A review by jaelynx
Babel by R.F. Kuang

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

In an alternate Oxford where the British Empire is founded upon silver, enchanted by the act of translation; two words in different languages on each side sharing the same root but with slightly differing meanings. These silver bars make ships faster, factories more efficient and bridges more stable. Those put out of work are just collateral malcontents. 

But to power its silver industrial revolution, Britain not only needs to plunder the world’s silver but also its languages for new translations and translators who are fluent enough to dream in multiple languages. 

Enter the students of Babel, Oxford’s translation institute. Robin is taken from his home in Canton, his family dead from Choelra which could have been cured by the enchanted silver England hoards, by an Englishman who trains him up to serve at Babel. To put his language and culture at the service of the Empire.

I’m late to the party on this one and wanted to ensure I’d read this before the end of the year. It’s a beautiful exploration of culture, language and translation; but also a hard-hitting account of colonialism, imperialism, racism and capitalism at its very worst. It strikes a hopeful yet bitter note of revolution and revolt against the seemingly overwhelming and immovable force that is the empire and how it radicalises people against it.

There were so many moments in this book exploring these themes which I adored. Especially around the beauty of language and its relation to our cultural thought and perspectives. But perhaps the hardest being around the dehumanisation of those in the global south and the need for the whites to centre themselves in every debate while participating in or overlooking the racism right in front of them.

But what surprised me the most was that a book of this weight and length never felt slow to me. It was so engaging in what it was saying that I would happily sit through years of lectures at Babel. Maybe not taking the tests though…