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A review by bookishflaneur
Babel by R.F. Kuang
5.0
Babel is a masterpiece that is so difficult to break down and conceptualise. It's didactic, and is intrinsically a commentary on colonialism and the exploitation of Asia and Africa by the West, a commentary on the twisted ideals and morals that allowed Britain to lead in industry and in development and all the harm that this resulted in. To confine it to genre, it can be viewed as a historical fantasy but also as a dark academic piece of literature but it is so much more. Kuang uses the magic system as a vessel to develop a critical analysis of British imperialism and the exploitation of China and India, as well as (to a lesser extent) the impact of the industrial revolution on the working classes and the beginnings of social and political reform. Babel's historical setting is a hinge point from which the political turmoil of reform and abolition began, yet the underlying frustration and anger felt by the characters in the book is still so valid today and in the inequalities of our present world. As a dark academic novel, Babel unpacks the moral conundrum of being 'dealt a good hand' in such a world: the inner conflict of being an academic with a thirst for knowledge and a passion for research whilst studying and contributing to an institution and a system that undermines your existence as a person and enables the exploitation of your people and community.
For me, the reading experience I had with Babel was a reminder of just how much of a spotlight issues of institutionalised racism and its history need for progress to be made and for such monstrosities to be halted. In the first half of Babel, Kuang adopts quite a simple writing style and allows you to fall in love with the characters and the setting of Oxford. It allows you to fall for the brilliant magic system, which derives from translation and meaning and is so so cool and ingenious. The magic comes from the meanings that are lost in translation and match pairs of translations can be used to do extraordinary things. However, an act of translation is inherently an act of betrayal and betrayal is exactly what happens in this book. The first half filled me with so much adrenaline I didn't realise it was also plunging a knife into my chest, and as this delicate academic world starts to unravel as it is slowly unpacked by the main character Robin, it feels like a dagger is being twisted in your chest with every new chapter.
The main character, Robin, feels saved when he is healed from an illness that took the lives of his family members and brought to the UK to study at the prestigious translator's institute at the university of oxford. He finds family in the scholars that share in his love for languages, which has been cultivated by a tutor ever since he was brought to the country. As he falls in love with the home he has created and the wealth of academic knowledge at his fingertips, he is approached by an organisation that begins to unravel his misconceptions and reveals the institutional exploitation and systemic racism ingrained in the place he calls home. Helping this organisation in their quieter endeavours begins an internal battle between his love for Oxford and learning and his anger at what Babel means for people like him. Babel is also known as 'the necessity of violence' and I think this really is the deepest theme of the book; how harmful attitudes that have been ingrained in societies at birth are rarely if ever able to be unlearned, and how social change and repercussions most often come with fire and anger and might.
I think this book was brilliantly crafted by an expert scholar and writer, and while the poppy war trilogy holds closer to my heart, this is a book i will always recommend and could write pages and pages on. I am so grateful that political messages such as those in Kuang's works are becoming more prevalent in genres such as fantasy, because every piece of media we consume should be an opportunity for readers to dissect the world around them and how they interact with it. This is such a necessary book and a truly invaluable piece of art that I think will leave a mark on every person who reads it. I could not recommend this book more.
For me, the reading experience I had with Babel was a reminder of just how much of a spotlight issues of institutionalised racism and its history need for progress to be made and for such monstrosities to be halted. In the first half of Babel, Kuang adopts quite a simple writing style and allows you to fall in love with the characters and the setting of Oxford. It allows you to fall for the brilliant magic system, which derives from translation and meaning and is so so cool and ingenious. The magic comes from the meanings that are lost in translation and match pairs of translations can be used to do extraordinary things. However, an act of translation is inherently an act of betrayal and betrayal is exactly what happens in this book. The first half filled me with so much adrenaline I didn't realise it was also plunging a knife into my chest, and as this delicate academic world starts to unravel as it is slowly unpacked by the main character Robin, it feels like a dagger is being twisted in your chest with every new chapter.
The main character, Robin, feels saved when he is healed from an illness that took the lives of his family members and brought to the UK to study at the prestigious translator's institute at the university of oxford. He finds family in the scholars that share in his love for languages, which has been cultivated by a tutor ever since he was brought to the country. As he falls in love with the home he has created and the wealth of academic knowledge at his fingertips, he is approached by an organisation that begins to unravel his misconceptions and reveals the institutional exploitation and systemic racism ingrained in the place he calls home. Helping this organisation in their quieter endeavours begins an internal battle between his love for Oxford and learning and his anger at what Babel means for people like him. Babel is also known as 'the necessity of violence' and I think this really is the deepest theme of the book; how harmful attitudes that have been ingrained in societies at birth are rarely if ever able to be unlearned, and how social change and repercussions most often come with fire and anger and might.
I think this book was brilliantly crafted by an expert scholar and writer, and while the poppy war trilogy holds closer to my heart, this is a book i will always recommend and could write pages and pages on. I am so grateful that political messages such as those in Kuang's works are becoming more prevalent in genres such as fantasy, because every piece of media we consume should be an opportunity for readers to dissect the world around them and how they interact with it. This is such a necessary book and a truly invaluable piece of art that I think will leave a mark on every person who reads it. I could not recommend this book more.