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Carmen's Reviews > Babel
Babel
by
by
Carmen's review
bookshelves: chinese-author, published2022, she-says, fantasy, fiction, traditionally-published
Oct 07, 2022
bookshelves: chinese-author, published2022, she-says, fantasy, fiction, traditionally-published
Yet didn't he have a right to be happy? He had never felt such warmth in his chest until now, had never looked forward to getting up in the morning as he did now. Babel, his friends, and Oxford - they had unlocked a part of him, a place of sunshine and belonging, that he never thought he'd feel again. The world felt less dark. pg. 131
This was so disappointing.
Everyone is flying with excitement over this book. I was quite skeptical about it based on the description, but picked it up and started reading it. I was delighted. For about the first 130-150 pages or so. Then the book quickly became tiresome and just went on and on and on.
Let's try and break this down, it's a lot.
BASIC PLOT:
Robin Swift (he's Chinese, but his Chinese name is never mentioned in the book, on purpose of course - colonialism is evil) gets taken from his house in China where his mother lies dead from the cholera by a white British professor (view spoiler) in order to study translation at Babel, the Oxford school tower.
He makes friends for the first time ever after being released from his isolated upbringing and intense studies in London into the academic world of Oxford. His friends are Ramy (Muslim from India), Victoire (Black girl from Haiti), and Letty (white girl from England). Eventually the work he is doing for The Crown makes him feel like shit because he is helping England enslave, colonize, and kill people.
Chaos ensues.
THE GOOD POINTS:
Firstly, Kuang is a skilled author. Her book is very readable. You want to read it. You want to keep going. Even though about 75% (I'm not exaggerating) is a lecture from classes on language, translation, the evils of colonialism, the evils of white people... she manages to still make it a readable book. It takes great skill to do this.
Secondly, Kuang is very smart. She's not only educated, she's intelligent and this comes through every word of the text. It's always a joy to see someone flex their intellect.
Thirdly, the magic system. I found it fascinating and clever. Interesting, well-constructed. It involves enchanting bars of silver to affect people and objects. Takes the place of technology in the book.
THE BAD POINTS:
Sigh.
NUMBER ONE:
The worst thing about this book is Kuang's inability to let readers reach ANY conclusion on their own. She insists on explaining every single tiny thing to you. The book is 542 pages but it could easily get down to 300 or so. The reason it's so long is because Kuang's way of writing is crafting a paragraph in which something happens or a character has a feeling. Then giving you a second paragraph immediately after it which carefully, painstakingly explains to you how you should feel about the first paragraph or how you should interpret the first paragraph.
It's exhausting.
The message of the book is that slavery and colonialism is bad, everyone is racist, racism is systemic, a person of color can NEVER trust a white woman under any circumstances, etc. etc. etc. Basically every single 'woke' concept popular right now. I hate and despise the term 'woke' but I am at a loss to describe this any other way. It's not liberalism, it's not exactly anti-racism, it's every single talking point right now on college campuses. It's a pretty niche, academic view of the world, which is appropriate since this book is about academia.
That's fine. I can even hear you agreeing. "Slavery IS bad," you say. "Colonialism IS terrible. Everyone IS racist, it's systemic, and there's no such thing as a non-racist white person."
OK, let's say you are a liberal. Let's even say you are a liberal who agrees with all these premises. (Not all liberals do, it's important to remember liberals are not a monolith.) Let's say you are even still in University or fresh out and these ideas are still very prominent in your mind. Do you know slavery is bad? Do you know colonialism is evil?
Well, it doesn't matter what you know. She will tell you. She will tell you over and over and over and over and over again.
Literally every single page tells you slavery and colonialism are bad, people are racist. I wish I were exaggerating, but I'm not. LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE PAGE.
This can get tiresome even to people who strongly agree with her.
The book is only MASQUERADING as a novel. Really, it is a treatise. It's a manifesto. It's a ritual affirmation of Kuang's belief system. Robin, Ramy, Letty, Victoire... even the evil professor Richard are not real characters. They have no characterization. They are mouthpieces for Kuang. They are pawns on her board, her reenactment of the First Opium War necessitates having a British, a Chinese, an Indian, and a Black Frenchspeaker. Oh, and a colonizer. Robin and his three best friends are not living, breathing characters. I found it hard to sympathize with any of them (view spoiler).
That's why I compare Kuang's book to The Underground Railroad. Not because both books are about overcoming your oppressor, about racism, about people of color freeing themselves from racist trappings. No, it's because both Whitehead and Kuang use their characters as mouthpieces to express their opinions. This is in contrast to an actual novel, where characters have character and have defining traits and live and breathe and you can imagine them outside of the book. There's none of that here.
NUMBER TWO: She has tacked on a two-paragraph (view spoiler) here that has NOTHING to do with the plot and feels very last-minute. I have no idea why she did this. If she actually wanted to write a (view spoiler) then she should have done so. It should have been a thread of the book. It should have been a subplot of the book. Instead, she's just off-handedly mentioning it as an afterthought. Maybe two or three times. I don't know how you should feel about this, I'm not (view spoiler) but it was jarring and surreal to me. Why was it even included? If she thought it was even a little important, why didn't it feature in the plot at all? Seriously baffled. Kind of reminds me of when J.K. Rowling was like, (view spoiler) And you were like "What the fuck?"
NUMBER THREE: The MC, Robin, is SO weak and SO dumb. (Naïve?) I was willing to believe this when he was a child. I was even willing to believe this for his first semester at Oxford. After that, not so much. He's SO DUMB. SO DUMB. His weakness becomes exhausting, you just can't respect him by the end of the book. At least I can't.
He'd be obliterated, but luckily almost every single character in this book is just as dumb. So many stupid people, the book is filled with fucking morons. I'm sure this is to advance the plot. If Robin was smart, things would move along much quicker and the story would be much less 'tragic.' If either Robin and his friends (the forces for good) or Evil England and it's Evil Empire (the forces for evil) had any brains, this book would have reached a much swifter conclusion. Unfortunately, everyone is dumb as a brick, ironic since the majority are supposed to be Oxford scholars.
Kuang tries to laughingly play this off, making jokes about intellectuals who have their heads in the clouds, but it almost defies belief.
"They're academics,' said Professor Craft. "All we know is the life of the mind. We don't remember anything unless it's written in our diaries and circled several times over." pg. 486
NUMBER FOUR: It's predictable. If you know the main academic-liberal talking points, and you know what the Tower of Babel is, you can pretty accurately determine the entire plot of the book. With the exception of (view spoiler) nothing surprised me. Of course (view spoiler)
TL;DR I genuinely wanted to love this book. It's kind of like a grown-up Harry Potter (again, I hope Kuang doesn't take offense at this comparison, I'm not talking about her in relation to J.K.'s hatred or fear of transgendered people.) People said The Magicians was grown-up Harry Potter, but that's such a dark and corrupt book. Kuang had more of a chance at this because she is capable of capturing joy, friendship, academic bonding, and mouthwatering food descriptions ALONG with adult concepts and feelings. Those cozier aspects are aspects Grossman had no desire to nourish.
And I think she's wants this to be a tragic book, like people will be sobbing by the end or something.
The unfortunate and extremely disappointing reality is that this is not a novel. It's simply a textbook, although one that's dressed-up in novel's clothes. The characters are paper-thin and bafflingly stupid. The plot is simply a retelling of the First Opium War (thanks to Hua Hsu, by the way - it was only because I was reading his book Stay True: A Memoir that I was able to put this together so early in the text), and the characters are simply chess pieces representing the different powers during this war.
Besides that, Kuang hammers in every single point. She tells you exactly how to feel and what conclusions to reach about everything. She also repeats herself over and over. Slavery is bad. Colonialism is bad. Slavery is bad. Colonialism is bad. This is racism. This is racism. This is racism. Even if you agree with her - even if you are an academic who has had the same exposure she has to this kind of thinking - this becomes tiresome. Again, again, again, on every single page. I'm not sure if she thinks her readers are stupid? Or she wants to fit in EVERY SINGLE FACT she's learned into the book? Either way, it's unnecessary. Very heavy-handed. NO NUANCE. NO SUBTLETY. NONE. You're an idiot and she's going to treat you like one. You aren't allowed to draw any conclusions except for the ones she draws for you.
Everyone is also pretty moronic, for no discernable reason except it's necessary for the plot and, perhaps, the length of the book as well.
Only read if you want to be lectured for 542 pages. By a skilled lecturer, but still.
The room seemed at once both mundane and heartbreakingly beautiful: the morning light streaming through stained-glass windows, casting colourful patterns on the polished wooden desks; the clean scratch of chalk against the blackboard; and the sweet, woody smell of old books. A dream; this was an impossible dream, this fragile, lovely world in which, for the price of his convictions, he had been allowed to remain. pg. 275
RELATED READING/WATCHING:
Warrior - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5743796/
Kiss of the Dragon - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271027/ "My name is not Johnny."
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
The Underground Railroad
NAMES IN THIS BOOK:
(view spoiler)
This was so disappointing.
Everyone is flying with excitement over this book. I was quite skeptical about it based on the description, but picked it up and started reading it. I was delighted. For about the first 130-150 pages or so. Then the book quickly became tiresome and just went on and on and on.
Let's try and break this down, it's a lot.
BASIC PLOT:
Robin Swift (he's Chinese, but his Chinese name is never mentioned in the book, on purpose of course - colonialism is evil) gets taken from his house in China where his mother lies dead from the cholera by a white British professor (view spoiler) in order to study translation at Babel, the Oxford school tower.
He makes friends for the first time ever after being released from his isolated upbringing and intense studies in London into the academic world of Oxford. His friends are Ramy (Muslim from India), Victoire (Black girl from Haiti), and Letty (white girl from England). Eventually the work he is doing for The Crown makes him feel like shit because he is helping England enslave, colonize, and kill people.
Chaos ensues.
THE GOOD POINTS:
Firstly, Kuang is a skilled author. Her book is very readable. You want to read it. You want to keep going. Even though about 75% (I'm not exaggerating) is a lecture from classes on language, translation, the evils of colonialism, the evils of white people... she manages to still make it a readable book. It takes great skill to do this.
Secondly, Kuang is very smart. She's not only educated, she's intelligent and this comes through every word of the text. It's always a joy to see someone flex their intellect.
Thirdly, the magic system. I found it fascinating and clever. Interesting, well-constructed. It involves enchanting bars of silver to affect people and objects. Takes the place of technology in the book.
THE BAD POINTS:
Sigh.
NUMBER ONE:
The worst thing about this book is Kuang's inability to let readers reach ANY conclusion on their own. She insists on explaining every single tiny thing to you. The book is 542 pages but it could easily get down to 300 or so. The reason it's so long is because Kuang's way of writing is crafting a paragraph in which something happens or a character has a feeling. Then giving you a second paragraph immediately after it which carefully, painstakingly explains to you how you should feel about the first paragraph or how you should interpret the first paragraph.
It's exhausting.
The message of the book is that slavery and colonialism is bad, everyone is racist, racism is systemic, a person of color can NEVER trust a white woman under any circumstances, etc. etc. etc. Basically every single 'woke' concept popular right now. I hate and despise the term 'woke' but I am at a loss to describe this any other way. It's not liberalism, it's not exactly anti-racism, it's every single talking point right now on college campuses. It's a pretty niche, academic view of the world, which is appropriate since this book is about academia.
That's fine. I can even hear you agreeing. "Slavery IS bad," you say. "Colonialism IS terrible. Everyone IS racist, it's systemic, and there's no such thing as a non-racist white person."
OK, let's say you are a liberal. Let's even say you are a liberal who agrees with all these premises. (Not all liberals do, it's important to remember liberals are not a monolith.) Let's say you are even still in University or fresh out and these ideas are still very prominent in your mind. Do you know slavery is bad? Do you know colonialism is evil?
Well, it doesn't matter what you know. She will tell you. She will tell you over and over and over and over and over again.
Literally every single page tells you slavery and colonialism are bad, people are racist. I wish I were exaggerating, but I'm not. LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE PAGE.
This can get tiresome even to people who strongly agree with her.
The book is only MASQUERADING as a novel. Really, it is a treatise. It's a manifesto. It's a ritual affirmation of Kuang's belief system. Robin, Ramy, Letty, Victoire... even the evil professor Richard are not real characters. They have no characterization. They are mouthpieces for Kuang. They are pawns on her board, her reenactment of the First Opium War necessitates having a British, a Chinese, an Indian, and a Black Frenchspeaker. Oh, and a colonizer. Robin and his three best friends are not living, breathing characters. I found it hard to sympathize with any of them (view spoiler).
That's why I compare Kuang's book to The Underground Railroad. Not because both books are about overcoming your oppressor, about racism, about people of color freeing themselves from racist trappings. No, it's because both Whitehead and Kuang use their characters as mouthpieces to express their opinions. This is in contrast to an actual novel, where characters have character and have defining traits and live and breathe and you can imagine them outside of the book. There's none of that here.
NUMBER TWO: She has tacked on a two-paragraph (view spoiler) here that has NOTHING to do with the plot and feels very last-minute. I have no idea why she did this. If she actually wanted to write a (view spoiler) then she should have done so. It should have been a thread of the book. It should have been a subplot of the book. Instead, she's just off-handedly mentioning it as an afterthought. Maybe two or three times. I don't know how you should feel about this, I'm not (view spoiler) but it was jarring and surreal to me. Why was it even included? If she thought it was even a little important, why didn't it feature in the plot at all? Seriously baffled. Kind of reminds me of when J.K. Rowling was like, (view spoiler) And you were like "What the fuck?"
NUMBER THREE: The MC, Robin, is SO weak and SO dumb. (Naïve?) I was willing to believe this when he was a child. I was even willing to believe this for his first semester at Oxford. After that, not so much. He's SO DUMB. SO DUMB. His weakness becomes exhausting, you just can't respect him by the end of the book. At least I can't.
He'd be obliterated, but luckily almost every single character in this book is just as dumb. So many stupid people, the book is filled with fucking morons. I'm sure this is to advance the plot. If Robin was smart, things would move along much quicker and the story would be much less 'tragic.' If either Robin and his friends (the forces for good) or Evil England and it's Evil Empire (the forces for evil) had any brains, this book would have reached a much swifter conclusion. Unfortunately, everyone is dumb as a brick, ironic since the majority are supposed to be Oxford scholars.
Kuang tries to laughingly play this off, making jokes about intellectuals who have their heads in the clouds, but it almost defies belief.
"They're academics,' said Professor Craft. "All we know is the life of the mind. We don't remember anything unless it's written in our diaries and circled several times over." pg. 486
NUMBER FOUR: It's predictable. If you know the main academic-liberal talking points, and you know what the Tower of Babel is, you can pretty accurately determine the entire plot of the book. With the exception of (view spoiler) nothing surprised me. Of course (view spoiler)
TL;DR I genuinely wanted to love this book. It's kind of like a grown-up Harry Potter (again, I hope Kuang doesn't take offense at this comparison, I'm not talking about her in relation to J.K.'s hatred or fear of transgendered people.) People said The Magicians was grown-up Harry Potter, but that's such a dark and corrupt book. Kuang had more of a chance at this because she is capable of capturing joy, friendship, academic bonding, and mouthwatering food descriptions ALONG with adult concepts and feelings. Those cozier aspects are aspects Grossman had no desire to nourish.
And I think she's wants this to be a tragic book, like people will be sobbing by the end or something.
The unfortunate and extremely disappointing reality is that this is not a novel. It's simply a textbook, although one that's dressed-up in novel's clothes. The characters are paper-thin and bafflingly stupid. The plot is simply a retelling of the First Opium War (thanks to Hua Hsu, by the way - it was only because I was reading his book Stay True: A Memoir that I was able to put this together so early in the text), and the characters are simply chess pieces representing the different powers during this war.
Besides that, Kuang hammers in every single point. She tells you exactly how to feel and what conclusions to reach about everything. She also repeats herself over and over. Slavery is bad. Colonialism is bad. Slavery is bad. Colonialism is bad. This is racism. This is racism. This is racism. Even if you agree with her - even if you are an academic who has had the same exposure she has to this kind of thinking - this becomes tiresome. Again, again, again, on every single page. I'm not sure if she thinks her readers are stupid? Or she wants to fit in EVERY SINGLE FACT she's learned into the book? Either way, it's unnecessary. Very heavy-handed. NO NUANCE. NO SUBTLETY. NONE. You're an idiot and she's going to treat you like one. You aren't allowed to draw any conclusions except for the ones she draws for you.
Everyone is also pretty moronic, for no discernable reason except it's necessary for the plot and, perhaps, the length of the book as well.
Only read if you want to be lectured for 542 pages. By a skilled lecturer, but still.
The room seemed at once both mundane and heartbreakingly beautiful: the morning light streaming through stained-glass windows, casting colourful patterns on the polished wooden desks; the clean scratch of chalk against the blackboard; and the sweet, woody smell of old books. A dream; this was an impossible dream, this fragile, lovely world in which, for the price of his convictions, he had been allowed to remain. pg. 275
RELATED READING/WATCHING:
Warrior - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5743796/
Kiss of the Dragon - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271027/ "My name is not Johnny."
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
The Underground Railroad
NAMES IN THIS BOOK:
(view spoiler)
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Reading Progress
August 28, 2022
– Shelved
September 11, 2022
–
Started Reading
September 13, 2022
–
2.02%
"This page reminds me very strongly of KISS OF THE DRAGON by Luc Besson.
"My name is not Johnny.""
page
11
"My name is not Johnny.""
September 13, 2022
–
2.57%
"He associated that face with his own kind. But he'd never seen one of his elders turn to him with such total helplessness.
Guilt twisted his gut. Words collected on his tongue, cruel and terrible words, but he could not turn them into a sentence.
Now I'm strongly reminded of the opening episode of Warrior with Andrew Koji."
page
14
Guilt twisted his gut. Words collected on his tongue, cruel and terrible words, but he could not turn them into a sentence.
Now I'm strongly reminded of the opening episode of Warrior with Andrew Koji."
September 13, 2022
–
2.94%
"Months ago Robin would have spat at anyone for speaking so cruelly about his family. But here, alone in the middle of the ocean with no relatives and nothing to his name, he could not summon the ire. He had no fire left in him. He was only scared, and so very tired."
page
16
September 13, 2022
–
3.13%
"Robin did not yet fully understand the rules of this world he was about to enter, but he understood the necessity of gratitude. Of deference. One did not spite one's saviours."
page
17
September 13, 2022
–
3.31%
"He buried his past life, not because it was so terrible but because abandoning it was the only way to survive. He pulled on his English accent like a new coat, adjusted everything he could about himself to make it fit, and, within weeks, wore it with comfort."
page
18
September 14, 2022
–
3.49%
"London was drab and grey; was exploding in colour; was a raucous din, bursting with life; was eerily quiet, haunted by ghosts and graveyards... The lifeblood of London carried a sharp, tinny timbre wholly unlike the rickety, clacking bamboo that underwrote Canton."
page
19
September 14, 2022
–
3.49%
"London had accumulated the lion's share of both the world's silver ore and the world's languages, and the result was a city that was bigger, heavier, faster, and brighter than nature allowed. London was voracious, was growing fat on its spoils and still, somehow, starved. London was both unimaginably rich and wretchedly poor. London - lovely, ugly, sprawling, cramped, belching, sniffing, virtuous, hypocritical,"
page
19
September 14, 2022
–
3.68%
"Silver bars had been used in London - and indeed, throughout the world - for a millennium, but not since the height of the Spanish Empire had any place in the world been so rich in or so reliant on silver's power. Silver lining the canals made the water fresher and cleaner than any river like the Thames had a right to be. Silver in the gutters disguised the stink of rain, sludge, and sewage with the scent of"
page
20
September 14, 2022
–
5.51%
"A lie was not a lie if it was never uttered; questions that were never asked did not need answers. They would both remain perfectly content to linger in the liminal, endless space between truth and denial."
page
30
September 14, 2022
–
5.7%
"He determined to make the place home by walking every inch of it. Bit by bit London grew to feel less overwhelming, less like a belching, contorted pit of monsters that might swallow him up at any corner and more like a navigable maze whose tricks and turns he could anticipate."
page
31
September 14, 2022
–
6.25%
"The English made use of only two flavours - salty and not salty - and did not seem to recognize any of the others. For a country that profited so well from trading in spices, its citizens were violently averse to actually using them; in all his time in Hampstead, he never tasted a dish that could be properly described as 'seasoned,' let alone 'spicy.'"
page
34
September 14, 2022
–
6.8%
"Book worship, food worship, worship of Oxford...
Obsession with the British Empire being evil, with no mention of the evils of China yet. I wonder if that will be brought up? Book is obsessed with race, class and colonialism."
page
37
Obsession with the British Empire being evil, with no mention of the evils of China yet. I wonder if that will be brought up? Book is obsessed with race, class and colonialism."
September 14, 2022
–
6.99%
"He couldn't read Professor Lovell's expression at all. That scared him. That inscrutable wall, that inhuman blankness, was infinitely more frightening than fury would have been."
page
38
September 14, 2022
–
7.17%
"I can't stand people who viciously beat children. I hope this guy gets his comeuppance somewhere in this 500+ page book. Fucking psycho."
page
39
September 14, 2022
–
7.35%
""Well, that's one good thing about you," said Professor Lovell. "When you're beaten, you don't cry."
I am going to fucking kill this guy. Expert child-beater, great skill set /s"
page
40
I am going to fucking kill this guy. Expert child-beater, great skill set /s"
September 14, 2022
–
7.35%
""Laziness and deceit are common traits among your kind. This is why China remains an indolent and backwards country while her neighbours hurtle toward progress. You are, by nature, foolish, weak-minded, and disinclined to hard work. You must resist these traits, Robin. You must learn to overcome the pollution of your blood.""
page
40
September 14, 2022
–
7.54%
"Even after this, even after the miseries of his classes, he could not imagine an alternate future for himself. Canton meant poverty, insignificance, and ignorance. Canton meant the plague. Canton meant no more books. London meant all the material comforts he could ask for. London meant, someday, Oxford."
page
41
September 14, 2022
–
9.38%
"In the years to come, Robin would return so many times to this night. He was forever astonished by its mysterious alchemy, by how easily two badly socialized, restrictively raised strangers had transformed into kindred spirits in the span of minutes. Ramy seemed just as flushed and excited as Robin felt. They talked and talked. No topics seemed taboo;.... "
page
51
September 23, 2022
–
9.56%
"Ramy gesticulated wildly as he spoke. It was clear he wasn't truly angry, just passionate and clearly brilliant, so invested in the truth he needed the whole world to know. Robin leaned back and watched Ramy's lovely, agitated face, both amazed and delighted.
He could have cried then. He'd been so desperately lonely, and had only now realized it, and now he WASN'T, and this felt so good he didn't konw what to do"
page
52
He could have cried then. He'd been so desperately lonely, and had only now realized it, and now he WASN'T, and this felt so good he didn't konw what to do"
September 25, 2022
–
9.74%
"Here's a Harry-Potter-esque part of the book:
These were three of the happiest days of Robin's life. He had no readings or classes; no recitations or compositions to prepare. For the first time in his life he was in full control of his own purse and schedule, and he went mad with freedom.
They spent their first day shopping. They went to Ede & Ravenscroft to be fitted for gowns; to Thornton's Bookshop for the"
page
53
These were three of the happiest days of Robin's life. He had no readings or classes; no recitations or compositions to prepare. For the first time in his life he was in full control of his own purse and schedule, and he went mad with freedom.
They spent their first day shopping. They went to Ede & Ravenscroft to be fitted for gowns; to Thornton's Bookshop for the"
September 25, 2022
–
9.74%
"Robin was foreign only when viewed up close and in certain lights, but Ramy was immediately, visibly other."
page
53
September 25, 2022
–
9.93%
"Ever since his arrival in London, Robin had tried to keep his head down and assimilate, to play down his otherness. He thought the more unremarkable he seemed, the less attention he would draw. But Ramy, who had no choice but to stand out, had decided he might as well dazzle. He was bold to the extreme. Robin found him incredible and a little bit terrifying."
page
54
September 25, 2022
–
12.5%
"There was no question about what had happened. They were both shaken by the sudden realization that they did not belong in this place, that despite their affiliation with the Translation Institute and despite their gowns and pretensions, their bodies were not safe on the streets. They were men at Oxford; they were not Oxford men. But the enormity of this knowledge was so devastating, such a vicious antithesis"
page
68
September 25, 2022
–
14.89%
"This page contains a clue to a major spoiler. I am afraid I am not going to be surprised by Kuang's plot twist. Oh, well."
page
81
September 25, 2022
–
15.26%
"And Robin, watching the still quivering bar, saw clearly now that it was all worth it. The loneliness, the beatings, the long and aching hours of study, the ingesting of languages like bitter tonic so that he could one day do THIS - it was ALL worth it."
page
83
September 25, 2022
–
15.99%
"Soon it became apparent that no topics were off limits. They could talk about anything, share all the indescribable humiliations they felt being in a place they were not supposed to be, all the lurking unease that until now they'd kept to themselves. They offered up everything about themselves because they had, at last, found the only group of people for whom their experiences were not so unique or baffling."
page
87
September 25, 2022
–
16.18%
"By the time they'd finished their tea, they were almost in love with each other - not quite yet, because true love took time and memories, but as close to love as first impressions could take them. The days had not yet come when Ramy wore Victoire's sloppily knitted scarves with pride, when Robin learned exactly how long Ramy liked his tea steeped so he could have it ready when he inevitably came to the Buttery"
page
88
October 6, 2022
–
21.69%
""For God's sake," snapped Professor Lovell. "She was only just a woman."
The problem with this book is not really Kuang's message ("Slavery and colonialism are bad, Mmmmkay?") but how heavy-handed she is with this. There is NOTHING subtle about this book. There's no subtext. Only text."
page
118
The problem with this book is not really Kuang's message ("Slavery and colonialism are bad, Mmmmkay?") but how heavy-handed she is with this. There is NOTHING subtle about this book. There's no subtext. Only text."
October 6, 2022
–
23.9%
"Strong Harry Potter vibes; strong friendship vibes.
The Magicians?"
page
130
The Magicians?"
October 6, 2022
–
24.08%
"Yet didn't he have a right to be happy? He had never felt such warmth in his chest until now, had never looked forward to getting up in the morning as he did now. Babel, his friends, and Oxford - they had unlocked a part of him, a place of sunshine and belonging, that he never thought he'd feel again. The world felt less dark."
page
131
October 6, 2022
–
24.08%
"But when you think about it, is Richard even intelligent? He may be book-learned but he's deeply stupid about people. Think about that."
page
131
October 6, 2022
–
24.82%
"They walked in silence for a stretch. There had been a storm just that morning. The Isis flowed fast and loud under a misty, darkening sky. It was the kind of evening when the world seemed drained of colour, a painting in progress, a sketch really, existing in greys and shadows only.
Book is atmospheric and has great atmospheric writing and vibrations."
page
135
Book is atmospheric and has great atmospheric writing and vibrations."
October 6, 2022
–
25.18%
"How could he explain it? Babel represented more than material comforts. Babel was the reason he belonged in England, why he was not begging on the streets of Canton. Babel was the only place where his talents mattered. Babel was security. And perhaps all that was morally compromised, yes - but was it so wrong to want to survive?
This is exactly her problem. Spelling everything out explicitly. No nuance."
page
137
This is exactly her problem. Spelling everything out explicitly. No nuance."
October 6, 2022
–
26.29%
"He's kind of dense. Robin, I mean. Not sure if Kuang is writing him like that to advance the plot... probably."
page
143
October 6, 2022
–
26.84%
""I write," Pendennis said with very deliberate indifference, the way people who are very conceited throw out morsels of information they hope become objects of fascination. "I write poetry. I haven't produced much so far - "
Good character analysis, gems here and there"
page
146
Good character analysis, gems here and there"
October 6, 2022
–
28.13%
""But what is the opposite of fidelity?" asked Professor Playfair. He was approaching the end of this dialectic; now he needed only to draw it to a close with a punch. "Betrayal. Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes. So then where does that leave us? How can we conclude, expect by acknowledging that an act of translation is then "
page
153
October 6, 2022
–
30.7%
"English did not just borrow words from other languages; it was stuffed to the brim with foreign influences, a Frankenstein vernacular. And Robin found it incredible, how this country, whose citizens prided themselves so much on being better than the rest of the world, could not make it through an afternoon tea without borrowed words.
This is exactly what I'm talking about."
page
167
This is exactly what I'm talking about."
October 6, 2022
–
31.25%
"And Robin, despite everything, hoped the day Griffin prophesied would never come, that he could live hanging in this balance forever. For he had never been happier than he was now: stretched too thin, too preoccupied with the next thing before him to pay any attention to how it all fitted together."
page
170
October 6, 2022
–
32.35%
"Ah, I see what she's doing, thanks to Hua Hsu. She's re-writing the First Opium War using magic. I see. That's what her cast of characters represents: England, India, China..."
page
176
October 6, 2022
–
32.54%
""History isn't a premade tapestry that we've got to suffer, a closed world with no exit. We can form it. Make it. We just have to CHOOSE to make it.""
page
177
October 6, 2022
–
33.64%
"Small wonder Griffin was furious. Small wonder he hated Babel with such vehemence. Griffin had been robbed of everything - a mother tongue, a motherland, a family.
You don't have to spell it out. We get it. Main flaw of the book. Not trusting her readers to understand."
page
183
You don't have to spell it out. We get it. Main flaw of the book. Not trusting her readers to understand."
October 6, 2022
–
35.48%
"The atmosphere of those days was oppressive. Something had seemed to break between them all, no, BREAK was perhaps too strong a word, for they still clung to each other with the force of people who had no one else. But their bond had twisted in a decidedly hurtful direction. They still spent nearly all their waking moments together, but they dreaded each other's company. Everything was an unintended slight"
page
193
October 6, 2022
–
36.95%
"Her distress belied a deeper terror, a terror which Robin felt as well, which was that Anthony had been expendable. That they were all expendable. That this tower - this place where they had for the first time found belonging - treasured and loved them when they were alive and useful but didn't, in fact, care about them at all. That they were, in the end, only vessels for the languages they spoke.
HAMMER IN"
page
201
HAMMER IN"
October 6, 2022
–
37.87%
"He had a fleeting impulse simply to stand up and walk away, if only to see Griffin's expression. But that would grant no lasting satisfaction. If he turned back around, Griffin would mock him; if he kept walking out, he would only have severed his own ties to Hermes. So he did what he did best, with father and SPOILER both - he swallowed his frustrations and resigned himself to letting Griffin set the terms of the"
page
206
October 6, 2022
–
38.42%
"Cathy gestured to the window. "Well, how are they going to provide for their families?"
It shamed Robin that he hadn't even considered this.
HOW is the MC so FUCKING stupid? HOW. HOW. It's SO FRUSTRATING."
page
209
It shamed Robin that he hadn't even considered this.
HOW is the MC so FUCKING stupid? HOW. HOW. It's SO FRUSTRATING."
October 6, 2022
–
41.73%
"I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that Robin is so FUCKING STUPID."
page
227
October 6, 2022
–
43.38%
"If only one could engrave entire memories in silver, thought Robin, to be manifested again and again for years to come - not the cruel distortion of the daguerreotype, but a pure and impossible distillation of emotions and sensations. For simple ink on paper was not enough to describe this golden afternoon; the warmth of uncomplicated friendship, all fights forgotten, all sins forgiven; the sunlight melting away"
page
236
October 6, 2022
–
44.85%
""Don't you know why?"
Their eyes met. Robin felt a pickle at the back of his neck. The space between them felt very charged, like the moment between lightning and thunder, and Robin had no idea what was going on or what would happen next, only that it all felt very strange and terrifying, like teetering over the edge of a windy, roaring cliff.
You have to be shitting me. Really?"
page
244
Their eyes met. Robin felt a pickle at the back of his neck. The space between them felt very charged, like the moment between lightning and thunder, and Robin had no idea what was going on or what would happen next, only that it all felt very strange and terrifying, like teetering over the edge of a windy, roaring cliff.
You have to be shitting me. Really?"
October 6, 2022
–
45.77%
"At first it seemed like a great adventure as they stumbled against each other, laughing, as they picked their way around the tombstones. But then the air seemed to change very quickly. The warmth of the streetlamps dimmed; the tombstone shadows stretched long, shifting, as if belying some presence that did not want them there. Robin felt a sudden, chilling dread. It was not illegal to walk through the cemetery, b"
page
249
October 6, 2022
–
47.43%
"Reality was, after all, just so malleable - facts could be forgotten, truths suppressed, lives seen from only one angle like a trick prism, if only one resolved never to look too closely."
page
258
October 6, 2022
–
49.08%
"She spells everything out meticulously. Every thought you, the reader, is supposed to have. That's my main complaint. She hand-holds you through the whole thing and doesn't allow you to think for yourself or come to your own conclusions."
page
267
October 6, 2022
–
49.26%
"She makes her hero weak and dumb. Not sure why except it helps advance the plot."
page
268
October 6, 2022
–
50.55%
"The room seemed at once both mundane and heartbreakingly beautiful: the morning light streaming through stained-glass windows, casting colourful patterns on the polished wooden desks; the clean scratch of chalk against the blackboard; and the sweet, woody smell of old books. A dream; this was an impossible dream, this fragile, lovely world in which, for the price of his convictions, he had been allowed to remain."
page
275
October 6, 2022
–
54.6%
"It's so dumb. It's so dumb. It's almost a farce. I'm sure that's not what she intended."
page
297
October 6, 2022
–
55.88%
"Are you FUCKING kidding me. My ire with this novel is growing, not sure it can save itself."
page
304
October 6, 2022
–
58.64%
"I mean, there's being racist - that's one thing. Being so stupid you can't fucking shut up about being racist to save your own fucking life is quite another.
Isn't it?
I just find it super-hard to believe everyone in this book is so fucking stupid. Very smart academically, but deeply, deeply stupid on every other possible front."
page
319
Isn't it?
I just find it super-hard to believe everyone in this book is so fucking stupid. Very smart academically, but deeply, deeply stupid on every other possible front."
October 6, 2022
–
61.58%
"Please this is so... it's so... UGH. Also, the MC is so weak and so bafflingly dumb I can't deal with it. Reading this with my head slumped in my hands. Really don't know how this review will turn out. I have so many problems with this book."
page
335
October 6, 2022
–
65.26%
"Of course the SPOILER is evil, SPOILER will betray them... because of course, it fits the narrative Kuang is championing, then Babel SPOILER. I can see it all unfolding now. Please don't let this be as predictable and self-righteous as I'm thinking it's going to be. Please."
page
355
October 6, 2022
–
69.67%
""You've done very well, and I imagine you're quite scared, but you can relax now. The grown-ups are here."
Ugh, gag, gag,"
page
379
Ugh, gag, gag,"
October 6, 2022
–
79.41%
"This book kind of reminds me of UNDERGROUND RAILROAD in some ways."
page
432
October 7, 2022
–
86.21%
"How slender, how fragile, the foundations of an empire. Take away the centre, and what's left? A gasping periphery, baseless, powerless, cut down at the roots."
page
469
October 7, 2022
–
86.58%
"It revealed more than the power of translation. It revealed the sheer dependence of the British, who, astonishingly, could not manage to do basic things like bake bread or get safely from one place to another without words stolen from other countries.
She CAN'T let you think. She has to explain every single thing carefully to you, spell it out for you. Hold your hand and point to everything as if you were 2."
page
471
She CAN'T let you think. She has to explain every single thing carefully to you, spell it out for you. Hold your hand and point to everything as if you were 2."
October 7, 2022
–
86.76%
"It's a good thing for these fucking morons that pretty much everyone else in this universe is a fucking moron, as well. Otherwise they'd be in trouble."
page
472
October 7, 2022
–
87.68%
"More explaining of concepts that absolutely have been hammered into us about 230 times. She just never lets up."
page
477
October 7, 2022
–
90.99%
"This character is just bizarre to me. I expect I am supposed to feel pity or compassion for him. Instead I'm just puzzled."
page
495
October 7, 2022
–
91.91%
"Why does she insist on explaining every single little thing to death? Does she think her readers are idiots?"
page
500
October 7, 2022
–
95.04%
"No wonder this book is so long.
It's a result of Kuang writing a paragraph, which is immediately followed by a second one explaining to you how you are supposed to feel about it and interpret it. If you cut out her handholding, this would only be 1/2 the length it is now."
page
517
It's a result of Kuang writing a paragraph, which is immediately followed by a second one explaining to you how you are supposed to feel about it and interpret it. If you cut out her handholding, this would only be 1/2 the length it is now."
October 7, 2022
–
98.35%
"Some kind of tacked on SPOILER thing that is in the book for two paragraphs, has nothing to do with the story. J.K. Rowling? Is comparing Kuang to Rowling too cruel? IDK."
page
535
October 7, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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Sep 12, 2022 07:45AM
I've been wanting to read that one. Some other reads got in the way. Look forward to reading your thoughts about it.
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Ruben wrote: "I've been wanting to read that one. Some other reads got in the way. Look forward to reading your thoughts about it."Thanks, it's a lot chunkier than I realized. o.O
I will satiate myself, from your review/feedback! Guess, will take few months, to be prepared for it!
Meghna wrote: "I will satiate myself, from your review/feedback! Guess, will take few months, to be prepared for it!"Thanks, Meghna!
![©hrissie ❁ [1st week on campus-somewhat run-down]](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1610034740p1/49071166.jpg)
Carmen, thank you for this detailed review. Too bad this grew tiresome and perhaps too preachy. I did get the impression that it is quite 'niche', as you point out. I wonder!!!!! Thank you for sharing.
©hrissie ❁ [1st week on campus-somewhat run-down] wrote: "Carmen, thank you for this detailed review. Too bad this grew tiresome and perhaps too preachy. I did get the impression that it is quite 'niche', as you point out. I wonder!!!!! Thank you for sharing..."Everyone seems psyched about it. Maybe people who are into 'dark academia' would be more thrilled with it? Hmm, but it wasn't really the academia nor the darkness that bothered me. It was the endless lecturing and the repetitiveness. Also, the characters were undeveloped.
Just not for me.
And you're welcome!
An extremely well-structured review, Carmen!
Meghna wrote: "An extremely well-structured review, Carmen!"Thank you so much, Meghna!
Awesome review, Carmen!😊
Sujoya wrote: "Awesome review, Carmen!😊"Thank you so much, Sujoya!
Carmen, Excellent and helpful review.
Great review, Carmen. I had been thinking about reading this book, but from what you’ve said about it, I’m going to skip it. I don’t like books that over explain everything or ones that don’t trust the reader enough to let them think and form their own conclusions and realizations.
Lisa wrote: "Carmen, Excellent and helpful review."Thank you so much, Lisa. I aim to help.
Great review, Carmen. I had been thinking about reading this book, but from what you’ve said about it, I’m going to skip it. I don’t like books that over explain everything or ones that don’t trust the reader enough to let them think and form their own conclusions and realizations.Thank you, Donna. I would skip it if you can't tolerate those things in large doses. It's a shame, but better than wasting your time.
Carmen wrote: "Thank you so much, Lisa. I aim to help. .":-)
Great review, Carmen! I pretty much nodded in agreement at every sentence. I had the same reaction to it. I wonder whether it is aimed at very young people who may be learning about colonialism for the first time? And it was so excruciatingly boring.
Great review, Carmen! I pretty much nodded in agreement at every sentence. I had the same reaction to it. I wonder whether it is aimed at very young people who may be learning about colonialism for the first time? And it was so excruciatingly boring.Thank you, Nataliya. I don't blame the audience, I blame the author. She wanted to show off all her knowledge? Or she thought her audience (allegedly adults, but even if this was YA) is comprised of idiots and she had to spell everything out? There's no excuse for this writing.
As for it being boring, that's IMO only due to her constant repetition and seeming inability to allow readers to form a thought of their own. If you cut all that crap out, it could have been a tidy 300-page story. Of course, I also thought the characters were basically mouthpieces for the author, pawns to represent different countries/cultures or empires. So that didn't add to any excitement, the character-development was pretty weak.
As you can see, I can go on and on about this. *rolls eyes* Sad, I was kind of looking forward to this book and it was a disappointment.
Oh no, I am so sorry that this was a miss for you Carmen! I have this on my tbr pile but I won't be rushing to read it now! Thank you for such a thoughtful and honest review! 🧡
Oh no, I am so sorry that this was a miss for you Carmen! I have this on my tbr pile but I won't be rushing to read it now! Thank you for such a thoughtful and honest review! 🧡Thank you so much, Ellie! This was so hyped. Maybe too hyped.
This book sounds as enticing as drinking cough syrup. I guess it'll get you high but it's not for me. Thank you for this comprehensive report, Moneypenny. If my book club suggests this, I will run for the door. There's not enough cough syrup. I'm still confused whether this is fiction or non-fiction.
This book sounds as enticing as drinking cough syrup. I guess it'll get you high but it's not for me. Thank you for this comprehensive report, Moneypenny. If my book club suggests this, I will run for the door. There's not enough cough syrup. I'm still confused whether this is fiction or non-fiction.Joseph, it's fiction. And cough syrup is an accurate comparison, although I didn't get a high from reading this. I wouldn't recommend it.
I agree with on and on and on. I thought I’d buy it but I guess I probably won’t. The narrator is good but…. I don’t know.
Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ wrote: "I agree with on and on and on. I thought I’d buy it but I guess I probably won’t. The narrator is good but…. I don’t know."Definitely don't buy it! Ouch, isn't it like $28 or something? I rely heavily on my local library. Or borrowing from a friend, I think TikTok made this one super-popular and I know plenty of women who own it whom I could borrow from.
I'm off to read your review! Can't wait to get your take on this!!!
Wow Carmen, what a review!!!! I have held this book in my hands many times in the last few months and I’m not sure what kept me from buying it. Now I’m glad I didn’t! There is nothing I hate more than preaching and block generalizations. Also, I couldn’t agree less on translation being inherently exploitative either.
Wow Carmen, what a review!!!! I have held this book in my hands many times in the last few months and I’m not sure what kept me from buying it. Now I’m glad I didn’t! There is nothing I hate more than preaching and block generalizations. Also, I couldn’t agree less on translation being inherently exploitative either.Thanks, RedL. I think you not buying it was a wise choice. I was so disappointed by this overhyped book. I shouldn't have fallen for the hype. LOL
Carmen wrote: "Wow Carmen, what a review!!!! I have held this book in my hands many times in the last few months and I’m not sure what kept me from buying it. Now I’m glad I didn’t! There is nothing I hate more t..."Considering how polarised the reactions are, there must be something in the book. Amazing how opposite the experiences with this narrative can be....I still don't feel like I even want to try it for myself, though, aahah!
Considering how polarised the reactions are, there must be something in the book. Amazing how opposite the experiences with this narrative can be....I still don't feel like I even want to try it for myself, though, aahah! It's a risk for sure.
Carmen wrote: "It's a risk for sure."Too bad, I love the cover so...and languages. Babel and a lot of other elements...amen...
RedL. wrote: "Carmen wrote: "It's a risk for sure."Too bad, I love the cover so...and languages. Babel and a lot of other elements...amen..."
Usually, I'd tell you to read the first hundred pages and see if you like it, but unfortunately, this book is 545 pages, and the first hundred or so are the strongest IMO. It just gets worse and worse as it goes on.
Carmen wrote: "RedL. wrote: "Carmen wrote: "It's a risk for sure."Too bad, I love the cover so...and languages. Babel and a lot of other elements...amen..."
Usually, I'd tell you to read the first hundred page..."
:-O I couldn't do that anyway, if I read that many pages of a book I will just continue, it's a compulsive thing...
Pretty much my opinion of this book too. I definitely felt whacked over the head. Give me a break - the author describes the situations well and I understand the negative impact of European colonialism. Less lecturing and more subtlety would have improved this story.
Pretty much my opinion of this book too. I definitely felt whacked over the head. Give me a break - the author describes the situations well and I understand the negative impact of European colonialism. Less lecturing and more subtlety would have improved this story.Thank you so much, Deirdre. We are in complete agreement!
Willow wrote: "Excellent review! Thank you!"You're welcome, Willow! Glad to help!
It started out with such promise! Such a disappointment.
Mary wrote: "It started out with such promise! Such a disappointment."I know. Sad.
