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A review by bentewill
Babel by R.F. Kuang
4.0
A book I would have never picked out myself, but I’ve really enjoyed it! It was so interesting.
Coming from the perspective of someone who has actually studies translation, it was really interesting to see some of the theories I am familiar with in the book. The fact that, with translation, some parts of the meaning are always removed because nothing is a one-on-one translation, and that this difference is used in silver to create a powerful tool is such a cool concept.
Something that stood out to me was the foreshadowing, mainly because I’m not entirely sure what to think about it. It would almost seem randomwhen the end of their friendship was foreshadowed . Perhaps I would have preferred it if it hadn’t been done. But at the same time, it also made it quite fun, because in those moments, I was really in the moment with Robin and then got pulled out of it when he said that the happiness wouldn’t last, which felt quite brutal .
Another interesting aspect to me was the use of footnotes. Why was that done? One very important rule in translation is to not use footnotes, to not ruin the reading experience, but here there were quite a lot of them. Might try and find out why this was done.
I guess the only thing that I couldn’t really understand is why Robin wanted to end his life. Part of me gets that he does it for the greater good, but he also does it for quite selfish reasons that I don’t truly understand. Or at least feel that they weren’t worked out that well, considering the story is told from Robin’s perspective and his feelings and thoughts are often shared quite clearly .
Overall, a really fun read, but also such an interesting read that really gets you thinking about the way humans have always tried to abuse other people’s skills and cultures for their own gain.
[July 8, 2024 → July 26, 2024]
Coming from the perspective of someone who has actually studies translation, it was really interesting to see some of the theories I am familiar with in the book. The fact that, with translation, some parts of the meaning are always removed because nothing is a one-on-one translation, and that this difference is used in silver to create a powerful tool is such a cool concept.
Something that stood out to me was the foreshadowing, mainly because I’m not entirely sure what to think about it. It would almost seem random
Another interesting aspect to me was the use of footnotes. Why was that done? One very important rule in translation is to not use footnotes, to not ruin the reading experience, but here there were quite a lot of them. Might try and find out why this was done.
I guess the only thing that I couldn’t really understand
Overall, a really fun read, but also such an interesting read that really gets you thinking about the way humans have always tried to abuse other people’s skills and cultures for their own gain.
[July 8, 2024 → July 26, 2024]