Take a photo of a barcode or cover
isabellehendo 's review for:
Babel
by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
i’m not mad, just disappointed.
i have heard so many raving reviews about this book, and wanted it to be a 5 star read so badly, and was just overall disappointed. don’t get me wrong, it was a book i thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend, i just went into it expecting a life-changing book and didn’t get that.
i did not get into this book until almost 50% through it. it was very hard for me to commit to the book and the story, because i just couldn’t seem to find it all that interesting. i enjoyed the concept, but found that the execution was rather disappointing.
i enjoyed the characters, but didn’t feel connected to them the way i do in 5 star reads. i found robin to be interesting, and his morals and thoughts were interesting to read. ramey was good, but seemed to be utilized by the author as a talking piece for anti-colonialism. i appreciate this standpoint, but i wish ramey was given a stronger presence and personality. letty and victoire were alright.i found letty’s betrayal to be so blatantly obvious, it did not evoke any of the shock factor that it seemed it meant to.
i appreciated the way the way reality and imperialism were tied into the fabric of this story, and found it to do a good job at portraying the ethnocentric ideologies that back imperialism, both in history and today.
one thing i could’ve done without; it felt like by the end, the author was forcing this idea that violence is the only way to end conflict. i didn’t necessarily appreciate that, or the way that suicide was depicted at the end.
once i got past that 50% marker on this book, i couldn’t put it down. the plot quickly escalated and the payoff finally felt worth it. honestly, although i was slightly disappointed by the ending, and felt that (even with the same result) it could’ve been executed better, the last 50% largely made up for the faults i did find with the book. the characters were good *enough,* the world gave off the dark academic vibe that you expect, and it was just exciting and sad enough to rank at a 4 for me.
i have heard so many raving reviews about this book, and wanted it to be a 5 star read so badly, and was just overall disappointed. don’t get me wrong, it was a book i thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend, i just went into it expecting a life-changing book and didn’t get that.
i did not get into this book until almost 50% through it. it was very hard for me to commit to the book and the story, because i just couldn’t seem to find it all that interesting. i enjoyed the concept, but found that the execution was rather disappointing.
i enjoyed the characters, but didn’t feel connected to them the way i do in 5 star reads. i found robin to be interesting, and his morals and thoughts were interesting to read. ramey was good, but seemed to be utilized by the author as a talking piece for anti-colonialism. i appreciate this standpoint, but i wish ramey was given a stronger presence and personality. letty and victoire were alright.
i appreciated the way the way reality and imperialism were tied into the fabric of this story, and found it to do a good job at portraying the ethnocentric ideologies that back imperialism, both in history and today.
once i got past that 50% marker on this book, i couldn’t put it down. the plot quickly escalated and the payoff finally felt worth it. honestly, although i was slightly disappointed by the ending, and felt that (even with the same result) it could’ve been executed better, the last 50% largely made up for the faults i did find with the book. the characters were good *enough,* the world gave off the dark academic vibe that you expect, and it was just exciting and sad enough to rank at a 4 for me.