レビュー

• insightful

  Very interesting perspectives and skilled writing.

• 言語の本質に迫る。

  200年前の英国、産業革命が国力を増大しビクトリア女王が即位し世界制覇を目指し始めた、19世紀中ごろ。当時のターゲットは、ヨーロッパ最大の敵国フランス、植民地インド、更に最大の銀産出国中国。世界制覇の柱として、軍事力同様に力を注いだのが言語。対象国以上にその国の言語・文化を知れば必ず征服できると考え、言語学者養成機関としてオクスフォード大学内に「王立翻訳機関：Royal Institute of Translation」通称Babelを設立。ここに入校して来たのが、中国、インド、タヒチ、フランスから選抜され送り込まれた来た主人公たち、４名。当初は純粋に学問が出来ると勉学に励んでいたが、真の目的は彼らの言語能力を使い、インドで麻薬を栽培し、それを中国に売り、銀を入手する国家戦略が分かり始めストーリーが展開する。他書評も述べている様に最後の部分は同じ議論が繰り返され、空回りし、かったるい事は否めない。但し、言語・知識の研究・習得を国家戦略として位置つけるのは流石に大英帝国だし、それを柱としたストーリも秀逸。評者が個人的に興味を引いたのはラテン語の引用が多々見受けられ事と、オクスフォード大でのラテン語とギリシャ語の位置づけ、古代から伝わる文字・言語の知力・魔力の記述などです。言語の本質にせまる一冊です。

• 歴史とマジックと栄光と友情などなど、うまく盛り込んだ名作

  1830年代のオックスフォード大学の様子がうまく描かれていると思います。一般の学生は裕福な家の男子たちで、その人たちが女子生徒や植民地から来た学生に対する態度など、なるほどと思わせるものでした。またアヘン戦争やイギリスの産業革命を織り交ぜながら、ファンタスティックなストーリーになっていました。 少し残念なのはハッピーエンドにならなかったことです。

• Confused and confusing

  After reading the first section, I wondered whether this was a book with footnotes, or footnotes with a book. In my kindle edition, there are 46 pages of footnotes, which is 46 pages too many for what is alleged to be a novel. The author's basic problem is that she cannot decide whether she is writing a science fiction novel, or a diatribe against British Imperial policy, with the result that the work falls fatally between these two stools. If rewritten coherently as one or the other, it would probably rate 4 or 5 stars. As it is, I cannot give it more than 3, at best.

• Infinitely more valuable than H_ P_

  A gripping story of struggle against a system which threatens to overwhelm everything that is good. Complex discussion of translation (real and fictional) and colonialism are interwoven with the story of a young man who is taken hostage by a system which nourishes and develops him, but also places unfair demands and restrictions upon him.

• It's a good book.

  It's a intriguing book I ever had and the package also perfectly find. However, the delivery is not that impressive. I'm not sure if it's Amazon duty or the delivery company in the country I lived in duty, but the deliver should not sent it to my campus instead of my dormitory. It's a personal belongings and it's my privacy, please consider this topic in the future.

• Long live the resistance

  Beautifully and heartbreakingly written, we’re still in a fight with colonialism and oppressors all around the world!

• I am satisfied

  the quality of the book is very good!

• رايي

  متحمس له وصلني في حالة ممتازة بس باقي ما بديت اقراه

• Original and compelling

  It’s not an easy task to review a book that is such a monolith of ideas. I loved the whole vision and the narrative voice - a genuinely vivid and energetic mind telling a truly compelling story. The various references to Dickens are a clear indication of the writers love of great imaginative storytelling and the book is exactly that. A very intelligent book that deserves reading for its uncompromising attack on the British Empire and its rewriting of history through the eyes of four young men and women trapped in its system of double standards and hypocrisy. Vast in its vision and genuinely moving in the choices its characters make. Occasionally such truths are slightly tarnished by echoes of fashionable politically correctness while the strength of the book’s ideas and characters in themselves establish an unquestionable critique and system of values that does the job far more effectively than any dogmatic adherence to cancel culture or the like. A real standout book that despite being labeled as a YA novel involves a widely-read adult reader such as myself. Very much recommended.

• livre

  très bien - pas de problème

• Great novel, terrible quality of the edition

  I won't comment on the novel per se, because literarily it's great, but I'm INCREDIBLY DISAPPOINTED with the quality of the edition. I bought the novel in hardcover, hoping for the durability and solidity of the edition. Unfortunately, I found that despite the hardcover, the spine of the book is glued, not sewn, and the pages (every single one of them!) begin to fall off the spine after one flip. I fear that by the time I get to the end of the novel, they will have fallen off completely. I ordered the English-language edition specifically because of the hardcover, as in my country it only comes out in an integral binding. This turned out to be a big mistake, as the quality of the Polish edition is nevertheless much better. (Rating for novel itself - 5/5)

• The Book is smaller than I expected

  I love this book—that it, the content of the book— but I very disappointed with the way the cover is so flimsy and the print is so small. It’s a very small book lol but still pretty

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