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A review by peeled_grape
Babel by R.F. Kuang
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
4.5
how do you write something like this and then go to Yale LMAOOO
My only quarrels with the book are in the world building. It’s never explained why translation is the thing that powers the silver, and why silver is the thing that’s used. What about translation is supernatural? That’s what I kept wanting to know.
But I loved this otherwise! Except maybe the ending. It’s a retelling of the Tower of Babel, though it seemed to lose sight of everything it had built up before then. As someone who has taught at one of the institutions mentioned in the novel, I, too, would be very happy to see the whole thing go down lollll. Although I would like to see more queer people (or, you know, just ONE) in Kuang’s books cause I promise you our fights are the same. It’s relevant, I promise!
It was also cool to see how she poked fun at Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. There were definitely some direct references to that book that made me laugh.
My only quarrels with the book are in the world building. It’s never explained why translation is the thing that powers the silver, and why silver is the thing that’s used. What about translation is supernatural? That’s what I kept wanting to know.
But I loved this otherwise!
It was also cool to see how she poked fun at Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. There were definitely some direct references to that book that made me laugh.