First off, what a title!
I believe that there are two types of authors: storytellers and writers. Storytellers make you forget you are holding a book; With them, you live in the book, and every time you take a break, that fictional world stays with you as you go about other activities.
Writers, on the other hand, make you appreciate the craft of writing itself – you might think, “They write so well!” or “I wish I could write like this!”
R. F Kuang has embodied a perfect blend of both in Babel! Let’s dive into why you should read it.
You may have already heard of the story of the Tower of Babel, where people began speaking different languages.
Languages. That forms the background of the story. It centres around Robin Swift, a young Chinese boy brought to England and groomed to become a scholar at the prestigious Oxford Institute of Translators. There, he meets and becomes friends with Ramiz, Victoire and Letitia. Robin goes through a profound character development that prompts self-reflection.
But languages! If you are bilingual like me (or trying to be), or watch content that requires subtitles, this book is definitely for you too. I love how the background of some words adds colour to the entire story.
TIP: Listen to the audiobook if you can. The narrator does a fantastic job, and you also get to hear the pronunciations of non-English words.
The novel is set in 1830s England when the British Empire was still a world power. This added to the story's depth by skillfully intertwining themes of colonialism, power dynamics, and revolution, contributing to the prevailing tension in the second half of the novel.
If you belong to a book club or you love discussing books you’ve read with others, Babel will provide you with a lot of deliberation material.
Babel is a lengthy book, spanning approximately 545 pages or 21 hours of listening. If you are like me, you probably shy away from anything more than 400 pages.
However, after the first half of this book, things speed up. Without giving too much away, the "necessity of violence" drives the second half of the story, raising the stakes as the characters confront difficult choices.
I enjoyed listening to this book so much that I’m rating it 5 stars. If you enjoy books that are both thought-provoking and beautifully written, Babel by R. F. Kuang is a must-read.
I especially enjoyed how it blends immersive storytelling with rich language, exploring themes of translation, colonialism, and revolution.
If you have read it, let me know your thoughts in the comments.
From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.
