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A review by elysiumreads
Babel by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This was everything I enjoyed from The Secret History and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
The book obviously wants to make a point about intersectionality and the ethics of the British empire and it is has an essay-like quality to it, but due to the setting of the novel I didn’t find it disruptive or alien. The underlying ‘essay’ is well structured so it flows well. I had the opposite issue reading The Goldfinch by Tartt, where I felt like there was an attempt at an underlying ‘essay’ but it surfaced in bursts, at surprising times and from characters that weren’t normally that eloquent, so it felt quite jarring.
As a foreigner who studied languages and lives abroad, this hit home many times.
The book obviously wants to make a point about intersectionality and the ethics of the British empire and it is has an essay-like quality to it, but due to the setting of the novel I didn’t find it disruptive or alien. The underlying ‘essay’ is well structured so it flows well. I had the opposite issue reading The Goldfinch by Tartt, where I felt like there was an attempt at an underlying ‘essay’ but it surfaced in bursts, at surprising times and from characters that weren’t normally that eloquent, so it felt quite jarring.
As a foreigner who studied languages and lives abroad, this hit home many times.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation
Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Racism, Slavery, Blood, Murder, and Classism