I’m having trouble writing my review for this novel. I have so much I want to say but I struggle to find the right words to get my sentiments across. The book is an epic tale against colonialism, classism, racism, sexism, and well basically any systemic inequality many in our world accept as a natural, immutable fact.
The MacGuffin of the story is that magic can be made through translation because there is no real direct translation and something is invariably lost when translating a word or piece from one language to another and the magic is found in what is lost. The British Empire in the mid-1800s is at the height of its power, it has hoarded a mass of silver which is what makes the magic of translation powerful, so it has not only been amassing the world’s largest collection of silver but also stealing children from their colonies to act as translators at Oxford and forcing them to use their magic against their homelands. Like in the Poppy War trilogy before it, Babel does not hold back when showcasing the evils of empire and colonialism – how it not only hurts those it colonizes but those poor and working class in the heart of the empire but those in power continue to stir up the imperial pride so that they can continue to step on the necks of the poor and disenfranchised everywhere.
We are introduced to our protagonist Robin who is lying sick with Cholera next to the body of his mother who died from the same disease in a small house in Canton. A white man comes and presses and silver rod on Robin, heals him and asks if he wants to come to England with him to live and study. with nothing left for him in Canton, he agrees and they set sail.
Throughout the story, we watch as our main characters try to hold onto a bit of their history and past while every bit of the society that colonized them tries to absorb them and make them ever so slightly more English day in and day out, while never stopping reminding them that they are other and will always be other. Robbing them of their identities as either Cantonese, Haitian, or Indian while failing to give them a new identity. They will never be English. Empire only consumes and uses its resources to expand and consume more, and that’s all they are. A resource to help their colonizers pillage and conquer more.
The novel is separated into five books, with each smoothly transitioning to the next but each book represents the death of the life Robin knew before with no way to undo or unlearn what has forever changed him. I will not write about when or what these books entail to avoid those spoilers.
Babel is many things and has many messages to say. Some are done subtly and others are waved in front of your face in case you missed it the first few times it was said. When Robin arrives at Oxford he is introduced to his “cohort” of three other first year students, Ramy a young Muslim man from Calcutta, Victoire a Black ex-slave from Haiti, and Letty a white girl from England. Throughout the novel Letty continues to ignore her three friends when they voice their fears and apprehensions when interacting with British society, always dismissing the discrimination as not as bad as they make it out to be. She refuses to see past her own hardships and will throw her allies under the proverbial carriage to please their oppressors so she can feel like she has some sense of agency; always failing to see that by doing so she’s also hurting herself and her cause. Feminism for white cis women only fails everyone. Feminism needs to be inclusive and intersectional.Babel shows us that there is hope so long as there are those willing to stand up and fight against injustice, but it is not sugarcoating it. Trying to turn the tides of empire, wealth, and greed is an uphill battle where the status quo is so deeply entrenched and embedded into the fabric of society at all levels that it takes a monumental effort to change it. It will be dirty, dangerous, long, and difficult. It will require sacrifices that not everyone will be willing to make, but so long as a few brave are willing to stand up for what is right, change is possible.
9/10