A review by laurareads87
Babel by R.F. Kuang

challenging emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Babel follows a cohort of students at the Royal Institute of Translation – Babel – where they undertake an intensive curriculum of study in order to eventually be able to work in any number of fields: legal, literature, interpretation, or, most prestigiously, silver-working (here a science wherein the gaps in meaning between translations are captured in silver bars and utilized for all manner of purposes ranging from industrial to military to everyday). Over the course of the novel, the students come to grapple with Babel’s role in British colonial violence, including in the students’ own home countries, and when confronted with the immensity of this role must make a choice. 

Babel grapples with a lot of themes. As the subtitle ‘The Necessity of Violence’ suggests, a core theme is the possibility (or not) of dismantling oppressive systems like colonialism without resorting to violent resistance. The book also addresses the relationship of language with unequal power dynamics, the possibility of language both constraining and enabling change, and the question of whether creating change from the inside of oppressive institutions is possible. Internalized oppression, solidarity and coalition-building across difference, and class dynamics are also important to the story. The critiques here are not always subtle, but critiques of the devastating violence of empire shouldn’t be subtle. Somehow, Babel addresses all of these themes (and more) thoughtfully while also being very readable as fiction – absolutely excellent, absolutely recommend. I want to go read everything R.F. Kuang has written. 

Content warnings: racism, racial slurs, xenophobia, colonialism, death, murder, violence, war, grief, physical abuse, emotional abuse, child abuse, sexism, misogyny, torture, slavery, forcible confinement, mention of blood & injury detail 
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