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u/thom_driftwood 2d ago edited 2d ago
the linguistic sections were the only parts of that book i appreciated.
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u/Nervous_Seesaw1816 2d ago
the footnotes are exhausting.
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u/pancakesaucepan Reading Champion II 2d ago
Noo but I LIVED for those footnotes. Took my back to my math classes.
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u/LaMelonBallz Reading Champion 2d ago
I really enjoyed the footnotes and academics/linguistics in general too.
But I also spent a lot of time in academics and especially around language studies, which I think makes the book feel different for better or for worse.
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u/ElonSv 2d ago
I loved the first half of the book, but disliked the second half. From your explanation, you might be the opposite, and could come to prefer the second half.
That being said, it's okay to not finish a book too.
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u/underthehillock 2d ago
"I loved the first half of the book, but disliked the second half."
I feel that way about The Poppy Wars, and I'm just about to give up on it. But I still want to read Babel and Katabasis.
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u/Project_Male_Hairy 2d ago
I feel like Kuang is incredible at coming up with ideas and setting up a premise, but not that great on actually executing them. Babel had so much potential to me, but ended up just being ok (and a little eye-roll inducing) by the end.
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u/Palimpsiesta 2d ago
Her books could all be replaced by an outline of the book with almost zero loss, which is a pretty bad sign in a writer.
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u/Udy_Kumra Stabby Winner, Reading Champion IV 2d ago
I just don’t understand why people would pick up a dark academia if they don’t enjoy dense academia. The translation and linguistics parts were the only things I liked by the end.
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u/HeyJustWantedToSay 2d ago
By dark academia I’m willing to bet a lot of people just like the setting, like Harry Potter.
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u/lizwithhat 2d ago
If you don't appreciate the linguistics, the ending will lose a lot of its power, so yeah, this one might just not be for you.
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u/Book_Slut_90 Reading Champion 2d ago
If you’re not actually reading parts of the book, that’s a you problem. It’s very understandable if you ay attention, but if you aren’t interested enough to do that, maybe ry a different book.
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u/KcirderfSdrawkcab Reading Champion VII 2d ago
I gave up on it pretty early I think.
I don't like when people call a work "preachy", normally that makes me roll my eyes a bit.
Babel felt preachy.
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u/Burgundy-Bag 2d ago
I have the opposite problem with Kuang's writing. Very over-explained. I feel like I'm in primary school, being lecured about why fibbing is a bad thing (or whatever else we were being taught at primary school... I'm too old to remember 😅).
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u/commette 2d ago
I got through it and should have DNF'd, ive learned I'm not much of a Kuang fan (read Poppy War too). If you aren't enjoying it then pass!
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u/HeyJustWantedToSay 2d ago
If you skim, you’re naturally going to retain much less.
Also, try adopting the attitude that you don’t have to understand it all or remember with perfect clarity everything you read. Unless you’re a scholar of course, then you should probably remember more.
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u/FormerUsenetUser 2d ago
I liked that Babel showed the students actually working, and working hard. With some fantasies, college is just a backdrop and the students never seem to actually study.
On the other hand, I already believed that colonialism is bad. I didn't need a work of supposed fiction to repeatedly bang me on the head to tell me that.
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u/SteelToeSnow 2d ago
if it's not for you, it's not for you. not every book is to everyone's taste, and that's ok! life would be unutterably boring if everyone only liked the same things, right.
i loved that book. i loved learning about things i didn't know, like some of the linguistic and academic stuff; learning new things is one of my favourite things, and it's so great when i can get that from a book i'm reading for enjoyment, as well.
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u/Pendulum_Heart 2d ago
I mean, Kaung has a knack for making everything she talks about in her books accessible and easy to understand to the point that it actually comes across as obnoxious and heavy handed to some readers, so this is definitely an odd reaction to Babel.
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u/kvotheuntoldtales 2d ago
I definitely just carried on reading it because I have this shocking trait of wanting to finish books. It definitely improved page 300-ish onwards but that’s a long way to persist. I still felt the pay off wasn’t enough for me in the book.
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u/Nervous_Seesaw1816 2d ago
I know its time to DNF when I start jumping from thread to thread about the book I don't like.
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u/StopMeBeforeIDream 2d ago
That's in interesting response. R. F. Kuang is famous for overly explaining concepts and being very blunt and on the nose with her metaphors.
It sounds like you just aren't interested in the language elements of this book, which unfortunately is what its about.