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elizabeth_helmer's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, War, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Racism, and Child abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Slavery, Murder, and Sexism
Minor: Torture
namelessreader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Colonisation, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Slavery, Violence, Gun violence, Drug abuse, and War
laurawho's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Police brutality, Suicide, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Murder, Racial slurs, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Death, Sexism, War, Child abuse, and Misogyny
Minor: Slavery and Drug use
invertedsquares's review
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
bronzel's review against another edition
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Racism, Child abuse, and Racial slurs
oceanelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Suicide, Classism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse
nicoles_reading_corner's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, and Violence
Moderate: Slavery, Violence, War, Racial slurs, and Death of parent
isaaceelliot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Death, Blood, War, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Slavery, Child abuse, and Colonisation
ericadawson's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
People like to pull Playfair's quote about the violence and betrayal of translation from the text and present it as one of the most gut-wrenching lines in the entire novel. In fact, there are many such lines across many contexts. If I went through Babel now to put them all here, I'd never stop. I may as well quote the whole book.
Babel is about a a young, half-Chinese, half-English man named Robin Swift as he grapples with his role in support Britain's colonial Empire in the 1830s. The lynchpin for all of England's dealings is silver, imbued with the magical and abstract powers of the tongue via the powerful spaces between translation.
Babel has almost everything for me. I love all of the characters. The "math" of the arcs--that is, why anyone one character says or does anything at any give time--makes perfect sense. It's not predictable; simply logical. I could never hate Robin or Victoire or Letty for their initial love of Babel. I couldn't blame Ramy for anything he did or said. Letty's white feminism, white supremancy, and willfully ignorant understanding of the world was on point until it got tiresome.
That is where I have to shave off a portion of a point, unfortunately. Letty's point as a character was hammered home until the wood was dented and the head was flying off the hammer. While I can understand that narrative math of Robin, Ramy, and Victoire explaining to Letty over and over how hard it is to be non-white in a fundamentally white supremacist insitution, white supremacist land--at a point, I grew patient with them. Especially after
Another portion of a point gets shaved off for Victoire's character. I loved her, I do, I just wish she stood out more from the beginning. I loved her especially in the end, with how her character was set up against Robin's and how they played off each other's strengths and weaknesses.
Yet another portion of a point for the pacing of the ending in general. It was slow for me. There were two supposed twists/keys to success that I was waiting for the characters to remember and use, which made me get impatient.
None of these things overall seriously detracts from my star-point rating for Babel. It was a lovely book. The prose was straightforward without being plain, and often punched me in the gut (in a good way). The concept was amazing, and the entire plot was clearly well-researched. I loved the footnotes. I loved everything. Highly recommended. If there was top-shelf wine for books, Babel would be up there.
Graphic: Racism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Violence, Racial slurs, Classism, and Blood
Moderate: Colonisation, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Addiction
smateer73's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Violence, Racial slurs, War, Blood, Colonisation, Death, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Abandonment