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A review by thenovelstitch
Babel by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
holy SHIIIIIIIIIIIIT.
It's been 24 hours since I finished Babel and I'm still trying to process what the hell just happened. While this wasn’t a 'pleasant' read in the traditional sense, it was gripping, thought-provoking, and completely unflinching. Kuang doesn’t shy away from making the reader uncomfortable in all the right ways.
Babel: or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of Oxford Translators’ Revolution (here after referred to simply as 'Babel') takes place mostly in Oxford during the 1830's and 40's. Robin Swift, a young Chinese boy orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to England by a Professor Lovell who promises to give Robin the worlds best education, teaching him new languages, provide him housing and food, all in exchange for him to eventually matriculate into Oxford and enter the Royal Institute of Translation, also known as Babel. Britain, and the world at large, run on silver. Little silver bars with inscriptions that help water stay clean, carriages run smooth, ships sail faster. The only people in the world who can manufacture and repair these bars are Babelers.
Isolated for most of his young life, Robin is unnerved by the constant presence and growing closeness of his new cohort, Ramy, Victoire and Letty. Like a thirst finally quenched, Robin feels accepted, wanted, chosen and at peace. Until, that is, one night when he witnesses a robbery of silver bars. Robin's life is forever altered, and with it so are the lives of his friends.
I actually tried reading Babel twice before, both with physical books, because from everything I had heard it sounded like the perfect book for me. However, I just couldn't get into it as a physical book which was really disappointing. I had almost wrote Babel off completely, but I decided to try it as an audio book and WHOA that was the perfect medium for me (and I usually hate audiobooks!). The narration was perfect and it was really wonderful to hear all of the words in different languages being pronounced correctly. This added such a richness to the story and allowed me to feel closer to Robin and his friends in a way that I would not have been able to simply reading the book. I also appreciated the footnotes being narrated by a different voice, so I could easily identify what was a footnote and what was not.
R.F. Kuang explores themes like racism, classism, misogyny, colonization, capitalism, politics, power, love, and shame that is nuanced, uncompromising and resolute. I found Letty's character to be rage inducing and also so well written. As a white woman, listening to Letty's part had me reflecting on my own relationship with complicity, big and small. I wished we had more Victoire. I would have loved for Victoire to have had more page time, it felt like we really only got to see here during the last 30% of the book. I keep finding myself thinking of the last interaction between Victoire and Anthony and honestly, I want a book just about them.
All in all, I think this book had the intended effect because I can't stop thinking about it. Highly recommend.
It's been 24 hours since I finished Babel and I'm still trying to process what the hell just happened. While this wasn’t a 'pleasant' read in the traditional sense, it was gripping, thought-provoking, and completely unflinching. Kuang doesn’t shy away from making the reader uncomfortable in all the right ways.
Babel: or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of Oxford Translators’ Revolution (here after referred to simply as 'Babel') takes place mostly in Oxford during the 1830's and 40's. Robin Swift, a young Chinese boy orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to England by a Professor Lovell who promises to give Robin the worlds best education, teaching him new languages, provide him housing and food, all in exchange for him to eventually matriculate into Oxford and enter the Royal Institute of Translation, also known as Babel. Britain, and the world at large, run on silver. Little silver bars with inscriptions that help water stay clean, carriages run smooth, ships sail faster. The only people in the world who can manufacture and repair these bars are Babelers.
Isolated for most of his young life, Robin is unnerved by the constant presence and growing closeness of his new cohort, Ramy, Victoire and Letty. Like a thirst finally quenched, Robin feels accepted, wanted, chosen and at peace. Until, that is, one night when he witnesses a robbery of silver bars. Robin's life is forever altered, and with it so are the lives of his friends.
I actually tried reading Babel twice before, both with physical books, because from everything I had heard it sounded like the perfect book for me. However, I just couldn't get into it as a physical book which was really disappointing. I had almost wrote Babel off completely, but I decided to try it as an audio book and WHOA that was the perfect medium for me (and I usually hate audiobooks!). The narration was perfect and it was really wonderful to hear all of the words in different languages being pronounced correctly. This added such a richness to the story and allowed me to feel closer to Robin and his friends in a way that I would not have been able to simply reading the book. I also appreciated the footnotes being narrated by a different voice, so I could easily identify what was a footnote and what was not.
R.F. Kuang explores themes like racism, classism, misogyny, colonization, capitalism, politics, power, love, and shame that is nuanced, uncompromising and resolute. I found Letty's character to be rage inducing and also so well written. As a white woman, listening to Letty's part had me reflecting on my own relationship with complicity, big and small. I wished we had more Victoire. I would have loved for Victoire to have had more page time, it felt like we really only got to see here during the last 30% of the book. I keep finding myself thinking of the last interaction between Victoire and Anthony and honestly, I want a book just about them.
All in all, I think this book had the intended effect because I can't stop thinking about it. Highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Gaslighting