Babel

R.F. Kuang you wizard… I don’t know how you do it.

I’m sitting here at work quietly sobbing because of this terribly beautiful novel. Babel almost makes me want to abandon science altogether and redo undergrad as a linguistics major.

As a young Asian woman learning to navigate academia, this book pushed all the right buttons for me. There’s something surreal about seeing characters I learned in Sunday Chinese school appearing in a major novel. And I think that’s why this book was so poignant for me because much like Robin, I’ve slowly forgotten how to read those characters – adrift and unable to dream in a language I grew up with. I say all of this because I think my identity made this book all the more impactful and that may not be the case for some.

Regardless, I think Babel’s overt criticisms of colonialism and modern academia’s roots in the exploitation of certain groups make up for that. To me, this is the type of criticism that does not need to be subtly given and was entirely Kuang’s intention. I appreciate her heavy-handedness because I think it’s needed in a discussion on colonialism/power, though I think some may not appreciate that and that’s ok!

All in all, Kuang’s prose is sharp and easy to follow. It was engaging enough that I could follow the more lecture-heavy (this is dark academia after all) and linguistics-centric bits without being bored. As for pacing, it does start off a bit slow but picks up – beware if you’re not a fan of slow starts. I also do think that the main cast could have been fleshed out a bit more, but to me, they were empathetic and their pains very real.

The magic system is unique, albeit a little more abstract, and can be hard to grasp sometimes (though Kuang does explain whenever I needed one). It’s fun seeing how magic permeates society and it clearly seems like Kuang put thought into it. For those more inclined to high fantasy, the magic system may feel a bit underdeveloped. To that, I think it strengthens Kaung’s criticisms because it merely stratifies the power dynamics she’s examining, but if you’re looking for an in-depth magic system you might find yourself disappointed.

I do think that Kuang’s focus on etymology/language does get in the way of the narrative sometimes though. Multiple times, Kuang builds fantastic tension in a scene, but it is broken with a paragraph of explanation. It happened enough that it caught my attention, but not enough to take away from the overall narrative.

All I mean to say is that I really did love this book and its unflinching examination of power in academia. It is also an interesting thesis on the necessity of violence for change, an important topic in today’s ever-growing turmoil. Babel is absolutely vicious sometimes in its criticisms but in the most poetic way.

This book has undone me so I’m going to go retreat into a Word document to write out all my thoughts and feels because damn R.F. Kuang you’re one ambitious writer. Catch me still hyperfixated on Babel 3 months later because I’m not ok.