Welcome to Smitten For Fiction! My name is Amanda and this blog is all about books. I mainly share spoiler-free book reviews and sometimes other bookish things. Not every book is my cup of tea – and that’s ok. Even if I didn’t like it, I try to find readers that would. Thanks for visiting. Let’s get Smitten For Fiction.

I bought Babel from Books on Main after it debuted #1 on The New York Times Best Seller List. This book is my favourite read in 2022. It’s probably going to end up on banned books lists – SO READ IT!

‘Languages aren’t just made of words. They’re modes of looking at the world. They’re the keys to civilization. And that’s knowledge worth killing for.’ – Anthony, Babel

“R.F. Kuang has written a masterpiece. Through a meticulously researched and a wholly impressive deep dive into linguistics and the politics of language and translation, Kuang weaves a story that is part love-hate letter to academia, part scathing indictment of the colonial enterprise, and all fiery revolution.”
— Rebecca Roanhorse, New York Times bestselling author of Black Sun 

About The Book 📚

Title: Babel or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution

Author: R.F. Kuang

Publication Date: August 2022

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Suggested Reader Age: Adult Contains violence, drug use

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary, Fantasy, Dark Academia

Pages: 544

Content Warnings: Racism, Colonization, Xenophobia, Death, Violence, Murder, Classism, Sexism, Suicide, Death of a Parent, Grief, Child Abuse, War, Gun Violence, Torture, Slavery, Toxic Friendship, Gore, Drug and Alcohol Use

About The Author

“Rebecca F. Kuang is the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy and Babel: An Arcane History, as well as the forthcoming Yellowface. She has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford; she is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale”
https://rfkuang.com/about/

My Review

› In her author’s note, R.F. Kuang described Babel as a “fantastical version of Oxford in the 1830s”.

1st Line: “By the time Professor Richard Lovell found his way through Canton’s narrow alleys to the faded address in his diary, the boy was the only one in the house left alive.”

The Chinese boy’s mother and grandparents are dead and his father is unknown. A stranger shows up, saves his life, and makes an offer for the boy to come to London to study languages. The strange man is Professor Lovell. When given the choice to be homeless or accompany the Professor it’s an easy decision. The boy agrees to study whatever the Professor deems important and renames himself Robin Swift (inspired by Gulliver’s Travels).

“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.”

They sign papers to make Robin a ward of Professor Lovell, who teaches at Oxford. One day, a house guest let it slip that Robin was the professor’s offspring, but the Professor shut the conversation down and Robin decided to not question Lovell.

“As long as Professor Lovell did not accept him as a son, Robin would not attempt to claim him as a father.”

The tower of Babel from biblical literature is a mythical structure that explains why people speak different languages. R.F. Kuang’s Tower of Babel is bigger on the inside than it seems from the outside (like the Tardis). It’s the location for the Royal Institute of Translation which was founded in the early 17th century and moved to Oxford in 1715.

Lobby: for business, trading silver bars for service
2nd floor: Legal Department
3rd floor: Interpretation
4th floor: Literature (translation)
5th & 6th floor: Reference Materials & Instruction
7th floor: Faculty Offices
8th floor: Silver-Working

“They gazed up at the tower. It was a magnificent building – a gleaming white edifice built in the neoclassical style, eight storeys tall and ringed with ornamental pillars and high stained-glass windows. It dominated the skyline of High Street, and made the nearby Radcliffe Library and University Chuch of St Mary the Virgin look quite pathetic in comparison.”

At Oxford Robin meets many different kinds of people who can speak different languages. Robin can speak Chinese, Latin, and Greek. Victoire is Black, from Haiti, and knows French and Kreyòl. Anthony is Black and knows French, Spanish, and German. Letty is a white woman who knows French and German. Robin’s best friend is Ramy, a Muslim from Calcutta. Instead of trying to blend in like Robin, Ramy tells people he is royalty. He is bold and blunt and knows Urdu, Arabic, and Persian.

One evening, Robin and Ramy are verbally assaulted by a group of racist young men while walking back to the dorms after studying at the Bodleian library.

“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.”

Robin returned to the Bodleian to get Ramy’s notebook he left behind and on his way home found a group of young adults trying to pick up silver bars that had spilled all over the street. Robin went to help and discovers a boy who looks just like him. He repeats the word they had been saying and the group disappear, helping them escape the police. Robin’s look-alike told him to find him at The Twisted Root. Coincidentally, Victoire and Letty live near The Twisted Root. There he learns about The Hermes Society.

England is using Babel to make money from magical silver bars. Rich people use it for frivolous things like colour-changing curtains. The military and slave trade also use the bars. Babel pretends to be collecting knowledge however it’s really in the business of colonialism. It’s all about expanding the English Empire. The Hermes Society steals the silver to send it to other countries.

Translation makes communication possible which makes trade possible. People from all over the world are welcomed at Babel – not despite who they are, but because of who they are.

Robin doesn’t agree with the tower’s involvement in colonization, however, he also doesn’t like the illegal actions of The Hermes Society. He must figure out who he is and how he feels about the necessity of violence.

› I use the CAWPILE method to rate books.
0-3 Really bad
4-6 Mediocre
7-9 Really good
10 Outstanding

› Characters: 10
Incredible characters with goals, strengths, flaws, conflict, backstory, characteristics, and diversity. I would read a book about any of them.

› Atmosphere: 10
Made me cry numerous times. Kuang includes plenty of descriptions and details. For example, a vial of blood is added to a wall of drawers in the tower, which gives it the ability to distinguish the people trying to enter the tower. There are wards in place to protect the books and silver from thieves.

› Writing Style: 10
I enjoyed the footnotes. I love Kuang’s ability to discuss difficult topics such as racism and misogyny without coming across as lecturing.

› Plot: 10
This did not feel like a 544-page book. The pacing is awesome. I never felt bored and every sentence has a purpose and reason for being there.

› Intrigue: 10
I didn’t want to put it down. I talk about this book with a lot of people and can’t stop thinking about it.

› Logic: 10
I never felt confused and can even understand the action scenes (which I often find difficult to follow in books).

› Enjoyment: 10

My Rating ★★★★★ I would give it six stars if I could. One of the best books I’ve ever read.

› Final Thoughts
• Babel is about survival. It’s about British colonization and how countries steal resources to grow their empire on the backs of minorities. It’s about language. I learned thought-provoking aspects about the roots of sayings and words.

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