Babel

R. F. Kuang’s Babel is a page-turner and the best novel of hers I have read so far. It is an immersive tale of dark academia that explores the beauty and deceit of language and translation. Beneath it all, there is a seething critique of colonialism and its impact, and the power structures that still shape our world today.

One of the reasons I loved this book is because I felt so much of what the characters go through. As a person who grew up in Nepal and later moved to a Western country, I feel both gratitude for all the opportunities I have and a huge guilt for leaving my home and country. Once, while sharing some memories, someone asked me, “If it was so good there, why did you come here?” I said I wanted adventure and I was curious to know what the other half of the world is like, which was only half true. The truth is not everyone starts at the same line. Back home, success often depends on who you know, not just how hard you work, which is funny because I found that it still holds true in the Western world, though in subtler ways. This reality made the story even more personal for me. I felt a warm kinship with Robin, Ramy, Victoire, and even Letty. They all tried so hard to belong and could not, in their own ways.

Babel captures that feeling, or illusion, of protection and privilege through distance. As someone in academia, it is all too easy to bury yourself in research and tune out the world, even your own. When a friend recently asked me how to say “cat” in my ethnic Newari tongue, I had to stop and think. The word didn’t come to me naturally anymore. I realised the language I grew up with, the first language I learned to speak, is slowly fading, and in that moment I felt lost. It is frightening how easy it is to let pieces of yourself slip away just so you have a fleeting sense of belonging, while the world burns elsewhere and languages burn with it.

Kuang doesn’t let us look away from reality. Even though this is supposed to be a fantasy novel, she does not let go of her central theme. She hammers it again and again. There is hatred, trauma and pain. Some might find that repetitive and annoying, but I think it is necessary. These truths need to be hammered because they are so easy to forget.

This book made me think, ache, and question. It is painful to read, but for a reason. Babel isn’t a comforting book. It doesn’t promise a happy ending, and it doesn’t pretend to.