name." I couldn't have ended Robin's story better. The use of present tense? Amazing. Bringing it back to the first chapter - to the first scene? Heartbreaking. I was so engrossed by these last chapters and felt numb and empty after reading them. Truly one of my new favorites which I consider difficult to earn the title of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Racism, Blood, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Classism, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, War, Misogyny, and Addiction

Minor: Slavery, Sexual harassment, and Islamophobia

maddiebusick's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Racism, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Sexism, Classism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Torture, and War

Minor: Addiction, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Deportation, Medical content, Alcohol, and Bullying

lucy_shanners's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Body horror, Blood, Torture, Murder, Colonisation, Death, Violence, Suicide, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Classism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, War, Gore, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Medical content, Bullying, Alcohol, and Gun violence

Minor: Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Vomit

hamstringy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

I think the reason this book made me cry so hard I sobbed through the entire plane descent into Seattle is because it is so easy to see it’s a tragedy from the beginning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Torture, Death of parent, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Colonisation, Violence, War, Blood, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Death, Grief, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Drug abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Racism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Death, Classism, Torture, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Gore, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Slavery, Physical abuse, Suicide, Child abuse, Grief, War, Misogyny, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Blood, Hate crime, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Islamophobia, Body horror, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Child death, Drug use, Bullying, Mental illness, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Genocide, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Vomit, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Rape, and Sexual violence

nyssbomb'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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, War, Alcohol, Classism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Medical content