Book Review: Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang

 

Guest review by Tarren Young

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence:

An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution

by R.F. Kuang

 

Whose job is it to determine who is and who isn’t civilized?

It started with a bestie raving about the reviews. From that alone, I was amped up not with just a monstrous desire, but an unyielding need to read Babel by author R.F. Kuang. This fascinating book delves deep into the underpinnings of academia using an underlying magic, crackling like an unseen electrical current, to discuss colonialism in great detail.

Robin Swift is “saved” by Professor Lovell after his mother dies of cholera in Canton, China. In England, he is raised by Lovell and tutored until he is old enough to attend Oxford, where Lovell works. There, Robin meets his first real friends – Remy, Victoire, and Letty. As they learn the mysterious silver work that underpins the modern conveniences of the world they live in, the gross inequities that their work rests on are revealed and the four must make some hard decisions.

Babel, starting in the mid 1800’s, is at its core a fictional social commentary of the mindsets different classes of people held during that period. A sharp, but often jagged, line that cuts right into humanity itself. One class of people believe this, another believes that. Yet everyone benefits in some form from the academic brains and silver work, the magic that sits at the heart of Oxford, the Tower of Babel.

Even though everyone benefits, what happens at the Tower is like the old Vegas saying, “What happens at Babel, stays at Babel.” What exactly goes on at Babel? Who runs Babel? And as such, who truly benefits from Babel? What social class of people are reaping the benefits from the work at Babel?

Though some of the characters seemed to be a bit one dimensional, I feel they were portrayed that way to attest to the hierarchy hive mind of how specific social classes were viewed. Several characters seem to be more human, and that’s what this book really tries to address. Who is considered human, and who is below that status—in the mindsets of those different social classes.

Another facet of what this novel does — it seeks to understand, and deconstruct our understanding. It is an exploration to challenge preconceived notions of what the reader thinks they already know.

I willingly admit that this has been the most academic novel I have read since the early 2000’s when I was in college. And, if I’m being honest, it felt daunting at times. Some parts of the novel were fascinating, but it did not stop me from wanting to DNF (did not finish) the book at times. The one-dimensional characters fell into that consideration.

I did love learning more about a time and situation I only knew a hairs breadth about. And the later characters showed growth. There was witty and sarcastic banter! (Sarcasm may not be the high class of social acceptance for academia, but I do enjoy good sarcasm.) Despite the spots of tedium, it also seemed accessible. There were some thought-provoking twists one could not see coming that were appreciated as well.

However, in all of this, there is still something I can’t quite put my finger on about the book that made me not rate it a full four stars. (My overall rating on the book was 3.5/5 stars.) I have been wracked with it for a week, and I still have yet to come to a solid conclusion on why.

Even with this still niggling in the back of my brain, I am glad to have read it, to have learned, to challenge myself — to still think on it long into the early depths of the morning.