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A review by annemariep68
Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang
3.0
Audiobook: I’m giving this three stars because of the lengthy amounts of discussion about language and translation and the ways societies have used language to control the narrative, the role in colonization efforts by Britain and others. As well the thinly veiled references to the impacts of industrial development (and I might even stretch that to technology) on the working classes and society as a whole- masked as magic/silver work in this dark academia novel set in early 1800’s Oxford.
The footnotes in the audiobook were interesting (especially the entomology of certain words) but overtime I found them taking me out of the story. There are worthwhile discussions here as well about racism, colonialism, cultural appropriation among other timely topics but honestly I found the novel overlong.
The discussions about this book here in Goodreads and online are incredibly varied. I can say the author’s interest in some of these subjects is obvious and the amount of research that must have gone into this was extensive.
The narrator did a very good job keeping characters distinct and the story flowing.
The footnotes in the audiobook were interesting (especially the entomology of certain words) but overtime I found them taking me out of the story. There are worthwhile discussions here as well about racism, colonialism, cultural appropriation among other timely topics but honestly I found the novel overlong.
The discussions about this book here in Goodreads and online are incredibly varied. I can say the author’s interest in some of these subjects is obvious and the amount of research that must have gone into this was extensive.
The narrator did a very good job keeping characters distinct and the story flowing.