As someone who went to the same college as Donna Tartt (the one she allegedly based A Secret History off of), TOTALLY understand why you were not vibing with those characters. Rejoice that you didn't have to go to class with them
Ok u definitely convinced me to read Babel because I’m a linguistics major and a big thing people don’t understand is that language and culture are deeply intertwined and killing a language is effectively killing a culture.
i am a linguistics major (not in english tho, its not my first language too) and honestly that book felt like so much wasted potential to me, as an educated person i know the history of colonialism and i was going into the book already fully aware that it was horrible but i got 500 pages of someone trying to convince why it is so bad (which wasnt needed) but failed to bring up anymore interesting topics to the table + all the characters felt incredibly shallow, professor lowell was probably the only character that made me feel any emotions (dude made me furious) but that's it but "the poppy war" is still one of my fave fantasy series
@@aree376 I felt similar. What this book gave me was more appreciation for the work of translation and reading it in a German translation added a layer. And I'm generally interested in languages, so those parts were nice to read. But I felt the same about the topic of colonialism. If there was a ladder of education for this topic, this book would meet you at the beginning. My problem is that I bought this book as a birthday present for a friend, thinking that this would be a good phantasy-novel-match for someone who loved reading phantasy in their teenage years and is now a well-educated, intelligent and politically engaged person, but after reading it myself, I'm not so sure anymore :D
@@aree376 absolutely!! and definitely don't read this if you're a translator like me - for someone who is supposedly a translator, the innacuracies and misrepresentations in translation theory that r.f. kuang shamelessly included left me sooo angry!! the plot and the commentary: great. the mechanics? not so much.
Right?? I listened to the audiobook read by the author herself and let's just say it was an experience 😂 The way Donna Tart pronounces words that start with wh- took me off guard so much that it was all I could focus on 💀
I loved it so much from the beginning so I read it one night and several hours in russian which is my mother tongue, then it took me couple of weeks to reread it in english and couple of months - in german. 🤪 So i was kind of obsessed, maybe it's ADHD or smth😂 but if I am not into book that much it takes me months, yep.
to me your comments about The Secret History sort of highlight what I feel is the irony of the dark academia aesthetic vs the dark academia genre. The genre is 100% about critiquing the veneer of the world of elite academics, revealing it for all its obsessive, entitled, and dangerous rot. For all their party habits, perfect hair, and endless debates on ethics, when you scratch the surface these hyper intelligent/skilled rich kids are viscous high strung perfectionists who are liable to collapse and take everyone else down with them at the first sign of trouble. That's the point of the genre. Like its literally about the relationship between the high-brow facade of the intellectual elite and their hollow rotten reality, and the damage you can do to yourself by trying to act like one of them...and then the aesthetic is about how to act like one of them for the low low price of a £9.99 cardigan from SHEIN. Its bizarre- the concept and function of the aesthetic is literally the thing the genre is trying to critique.
Donna tart was literally critiquing the idea of aesthetics for aesthetics sake, without substance. Unfortunately her book went too hard and people were like, lets make this an aesthetic
Yes! Late to the party here but I grew up poor and got dropped into the Ivy League, upper-echelon of society later in life. I think the absurdity of the character’s actions and personalities is intentional. In my opinion, we shouldn’t be able to connect with any of them. They truly live in a completely different world devoid of worthy consequences and often the small world they create for themselves makes them blind. When I heard someone say they’ll just keep paying for speeding tickets because they’re cheap enough I was shocked. They can’t see it because the structure is just so different for them from the beginning. We glorify the right to act out and not pay the consequences in life. So then we try and become them through academia, or assimilation to that structure.
This is exactly what happened to me. It just hit me out of nowhere. This book is the one that I would tell people they have to read if I had to choose just one.
As a burnt out, former gifted kid, with anxiety it was comforting to hear you talk about mental health. Reading is one of my favorite activities to calm down and unwind, but at the same time, when I don't reach my reading goals I beat myself up. Also, I love all of your videos, you talk about every book you read in a really engaging, smart and funny way.
Nobody describes the secret history as what it is….. a cult book. I swear the entire time I was just thinking, is this a cult??? Because it basically was but nobody describes it as that from what I’ve seen
oh it is absolutely a cult book!! there’s so many layers to this book that after analyzing it properly it’s a completely different story than the one you thought you were reading at first, which is the main reason i love it so much
The were cult/coven. I currently studying in Faculty of Arts and you can feel the energy there. Students from philosophy or antien greek are just a bit diffrente.
as an actor, the fact that if we were villians characters speak in shakespeare quotes made me feel like they were real actors. like when you are working on a play you engrave in your mind the quotes so much that you use them in your daily life, specially with the rest of cast members, and the quotes end up being like an internal meme of some sort. i dont know it was done deliverally or it was supposed to mean that they are pretentious but it worked for me in that way when reading it and i'll stick with that detail and defend its efficiency in the character building and storytelling
I have only gotten to the “Secret History” part of this video, and came searching in the comments to see if anyone thought it was something like Othello. Is it?
babel literally caused me to have a breakdown on if the degree i want to do is ethical and i just … it was beautiful and i just cannot believe it took me this long to read. i love how you can vocalize all my thoughts of the secret history bc i just cannot explain to my friends
I like how raw and unfiltered your thoughts are and I appreciate you showing us your mental health and the struggles you are facing. Sometimes I don't feel like reading even though I was so excited earlier in the day!
If you think the cliffhanger for A Deadly Education is criminal the cliffhanger for The Last Graduate is borderline inhumane and I was not okay afterwards.
A Deadly Education was great. The Last Graduate was ok, not a fan of the romance elements. The Golden Enclaves was a disappointment. The build-up from the 1st book to the last wasn't there for me.
Just wanted to say i think you're great as a booktuber! You're so funny and witty and have really interesting commentary. I hope you keep taking care of yourself on those rough mental health days and treating yourself with kindness ❤.
Best moments of this video: 1. "Be gay do crimes."🤣 2. Lexi eating that loaf while reading. 3. Seeing her fall view with the candles lit. 4. "Rebecca I just want you to adopt me." 5. Lexi going on a 5 to 6 minute rant about why gratification from academia isn't the end all be all when school was the thing we were taught as people in society that "values education" that we need to excel in it as successful human beings. Relatable content!
i started learning latin and greek, got a hardbound homer, and a book of essays based on what is going on in the world of classics and major topics etc (Confronting the Classics by Mary Beard). the secret history is very effective i didn't want to google every reference i wanted to just GET it. so here we are. also the audiobook is actually narrated by Tartt so it adds a whole layer to it because her voice is also very clipped and has this accent that idk (maybe its a placebo in my head) complements the book's voice a lot. i mean she wrote it for ten years yes but still it made it come alive very nicely. her bunny impression was spot on and very annoying. 10/10 would murder too
Replying to this a year later but, fun fact: Bunny was based on Tartt's IRL friend, Brett Easton Ellis... better known as the author of American Psycho
As a fellow burnt-out former "gifted" kid, I appreciate you including that section about productivity and how sometimes it feels like you only have value if you're being productive. It's a way of thinking that's been instilled in us since the beginning because of the capitalistic society we live in that only values productivity/profit. You are more than what you can provide to society, you are more than your checklist.
I read Babel almost a year ago & the way you described that the magic is what is lost in translation between the two words finally had it clicking in my head. Thank you 👏🏽
I really appreciated the rant/vulnerable moment about productivity culture and post- academia,"if you accomplish task you are valuable and worthy" mindset. I struggle with that all the time, and I constantly have to try and be more gentle with myself. It was really validating to hear you talk about it ❤
The adhd trauma is so universal it’s crazy. Thank you sm for talking about your mental health so openly. I never related to the „only depression“ people but if it’s another adhd girly, it’s just like you are talking about my life :D Thank you 🩷
Dude the way I devoured any book tagged ‘dark academia’ in my tbr is insane considering the fact it was at the expense of getting through my actual school work😭😭 ur so real
Being a fellow gifted and also currently reading Babel, I so feel all of the feels you are describing in the second half of this video. Thank you for verbalizing it for me!
If I had some reason to disbelieve your diagnosis of ADHD, the rant at 36:31 would have convinced anyone. Haven't related to something so hard in years.
I'm a British-born HKer and I SO want to read this book, but I'm worried it'll be too triggering since I have trauma related to racism. Obviously I know about some of the main plot points of how Britain absolutely fcked over Chinese people, and the sorts of suffering they inflicted, but this is why I feel nervous to dive deep into this, even though I intellectually want to and it sounds like this book is so important not only to my heritage but to society as a whole! More REAL histories of the British empire needs to hit the zeitgeist!! My question is, how did you find reading Babel as an Asian person? Did it affect you in an overwhelming way? Is the magical element enough to not be too depressing of a mirror to the real world? Any answers appreciated 📚🫶🍌 (Might also post on main to see if anyone else has thoughts)
@@jackiel94171 Hi! Maybe mini-spoilers ahead but also for like the first couple chapters: I think anyone who doesn't have a traditionally Western name can relate to others mispronouncing, making fun of, or even changing the name you tell people to make it easier! In the first few chapters, we the audience never learn Robin's Chinese name! He is told to pick a new name that is easier for Westerners to process and subsequently never talks about or refers to himself as his original name ever again. Here, Robin is essentially forced to, it seems like he has no choice here ,, in the real world, it feels much more nuanced! There's then a small discussion about how changing his name doesn't just erase the name, it erases history, heritage, culture from the name. While being able to intellectually understand that, I also *felt* that. I have always been indifferent to my last name, it's my father's name sure but as a woman, I grew up thinking I would change my last name when I got married anyway! That discussion made me sit back and realize how much more my last name holds. It's so much more beyond me. It's my father, his trouble and toils, my grandfather and *his* trouble and toils and so on and so forth back and back. Kuang does such a good job of taking these experiences and making them quick moments but not small moments ,, it felt like what experiencing micro-aggressions are like. I felt his shame and anger and confusion alongside him and sometimes for him when he was young and didn't quite understand what it even was. Was it overwhelming? Sometimes! It felt real and raw. I did have to put the book down sometimes but I'm also personally more emotional than average I feel. Sometimes, I saw myself in Robin. Sometimes, I hated the choices he made but I also understood them. I have friends who made the same choices. We're all just trying to survive out here. The magic system sometimes enhances the overwhelming feeling and sometimes eased it, just depended on the situation! I recommend reading the first few chapters and seeing if you can handle it! I think if you can connect to it intellectually and emotionally in a way that feels safe to you, it's well worth the read! Sorry for the wall of text, feel free to ask any other questions you have and I can try to answer :)
@@laneytran7037 wow thank you for such a big thoughtful response!!! I'll definitely be reading it this year, just not sure when. Thanks again for sharing Laney, it's deeply appreciated! And I'm glad you have a stronger relationship with your surname now! I've always felt that I would never get rid of my last name (double-barrelled at the MOST), because I love my immigrant family and having lived my whole life with people mispronouncing it, I refuse to let the English 'win'. Absolutely NO judgement to those who change theirs (as we know, we're all just tryna survive out here), this is just what feels right for me. Might come back with more thoughts after reading!! 💛
i don't think it's a good idea to try and finish books like the secret history as fast as possible. it's slow paced for a reason and the fun is in the atmosphere and vibes than the plot and characters. and the exquisite writing of donna tartt! one of my fav reads of all time for sure.
yeah i def gathered that with that book especially, really only grinned so hard since i was filming a video on it. it's a book i might revisit down the road. i still maintain what i said about the middle section but knowing what happens i imagine there's a lot of interesting foreshadowing and similar, and i'd love to read it again in particular with the ending in mind (which took me by surprise)
@@newlynovaFor me, the driver of external tension in the second half was the police investigation, and the emotional and interpersonal tension arose from how we see the willingness of the remaining members of the group to turn against each other-and against Richard in particular. I think we realize was never truly allowed into their inner circle the way he thought he was. As someone who’s perpetually paranoid about being secretly disliked/excluded by my friend groups (bc I’m a sad sad person w subzero self esteem) that shit really got to me. Like you slowly get hints that most of them harbor at least a bit of disdain for him, and that in the emotional fallout post Bunny-slayage he’s being held at arms length and not being let in on anyone’s genuine emotions as they all struggle individually. I agree that it’s not as strong as the first half. But I vibed with the Crime and Punishment-esque slipping into paranoia and suppressed guilt. I was so on edge the whole time and the whole thing just kinda hurt, which I appreciated as a literary masochist lol. It’s all very disillusioning
Okay Lexi my hold for If We Were Villains at the library FINALLY got to my turn and I came back here to remember what your thoughts were AFTER I read it. You are correct. The Shakespeare quotes were phenomenally chosen and added so much depth to the story. I give it 5 stars bc of it, but if you aren't familiar w the material, you are missing out on a lot of the nuance and symbolism and all that jazz. For the readers without the background, giving the SparkNotes or wikipedia page a skim would add greatly to the story, even just the character descriptions, bc it adds to the suspense of the tragedy (we know what's going to happen, just WHEN) bc the layer of type casting adds SO MUCH to the characters' motivations and thought processes. Since I read it on Libby, I had access to a dictionary in app that was so useful. It also had a Google redirect option if the definition wasn't enough. Amazing book, I think it's going on my favorites list
The last 200 pages of babel is how I'm going to explain marxist-leninism to people that don't want to read political theory. The first half was tough for me to get through because I simply do not care about magic systems. However, it was such a great way to explain how late stage capitalist nations purposefully impoverish and under develope other countries for their benefit.
your discussion on academic validation was soooo helpful, overworking myself and feeling guilty over not studying/reading 24/7 is something I struggle with a lot so it's nice to see a booktuber talk about this
I really love how real and open Lexi is in her videos. Like they just hit the soul right and I very much enjoyed her honesty and opinions. They make her vids so much betterrrrrrr (loki now I'm scared to read Babel 😭)
(SPOILERS for If We Were Villains) I thought it was pretty nicely and subtly implied in the very first chapter of If We Were Villains who was gonna end up dead and who was gonna be the killer. Literally in the first chapter the characters are discussing Julius Caesar and how Richard is gonna play Caesar and James will play Brutus and and from that I thought this must be some masterful foreshadowing, which it was! In that same conversation Richard even says to James “Et tu, Brute?” which is like the most famous quote ever (or maybe I’m just weird and so are my friends). So I thought it was obvious that James was gonna be the killer and Richard was gonna end up dead, but how Oliver was gonna take the fall was the mystery. But maybe that’s just me. I’ve never read any Shakespeare (or maybe just some excerpt in my English class) but the story of Julius Caesar is so familiar from history that I don’t think one needs to know Shakespeare to get the reference
See, the foreshadowing is what is my problem, it should be more subtle imo. Because almost from the start I knew who was going to die and who was going to kill and I didn't like that it was so obvious. It was nicely done when you could pick up on Oliver's feelings towards James so early on but on the other hand because of that I figured another thing which was Oliver taking the fall for James. Thorough the book I so desperately wanted to be wrong because I didn't want everything to be so simple but when it turned out I was right I was greatly disappointed. The only thing that surprised me was how they agreed to let him die as a group. But even that in the end was a bit off because they didn't really have such strong reasons for this decision to make sense. Like yeah, I get that he was abusive but they had only a couple of months left of school and they wound never see him again. So giving the death sentence was too extreme and because of that I was convinced that there has to be something more to it but I was yet again disappointed to find out that there wasn't.
You are such a wonderful person, the world is brighter with you in it 😊 I also appropriate you being open about your mental health and thereby destigmatizing it. I'm enjoying you and your content so much, we are lucky to have to you here on TH-cam ❤
EXCUSE ME... once chapter is 100 PAGES?? My motivation to ever read the secret history has officially been thrown out the window. Love this video tho :)
But it has a lot of minor chapters in between, like when the scene changes, when a new day starts, etc. There are a lot of breaks in between where you can stop without feeling bad or feeling like interrupting something. :)
37:26 I really appreciate the honesty and rawness you share in these moments in your videos because you always end up saying things that I relate to. Not only do I feel so seen and heard but at times it serves as a really nice reminder that my value isn’t derived from productivity or societal measurements.
taking this as my sign to finally read babel thank you for talking about academic validation and having bad days etc you make me feel validated and seen
The way I instantly subscribed after hearing the rant on academic validation- I'm currently in my second year of collage so seeing your perspective on society and internal neuroticisms at a slightly further point in life is incredibly insightful and comforting that I could achieve that level of awareness and effortful life change💜
I loved this video but even more I loved your honest discussion about mental health which is so needed. I’m right there with you and appreciate you and your content!
THANK YOU for talking about academic pressures! I relate to you so much about the essay story, it’s a struggle to find the balance. You’re absolutely killing it💗
I also struggled with finding validation through something other than grades after I finished school! It’s refreshing to hear you talk about it! Loved this vid❤
Your secret history review aligned so deeply with my experience of it that I had to subscribe. I now trust your taste implicitly. WHENEVER I TELL PEOPLE IT WAS A 2-3 STAR READ for me despite being phenomenally written, I always get backlash and censure! omg!
If We Were Villains made little sense to me as someone who only read three of Shakespeare's works in high school. The play portions were even more confusing given I listened to the audiobook. Also, appreciate your honesty about severing your worth from your academic outputs. It's something I still battle in the working world as a former teacher's pet. I wish I would have started detaching from when I left academia rather than waiting until my mid-30s. Recognizing it early is a testament to your self awareness 🥰
I listened to the audiobook of Babel and finished it on the way to work one morning. I had to cry in the parking lot of my WORKPLACE. It was fine. Collectively re-experiencing that ending with you in this video has partially healed me of that particular trauma, so thank you. I hope you are doing and feeling better lately. I know the struggle of reckoning with equating personal value with productivity/task performance and it's a difficult (if not impossible) thing to unlearn. But we're out here trying every day.
thank you for being so open about your struggles in this video, while i know my issues are shared by others i often get in my head about how i feel and i feel like no one else around me shares an understanding of my difficulties. you being open about the differences in your days and how you handle them and how thats okay, and the societal pressures that inform all of that, makes me feel relieved and less alone (and also helps me understand how to apply some of the things my therapist has said better). i often have trouble seeing past my present and really get stuck in those days i cant perform and forget that maybe the next day will be better and seeing you do these daily bits in your video reminds me of that. i hope ive gotten across how important i think your work is even if some days you think it might be silly, and i hope you are having a genuinely good and peaceful day. may you always have the energy to push through your rougher times and may your good days always be as bright as the sun.
i legit dual wielded the book and the audiobook for the entire length. And i don't mean switching between them, i was doing both at the same time, the audiobook was so good
You have started to realize things about life at your age that took me until my thirties to understand. Keep going on your journey and I believe in you ❤
I just finished grad school and have begun the demoralizing process of finding a full-time job in my field and I’m grappling daily with the fact that SO MUCH of my sense of self comes from my productivity or working contribution to the world. It’s a challenge to deconstruct that viewpoint internally when externally, like you said, things do in fact rely on those factors to a certain degree. Anyway, just wanted to share that I’m right there with you. Loved the video and I really want to hear your thoughts on the whole Scholomance series now!
Weirdly the thing I liked about IWWV the most is the structure itself. All of the foreshadowing doesn't just bounce off the plot, it bounces off the Shakespearean structure and the arc of the tragedy. Maybe it's because I know a decent amount about Shakespeare, but it made me feel hollow and sad because ultimately, these characters wouldn’t have done anything but exactly what they did. My biggest problem with it was definitely the lack of POCs, I know it takes place in a small town in Illinois but I was craving some critique on the way Shakespeare (and old theater in general) is upheld as "elite" literature to the point of it being inaccessible to the middle class and/or the nonwhite.
Btw when I started reading again last summer (I read 50 books in 2 months) I found u tru TikTok and you inspired me so much to continue reading. I was looking for truly devious opinions after reading them and I found urs! Even since then I’ve been following u and then yesterday I found your TH-cam and now I’m binging all your videos. I literally never comment on anything I hate parasocial relationships but I really like all your opinions and commentary!! Keep going
9 months late to the party, but I just want to thank you for speaking so openly about mental health and productivity. There are days when I power through an entire book. There are weeks when I can’t even read a page. The work you do and you overcoming your struggles go do it is very inspiring. I appreciate you, and your videos.
This video was so incredibly validating. Watching and hearing you talk about your bad mental health days was like looking in a mirror. I appreciate your bravery for including it :)))))
I keep coming back to this video because so much of what you say about tying your self-worth to your reading output resonates with me, and I can’t believe how articulate you are while you’re going through it. Reading is literally my job and my only hobby, and, because everyone who knows me knows that I read a lot, I feel genuinely crippling guilt if e.g. I fall behind on my Goodreads Challenge, even though no one but me can see it and this is supposed to be a fun hobby. So, I love your content and hearing you talk about books, but also thank you for trying to take care of yourself and addressing the fact that doing what you love isn’t always fun or easy when it’s so loaded with other people’s expectations.
I went into If We Were Villains with no knowledge of what it was or anything about Shakespeare, I’m not on booktok and not into theatre and I LOVED IT. I loved not knowing the quotes or what the fuck was happening. Figuring out the quotes was a mystery inside a mystery and I love a good puzzle
Was feeling shit and wanted a fun video to watch to unwind. So perfect timing cause a Lexi video is just what I needed to distract myself as a fellow 23 teenage girl
As a reader and a young woman struggling with her place in the world and with the future, your videos are a haven for me. I love your authentic depictions of your thought processes and how mental health plays such a role in the ability the enjoy the things that give us joy. I wish we could be best friends 😭💙
for me, Babel is one of the "moments" that i look for every time i read a book. (When i dont reed stupid, lovable romance) When i read Babel, it had been a long time since i felt so much for characters that i felt crushed and relived and idk ... i loved it
@@abiade9614 spoon theory was originally a metaphor by someone with an autoimmune disease i think but it applies to a lot of different things like mental health as well, it essentially means the amount of physical or mental energy a person has for daily tasks expressed with the term "spoons".
One of my fav parts of the ending of babel esp regarding THAT person is how being in proximity to the injustices of the world re: race ethnicity and class doesnt necessarily mean that you are corageous enough to fight against injustice... even if that injustice is directly impacting the so called people you love. how hard can your so called love for your friends really go if you still prioritize the status quo bc it benefits you? vvvv good exploration of interracial friendship
your review to the secret history is kinda how i felt about dracula, yeh its the origin of a genre, but the book is literally just a eccentric old man buying property in London....the inspired material have done all the work to make these themes what they are
Thank you so much for sharing about your mental health because I have also been struggling with that a lot, still am, and it just feels so good knowing that I'm not alone in my struggles. I actually talked about this with my therapist a few days ago and she said a really interesting thing. Everyone has bits of themselves that is their identity that can be different seizes and for me being good academically has been a very big one, so when I didn't do as well or felt like I was doing as well my brain would experience an identity crisis, and that's why I take it out so hard on myself when I fail, according to me
Soooo I finished the book/audiobook of The Secret History (read by Donna Tartt herself!) and it stuck with me hard. Went down some youtube, reddit and tiktok "bunny" holes, and came out loving it even more. I think consuming it in a short time frame takes away, and I bet after all the "research" I had done thereafter I would have a totally different experience on the re-read. Richard is just such an unreliable narrator, that I want to revisit the book under each character's perspective. Donna Tartt is a genius. I am listening to If We Were Villains now (almost 5 hours in) and three different TH-camrs have recommended the audiobook over reading it purely because the Shakespeare is more easily digested in audio form and the book reads very much like a play anyway, so having the different voices really adds to the experience. I am loving it and can't wait to read the other two on this list along with a whole slew of dark academia novels. It is like living through my college liberal arts years (I graduated in 2006) but at a darker, more sinister level.
i could totally see the IWWV audiobook slapping honestly, if i could do it again i would have read it like that...i am glad that you're enjoying them :) definitely lots of food for thought in those books
when you said "i can imagine there's a lot less social commentary here" about A deadly education i genuinely laughed out loud LMAO please read the rest of the trilogy bc the class commentary gets so much more intense by the end
i love how you edited this!! and all the outfits were inmaculated (that vest with poker cards symbols was another thing altogether, absolutely gorgeous). i liked all this video a lot!!!!
Listening to you talk about how your worth is attached to your grades or at least that is how you felt and you are fighting against that. I was the mom who attached grades to my kids. They were in a private school so their grade system was 93-100 is an A. So for me anything less wasn’t acceptable. I made them feel bad because I place expectations on them that in all actuality means nothing. I have completely changed. Took them out of private school and speak love into them. I let them know that their being is enough. I am sorry that you are suffering but I do hear how awesome you speak to yourself! You are worthy!
I remember the way I felt after finishing Babel was that usually when I read my silly little novels that it’s an escape from life, and that when I finished Babel I felt the opposite, like I shut the book to go back to my real life and it felt like closing my eyes after they were opened. Anyways cool book I’m glad you enjoyed it ☺️👍
Thank you for validating my 3.5 stars for the Secret History! I was worried that I was crazy. The book was entirely way too long and I also loved the beginning but didn't love the second part. It was just so boring in the middle, lol. Thank you! 💕
I'm 6 minutes in the video, and I must say that The Secret History is a masterpiece for me! I need to get back to work so I'll probably leave other comments (or update this one) because I LOVE dark academia! I loved The Secret History so much ! And yes, pure Dark Academia genre always includes a critic of society and academia and privilege. So it is absolutely normal that you feel like this book critiques its characters and Richard's longing to be part of this exclusive group of students. You'll notice the same thing with the other books you'll read, I'm sure :)
This video convinced me to read If We Were Villains bc I am a massive Shakespeare nerd. And let me tell you, you were totally right. When you understand the context that book bangs. I absolutely adored it. But I can 100% see how, if you were less familiar with Shakespeare it wouldn’t feel as impactful. Now I have every other one of these books on my TBR (I went out and bought Babel after this video) and I’m so hyped for them.
If you like audiobooks I really recommend the The Secret History audiobook. The long chapters get lost in the audio (most of the time) and it's narrated by Donna Tart (the author). I find audiobooks a good way to combat the whole long chapter thing
If you haven’t already, this video made me think you’d LOVE the Simon Snow series. It’s got a magic system based around words, fun banter between the romantic interest and the main character, and it’s a very fun read. The first book especially had a really excellent use of different perspectives to elevate your understanding of the characters
If I ever actually meet Rebecca Kuang, I will 1) freak out cuz she’s my favorite author and 2) ask if we get a follow up book or novella about what happens after Babel. You can’t just leave an Epilogue like that about Victoire and not pick it back up.
This is a huge mood, I am DYING to know what happens to Victoire after the events of Babel. Does she find Robin and Griffin's brothers? Does she make it back to Haiti? I just need to know.
Rebecca said in an interview somewhere that if she were to write another Babel book, it would be a prequel/sequel that follows both Griffin and Victoire simultaneously. And that if it were to happen, it would be in like 10 years bc she would need to be better at French and more knowledgeable on the American Civil War, while also doing her other projects 😮💨
Me a 24 year old teenage girl that dropped out of college: this is absolutely my aesthetic I AM dark AND academic
Oof this hits
so real 😭
Me at 34 and using my degree to bartend because it makes more money than my field but still dressing like a tortured academic
Go back to school!
why are you literally me omg i feel called out
As someone who went to the same college as Donna Tartt (the one she allegedly based A Secret History off of), TOTALLY understand why you were not vibing with those characters. Rejoice that you didn't have to go to class with them
Cooooool, you went to that college
My friend goes there lol
@@avitaylor589 condolences.
Wow. Now THAT is a whole thing! Wish we could pick your brain. ☮️
What does you going to the same college have to do with it ?😔
"I hate this book- it's so good" is a whole vibe.
Ok u definitely convinced me to read Babel because I’m a linguistics major and a big thing people don’t understand is that language and culture are deeply intertwined and killing a language is effectively killing a culture.
Reading Babel as a linguistics major is the most fun (?) experience ever. It's a special thing to read that you're not gonna find elsewhere.
I got recommended this book SOLELY because I have a degree in linguistics. Very excited to read it
i am a linguistics major (not in english tho, its not my first language too) and honestly that book felt like so much wasted potential to me, as an educated person i know the history of colonialism and i was going into the book already fully aware that it was horrible but i got 500 pages of someone trying to convince why it is so bad (which wasnt needed) but failed to bring up anymore interesting topics to the table + all the characters felt incredibly shallow, professor lowell was probably the only character that made me feel any emotions (dude made me furious) but that's it
but "the poppy war" is still one of my fave fantasy series
@@aree376 I felt similar. What this book gave me was more appreciation for the work of translation and reading it in a German translation added a layer. And I'm generally interested in languages, so those parts were nice to read. But I felt the same about the topic of colonialism. If there was a ladder of education for this topic, this book would meet you at the beginning. My problem is that I bought this book as a birthday present for a friend, thinking that this would be a good phantasy-novel-match for someone who loved reading phantasy in their teenage years and is now a well-educated, intelligent and politically engaged person, but after reading it myself, I'm not so sure anymore :D
@@aree376 absolutely!! and definitely don't read this if you're a translator like me - for someone who is supposedly a translator, the innacuracies and misrepresentations in translation theory that r.f. kuang shamelessly included left me sooo angry!! the plot and the commentary: great. the mechanics? not so much.
There's something so incredible about the very emotional review of Babel, and then a bag of Ruffles being in the background
LMFAO what can i say
The fact you read The Secret History in two days is actually INSANE! Took me several months
Right?? I listened to the audiobook read by the author herself and let's just say it was an experience 😂 The way Donna Tart pronounces words that start with wh- took me off guard so much that it was all I could focus on 💀
it was an act of unbelievable willpower (and an excess of free time)
@@newlynova Girl bossed your way through it 😌
I loved it so much from the beginning so I read it one night and several hours in russian which is my mother tongue, then it took me couple of weeks to reread it in english and couple of months - in german. 🤪 So i was kind of obsessed, maybe it's ADHD or smth😂 but if I am not into book that much it takes me months, yep.
Right?? It took me three weeks!
to me your comments about The Secret History sort of highlight what I feel is the irony of the dark academia aesthetic vs the dark academia genre. The genre is 100% about critiquing the veneer of the world of elite academics, revealing it for all its obsessive, entitled, and dangerous rot. For all their party habits, perfect hair, and endless debates on ethics, when you scratch the surface these hyper intelligent/skilled rich kids are viscous high strung perfectionists who are liable to collapse and take everyone else down with them at the first sign of trouble. That's the point of the genre. Like its literally about the relationship between the high-brow facade of the intellectual elite and their hollow rotten reality, and the damage you can do to yourself by trying to act like one of them...and then the aesthetic is about how to act like one of them for the low low price of a £9.99 cardigan from SHEIN. Its bizarre- the concept and function of the aesthetic is literally the thing the genre is trying to critique.
Donna tart was literally critiquing the idea of aesthetics for aesthetics sake, without substance. Unfortunately her book went too hard and people were like, lets make this an aesthetic
Yes! Late to the party here but I grew up poor and got dropped into the Ivy League, upper-echelon of society later in life. I think the absurdity of the character’s actions and personalities is intentional. In my opinion, we shouldn’t be able to connect with any of them. They truly live in a completely different world devoid of worthy consequences and often the small world they create for themselves makes them blind. When I heard someone say they’ll just keep paying for speeding tickets because they’re cheap enough I was shocked. They can’t see it because the structure is just so different for them from the beginning. We glorify the right to act out and not pay the consequences in life. So then we try and become them through academia, or assimilation to that structure.
@isa2010rizzi I mean Richard choose his course because the students were pretty and aesthetic , he didn't gàf about knowledge they are just vain
51:58 when she says "society" while sobbing shouldn't be as funny as it is 😭😭 i have tears in my eyes
If should be a meme
I did not cry whole reading Babel. But then I finished it, I looked up and stared at the wall. And then I started bawling. Truly amazing book
This is exactly what happened to me. It just hit me out of nowhere. This book is the one that I would tell people they have to read if I had to choose just one.
After I finished reading it, I genuinely felt grief over the events that occurred. New favorite book immediately.
It was a slow cry with a bit of tears until they cut back to the scene from the start with Ramy and Robin and I started sobbing
watching this video has made me realize that How to Get Away with Murder had strong dark academia potential
OMG YES
Yess
whats the authors name?
@@5down5soon it's a show with Viola Davis! highly recommend.
How to get away with murder was such a great show
As a burnt out, former gifted kid, with anxiety it was comforting to hear you talk about mental health. Reading is one of my favorite activities to calm down and unwind, but at the same time, when I don't reach my reading goals I beat myself up.
Also, I love all of your videos, you talk about every book you read in a really engaging, smart and funny way.
Nobody describes the secret history as what it is….. a cult book. I swear the entire time I was just thinking, is this a cult??? Because it basically was but nobody describes it as that from what I’ve seen
OMG YEES. I read like 30% and is still unsure (a year after) whether or not I want to continue cause I haaate reading about cults, they creep me out😅
go over to liene's library and watch her dark academia vlog
the book Leo also has a dark academia vlog with The secret history and Babel. you should watch that.
oh it is absolutely a cult book!! there’s so many layers to this book that after analyzing it properly it’s a completely different story than the one you thought you were reading at first, which is the main reason i love it so much
The were cult/coven. I currently studying in Faculty of Arts and you can feel the energy there. Students from philosophy or antien greek are just a bit diffrente.
Babel broke me too. When I had the chance to meet Kuang, despite being a grown-ass adult, I basically drooled all over her shoes
as an actor, the fact that if we were villians characters speak in shakespeare quotes made me feel like they were real actors. like when you are working on a play you engrave in your mind the quotes so much that you use them in your daily life, specially with the rest of cast members, and the quotes end up being like an internal meme of some sort.
i dont know it was done deliverally or it was supposed to mean that they are pretentious but it worked for me in that way when reading it and i'll stick with that detail and defend its efficiency in the character building and storytelling
yeah i totally got that, definitely was on brand for all of them i just wish i'd known more things to better understand all of the underlying messages
I have only gotten to the “Secret History” part of this video, and came searching in the comments to see if anyone thought it was something like Othello.
Is it?
I cried watching you finish Babel because I remember doing the EXACT same thing when it came out last year. “Socieetyyyy😭” was such a mood
"a 23 year old teenage girl" ya'll i wanna be friends with her so bad 😂
I’m an interpreter. And this book WRECKED ME! So mad I can’t find a little silver bar necklace with “Translation” engraved on it.
babel literally caused me to have a breakdown on if the degree i want to do is ethical and i just … it was beautiful and i just cannot believe it took me this long to read. i love how you can vocalize all my thoughts of the secret history bc i just cannot explain to my friends
I like how raw and unfiltered your thoughts are and I appreciate you showing us your mental health and the struggles you are facing. Sometimes I don't feel like reading even though I was so excited earlier in the day!
I remember finishing If We Were Villains and just sitting there crying over my dinner 😭
same
I was crying on the toilet
SAME. I had existential crisis for weeks after
Feel you, couldn’t finish a single book for month after I read it
I haven't enjoyed a book this year since this book and I read If We Were Villians in February! 😭
If you think the cliffhanger for A Deadly Education is criminal the cliffhanger for The Last Graduate is borderline inhumane and I was not okay afterwards.
I had never been so happy that I bought all 3 books together. That cliffhanger was sob/rage inducing.
Truly, thankfully I bought 2 and 3 together because I would not have survived
A Deadly Education was great. The Last Graduate was ok, not a fan of the romance elements. The Golden Enclaves was a disappointment. The build-up from the 1st book to the last wasn't there for me.
I misread it at first and thought everything was ok and then i was like… wait
when i realized this video was not speeded up i gasped so hard girl how do you speak so many words in so little time 🥲🥲
This woman is such a joy
rereading babel after finishing it for the first time hits so much harder 🥲 sending you a hug
Just wanted to say i think you're great as a booktuber! You're so funny and witty and have really interesting commentary. I hope you keep taking care of yourself on those rough mental health days and treating yourself with kindness ❤.
♥️♥️♥️
Your commitment to the fits and the little speech about academic validation/dark academia was such a mood *sobs*
a deadly education is a series that just gets better and better to me
Best moments of this video:
1. "Be gay do crimes."🤣
2. Lexi eating that loaf while reading.
3. Seeing her fall view with the candles lit.
4. "Rebecca I just want you to adopt me."
5. Lexi going on a 5 to 6 minute rant about why gratification from academia isn't the end all be all when school was the thing we were taught as people in society that "values education" that we need to excel in it as successful human beings.
Relatable content!
"after my medication wears off I don't like talking to a camera... it's not for me, it's not for my people"
i started learning latin and greek, got a hardbound homer, and a book of essays based on what is going on in the world of classics and major topics etc (Confronting the Classics by Mary Beard). the secret history is very effective i didn't want to google every reference i wanted to just GET it. so here we are. also the audiobook is actually narrated by Tartt so it adds a whole layer to it because her voice is also very clipped and has this accent that idk (maybe its a placebo in my head) complements the book's voice a lot. i mean she wrote it for ten years yes but still it made it come alive very nicely. her bunny impression was spot on and very annoying. 10/10 would murder too
Replying to this a year later but, fun fact: Bunny was based on Tartt's IRL friend, Brett Easton Ellis... better known as the author of American Psycho
3 Stars for The Secret History breaks my heart a little bit, BUT I absolutely understand & respect it 🙏✨
As a fellow burnt-out former "gifted" kid, I appreciate you including that section about productivity and how sometimes it feels like you only have value if you're being productive. It's a way of thinking that's been instilled in us since the beginning because of the capitalistic society we live in that only values productivity/profit. You are more than what you can provide to society, you are more than your checklist.
You know what? As another burnt out former gifted kid, I needed to hear this. Thank you.
I read Babel almost a year ago & the way you described that the magic is what is lost in translation between the two words finally had it clicking in my head. Thank you 👏🏽
I really appreciated the rant/vulnerable moment about productivity culture and post- academia,"if you accomplish task you are valuable and worthy" mindset. I struggle with that all the time, and I constantly have to try and be more gentle with myself. It was really validating to hear you talk about it ❤
I was reading a book and the very first chapter was fifty pages FIFTY.
The adhd trauma is so universal it’s crazy. Thank you sm for talking about your mental health so openly. I never related to the „only depression“ people but if it’s another adhd girly, it’s just like you are talking about my life :D
Thank you 🩷
Dude the way I devoured any book tagged ‘dark academia’ in my tbr is insane considering the fact it was at the expense of getting through my actual school work😭😭 ur so real
Babel is something else. I hated reading it and I ate it all up. I felt forever changed by it.
I LOVE A deadly education trilogy, read all 3 in a weekend it was amazing!! Highly recommend the next two!
Yes. And as someone who was also destroyed by Babel I hope she finishes the series as a way to heal🥲
Yeah, all of Naomi Novik’s work is fantastic. She’s so underrated as a fantasy writer.
Yesss! The first one takes a little long to finish just to learn the world but the whole series is good!
Me three on these! I love the blend of lighthearted and scathing commentary on society. El Stan!
Oops, me five
Being a fellow gifted and also currently reading Babel, I so feel all of the feels you are describing in the second half of this video. Thank you for verbalizing it for me!
If I had some reason to disbelieve your diagnosis of ADHD, the rant at 36:31 would have convinced anyone. Haven't related to something so hard in years.
Babel changed the way I think and the way I approach being an Asian American. I wish I could read it for the first time again!
I'm a British-born HKer and I SO want to read this book, but I'm worried it'll be too triggering since I have trauma related to racism. Obviously I know about some of the main plot points of how Britain absolutely fcked over Chinese people, and the sorts of suffering they inflicted, but this is why I feel nervous to dive deep into this, even though I intellectually want to and it sounds like this book is so important not only to my heritage but to society as a whole! More REAL histories of the British empire needs to hit the zeitgeist!!
My question is, how did you find reading Babel as an Asian person? Did it affect you in an overwhelming way? Is the magical element enough to not be too depressing of a mirror to the real world?
Any answers appreciated 📚🫶🍌
(Might also post on main to see if anyone else has thoughts)
@@jackiel94171 Hi! Maybe mini-spoilers ahead but also for like the first couple chapters: I think anyone who doesn't have a traditionally Western name can relate to others mispronouncing, making fun of, or even changing the name you tell people to make it easier! In the first few chapters, we the audience never learn Robin's Chinese name! He is told to pick a new name that is easier for Westerners to process and subsequently never talks about or refers to himself as his original name ever again. Here, Robin is essentially forced to, it seems like he has no choice here ,, in the real world, it feels much more nuanced! There's then a small discussion about how changing his name doesn't just erase the name, it erases history, heritage, culture from the name.
While being able to intellectually understand that, I also *felt* that. I have always been indifferent to my last name, it's my father's name sure but as a woman, I grew up thinking I would change my last name when I got married anyway! That discussion made me sit back and realize how much more my last name holds. It's so much more beyond me. It's my father, his trouble and toils, my grandfather and *his* trouble and toils and so on and so forth back and back.
Kuang does such a good job of taking these experiences and making them quick moments but not small moments ,, it felt like what experiencing micro-aggressions are like. I felt his shame and anger and confusion alongside him and sometimes for him when he was young and didn't quite understand what it even was. Was it overwhelming? Sometimes! It felt real and raw. I did have to put the book down sometimes but I'm also personally more emotional than average I feel.
Sometimes, I saw myself in Robin. Sometimes, I hated the choices he made but I also understood them. I have friends who made the same choices. We're all just trying to survive out here.
The magic system sometimes enhances the overwhelming feeling and sometimes eased it, just depended on the situation! I recommend reading the first few chapters and seeing if you can handle it! I think if you can connect to it intellectually and emotionally in a way that feels safe to you, it's well worth the read!
Sorry for the wall of text, feel free to ask any other questions you have and I can try to answer :)
@@laneytran7037 wow thank you for such a big thoughtful response!!! I'll definitely be reading it this year, just not sure when. Thanks again for sharing Laney, it's deeply appreciated!
And I'm glad you have a stronger relationship with your surname now! I've always felt that I would never get rid of my last name (double-barrelled at the MOST), because I love my immigrant family and having lived my whole life with people mispronouncing it, I refuse to let the English 'win'. Absolutely NO judgement to those who change theirs (as we know, we're all just tryna survive out here), this is just what feels right for me.
Might come back with more thoughts after reading!!
💛
@@jackiel94171 Yes please! I love having discussions about this book, especially with others who *get it* :') Happy reading!
i don't think it's a good idea to try and finish books like the secret history as fast as possible. it's slow paced for a reason and the fun is in the atmosphere and vibes than the plot and characters. and the exquisite writing of donna tartt! one of my fav reads of all time for sure.
yeah i def gathered that with that book especially, really only grinned so hard since i was filming a video on it. it's a book i might revisit down the road. i still maintain what i said about the middle section but knowing what happens i imagine there's a lot of interesting foreshadowing and similar, and i'd love to read it again in particular with the ending in mind (which took me by surprise)
It’s definitely a book that improves with a lot of re-reading, I keep finding new ways in which everything fits together wonderfully!
@@newlynovaFor me, the driver of external tension in the second half was the police investigation, and the emotional and interpersonal tension arose from how we see the willingness of the remaining members of the group to turn against each other-and against Richard in particular. I think we realize was never truly allowed into their inner circle the way he thought he was. As someone who’s perpetually paranoid about being secretly disliked/excluded by my friend groups (bc I’m a sad sad person w subzero self esteem) that shit really got to me. Like you slowly get hints that most of them harbor at least a bit of disdain for him, and that in the emotional fallout post Bunny-slayage he’s being held at arms length and not being let in on anyone’s genuine emotions as they all struggle individually.
I agree that it’s not as strong as the first half. But I vibed with the Crime and Punishment-esque slipping into paranoia and suppressed guilt. I was so on edge the whole time and the whole thing just kinda hurt, which I appreciated as a literary masochist lol. It’s all very disillusioning
Okay Lexi my hold for If We Were Villains at the library FINALLY got to my turn and I came back here to remember what your thoughts were AFTER I read it.
You are correct. The Shakespeare quotes were phenomenally chosen and added so much depth to the story. I give it 5 stars bc of it, but if you aren't familiar w the material, you are missing out on a lot of the nuance and symbolism and all that jazz.
For the readers without the background, giving the SparkNotes or wikipedia page a skim would add greatly to the story, even just the character descriptions, bc it adds to the suspense of the tragedy (we know what's going to happen, just WHEN) bc the layer of type casting adds SO MUCH to the characters' motivations and thought processes.
Since I read it on Libby, I had access to a dictionary in app that was so useful. It also had a Google redirect option if the definition wasn't enough. Amazing book, I think it's going on my favorites list
The last 200 pages of babel is how I'm going to explain marxist-leninism to people that don't want to read political theory.
The first half was tough for me to get through because I simply do not care about magic systems. However, it was such a great way to explain how late stage capitalist nations purposefully impoverish and under develope other countries for their benefit.
your discussion on academic validation was soooo helpful, overworking myself and feeling guilty over not studying/reading 24/7 is something I struggle with a lot so it's nice to see a booktuber talk about this
I really love how real and open Lexi is in her videos. Like they just hit the soul right and I very much enjoyed her honesty and opinions. They make her vids so much betterrrrrrr (loki now I'm scared to read Babel 😭)
(SPOILERS for If We Were Villains) I thought it was pretty nicely and subtly implied in the very first chapter of If We Were Villains who was gonna end up dead and who was gonna be the killer.
Literally in the first chapter the characters are discussing Julius Caesar and how Richard is gonna play Caesar and James will play Brutus and and from that I thought this must be some masterful foreshadowing, which it was! In that same conversation Richard even says to James “Et tu, Brute?” which is like the most famous quote ever (or maybe I’m just weird and so are my friends). So I thought it was obvious that James was gonna be the killer and Richard was gonna end up dead, but how Oliver was gonna take the fall was the mystery. But maybe that’s just me. I’ve never read any Shakespeare (or maybe just some excerpt in my English class) but the story of Julius Caesar is so familiar from history that I don’t think one needs to know Shakespeare to get the reference
See, the foreshadowing is what is my problem, it should be more subtle imo. Because almost from the start I knew who was going to die and who was going to kill and I didn't like that it was so obvious. It was nicely done when you could pick up on Oliver's feelings towards James so early on but on the other hand because of that I figured another thing which was Oliver taking the fall for James. Thorough the book I so desperately wanted to be wrong because I didn't want everything to be so simple but when it turned out I was right I was greatly disappointed. The only thing that surprised me was how they agreed to let him die as a group. But even that in the end was a bit off because they didn't really have such strong reasons for this decision to make sense. Like yeah, I get that he was abusive but they had only a couple of months left of school and they wound never see him again. So giving the death sentence was too extreme and because of that I was convinced that there has to be something more to it but I was yet again disappointed to find out that there wasn't.
You are such a wonderful person, the world is brighter with you in it 😊 I also appropriate you being open about your mental health and thereby destigmatizing it. I'm enjoying you and your content so much, we are lucky to have to you here on TH-cam ❤
EXCUSE ME... once chapter is 100 PAGES?? My motivation to ever read the secret history has officially been thrown out the window. Love this video tho :)
the entire book is either 8 or 9 chapters (600 pages btw)
@@newlynova As a person who thrives on short chapters I simply cannot with this book 😭
But it has a lot of minor chapters in between, like when the scene changes, when a new day starts, etc. There are a lot of breaks in between where you can stop without feeling bad or feeling like interrupting something. :)
37:26 I really appreciate the honesty and rawness you share in these moments in your videos because you always end up saying things that I relate to. Not only do I feel so seen and heard but at times it serves as a really nice reminder that my value isn’t derived from productivity or societal measurements.
taking this as my sign to finally read babel
thank you for talking about academic validation and having bad days etc you make me feel validated and seen
The way I instantly subscribed after hearing the rant on academic validation-
I'm currently in my second year of collage so seeing your perspective on society and internal neuroticisms at a slightly further point in life is incredibly insightful and comforting that I could achieve that level of awareness and effortful life change💜
I loved this video but even more I loved your honest discussion about mental health which is so needed. I’m right there with you and appreciate you and your content!
Your commentary on mental health and the education system and also in regards to hobbies hit rlly deeply for me its so real
THANK YOU for talking about academic pressures! I relate to you so much about the essay story, it’s a struggle to find the balance. You’re absolutely killing it💗
I just cried watching you cry over the ending of Babel. I will never stop recommending that book.
I also struggled with finding validation through something other than grades after I finished school! It’s refreshing to hear you talk about it! Loved this vid❤
Your secret history review aligned so deeply with my experience of it that I had to subscribe. I now trust your taste implicitly. WHENEVER I TELL PEOPLE IT WAS A 2-3 STAR READ for me despite being phenomenally written, I always get backlash and censure! omg!
If We Were Villains made little sense to me as someone who only read three of Shakespeare's works in high school. The play portions were even more confusing given I listened to the audiobook.
Also, appreciate your honesty about severing your worth from your academic outputs. It's something I still battle in the working world as a former teacher's pet. I wish I would have started detaching from when I left academia rather than waiting until my mid-30s. Recognizing it early is a testament to your self awareness 🥰
I’ve shared this with several friends and the part in babel where you breaking down made us realize you are one of our ppl!
I listened to the audiobook of Babel and finished it on the way to work one morning. I had to cry in the parking lot of my WORKPLACE. It was fine. Collectively re-experiencing that ending with you in this video has partially healed me of that particular trauma, so thank you. I hope you are doing and feeling better lately. I know the struggle of reckoning with equating personal value with productivity/task performance and it's a difficult (if not impossible) thing to unlearn. But we're out here trying every day.
thank you for being so open about your struggles in this video, while i know my issues are shared by others i often get in my head about how i feel and i feel like no one else around me shares an understanding of my difficulties. you being open about the differences in your days and how you handle them and how thats okay, and the societal pressures that inform all of that, makes me feel relieved and less alone (and also helps me understand how to apply some of the things my therapist has said better). i often have trouble seeing past my present and really get stuck in those days i cant perform and forget that maybe the next day will be better and seeing you do these daily bits in your video reminds me of that. i hope ive gotten across how important i think your work is even if some days you think it might be silly, and i hope you are having a genuinely good and peaceful day. may you always have the energy to push through your rougher times and may your good days always be as bright as the sun.
I’ve only read Babel out of this list but I highly recommend the audio book to anyone to get the most out of the foreign language elements
i legit dual wielded the book and the audiobook for the entire length. And i don't mean switching between them, i was doing both at the same time, the audiobook was so good
@@alanardominim where did you find the audiobook
@@kazehaya2849 I use the Mobilism forum. You make an account but you can find a lot of books/audiobooks to download
I use everand
You have started to realize things about life at your age that took me until my thirties to understand. Keep going on your journey and I believe in you ❤
I just finished grad school and have begun the demoralizing process of finding a full-time job in my field and I’m grappling daily with the fact that SO MUCH of my sense of self comes from my productivity or working contribution to the world. It’s a challenge to deconstruct that viewpoint internally when externally, like you said, things do in fact rely on those factors to a certain degree. Anyway, just wanted to share that I’m right there with you. Loved the video and I really want to hear your thoughts on the whole Scholomance series now!
Weirdly the thing I liked about IWWV the most is the structure itself. All of the foreshadowing doesn't just bounce off the plot, it bounces off the Shakespearean structure and the arc of the tragedy. Maybe it's because I know a decent amount about Shakespeare, but it made me feel hollow and sad because ultimately, these characters wouldn’t have done anything but exactly what they did. My biggest problem with it was definitely the lack of POCs, I know it takes place in a small town in Illinois but I was craving some critique on the way Shakespeare (and old theater in general) is upheld as "elite" literature to the point of it being inaccessible to the middle class and/or the nonwhite.
Btw when I started reading again last summer (I read 50 books in 2 months) I found u tru TikTok and you inspired me so much to continue reading.
I was looking for truly devious opinions after reading them and I found urs! Even since then I’ve been following u and then yesterday I found your TH-cam and now I’m binging all your videos.
I literally never comment on anything I hate parasocial relationships but I really like all your opinions and commentary!! Keep going
9 months late to the party, but I just want to thank you for speaking so openly about mental health and productivity. There are days when I power through an entire book. There are weeks when I can’t even read a page. The work you do and you overcoming your struggles go do it is very inspiring. I appreciate you, and your videos.
you are so eloquent and articulate! definitely picking up Babel next thank you 🖤🖤
This video was so incredibly validating. Watching and hearing you talk about your bad mental health days was like looking in a mirror. I appreciate your bravery for including it :)))))
You are so down to earth🦋I feel the authenticity thru the screen and I find you so charming and funny🫵🏻
I keep coming back to this video because so much of what you say about tying your self-worth to your reading output resonates with me, and I can’t believe how articulate you are while you’re going through it. Reading is literally my job and my only hobby, and, because everyone who knows me knows that I read a lot, I feel genuinely crippling guilt if e.g. I fall behind on my Goodreads Challenge, even though no one but me can see it and this is supposed to be a fun hobby. So, I love your content and hearing you talk about books, but also thank you for trying to take care of yourself and addressing the fact that doing what you love isn’t always fun or easy when it’s so loaded with other people’s expectations.
I respect how raw and real you were were throughout this whole video. ❤
I went into If We Were Villains with no knowledge of what it was or anything about Shakespeare, I’m not on booktok and not into theatre and I LOVED IT. I loved not knowing the quotes or what the fuck was happening. Figuring out the quotes was a mystery inside a mystery and I love a good puzzle
Was feeling shit and wanted a fun video to watch to unwind. So perfect timing cause a Lexi video is just what I needed to distract myself as a fellow 23 teenage girl
As a reader and a young woman struggling with her place in the world and with the future, your videos are a haven for me. I love your authentic depictions of your thought processes and how mental health plays such a role in the ability the enjoy the things that give us joy. I wish we could be best friends 😭💙
for me, Babel is one of the "moments" that i look for every time i read a book. (When i dont reed stupid, lovable romance) When i read Babel, it had been a long time since i felt so much for characters that i felt crushed and relived and idk ... i loved it
My dude your brain isn't broken, you just ran out of spoons. It happens to everyone, even those who have no idea what spoons are.
…. What are spoons…?
@@abiade9614 spoon theory was originally a metaphor by someone with an autoimmune disease i think but it applies to a lot of different things like mental health as well, it essentially means the amount of physical or mental energy a person has for daily tasks expressed with the term "spoons".
One of my fav parts of the ending of babel esp regarding THAT person is how being in proximity to the injustices of the world re: race ethnicity and class doesnt necessarily mean that you are corageous enough to fight against injustice... even if that injustice is directly impacting the so called people you love. how hard can your so called love for your friends really go if you still prioritize the status quo bc it benefits you? vvvv good exploration of interracial friendship
your review to the secret history is kinda how i felt about dracula, yeh its the origin of a genre, but the book is literally just a eccentric old man buying property in London....the inspired material have done all the work to make these themes what they are
Thank you so much for sharing about your mental health because I have also been struggling with that a lot, still am, and it just feels so good knowing that I'm not alone in my struggles. I actually talked about this with my therapist a few days ago and she said a really interesting thing. Everyone has bits of themselves that is their identity that can be different seizes and for me being good academically has been a very big one, so when I didn't do as well or felt like I was doing as well my brain would experience an identity crisis, and that's why I take it out so hard on myself when I fail, according to me
Soooo I finished the book/audiobook of The Secret History (read by Donna Tartt herself!) and it stuck with me hard. Went down some youtube, reddit and tiktok "bunny" holes, and came out loving it even more. I think consuming it in a short time frame takes away, and I bet after all the "research" I had done thereafter I would have a totally different experience on the re-read. Richard is just such an unreliable narrator, that I want to revisit the book under each character's perspective. Donna Tartt is a genius.
I am listening to If We Were Villains now (almost 5 hours in) and three different TH-camrs have recommended the audiobook over reading it purely because the Shakespeare is more easily digested in audio form and the book reads very much like a play anyway, so having the different voices really adds to the experience. I am loving it and can't wait to read the other two on this list along with a whole slew of dark academia novels. It is like living through my college liberal arts years (I graduated in 2006) but at a darker, more sinister level.
i could totally see the IWWV audiobook slapping honestly, if i could do it again i would have read it like that...i am glad that you're enjoying them :) definitely lots of food for thought in those books
"You are not lazy because you are having a bad day"
when you said "i can imagine there's a lot less social commentary here" about A deadly education i genuinely laughed out loud LMAO please read the rest of the trilogy bc the class commentary gets so much more intense by the end
i love how you edited this!! and all the outfits were inmaculated (that vest with poker cards symbols was another thing altogether, absolutely gorgeous). i liked all this video a lot!!!!
Oh I LOOVE A Deadly Education, and it’s sequels,-the world scratched my brain sooo well!!
Listening to you talk about how your worth is attached to your grades or at least that is how you felt and you are fighting against that. I was the mom who attached grades to my kids. They were in a private school so their grade system was 93-100 is an A. So for me anything less wasn’t acceptable. I made them feel bad because I place expectations on them that in all actuality means nothing. I have completely changed. Took them out of private school and speak love into them. I let them know that their being is enough. I am sorry that you are suffering but I do hear how awesome you speak to yourself! You are worthy!
I remember the way I felt after finishing Babel was that usually when I read my silly little novels that it’s an escape from life, and that when I finished Babel I felt the opposite, like I shut the book to go back to my real life and it felt like closing my eyes after they were opened. Anyways cool book I’m glad you enjoyed it ☺️👍
I want to take a moment to thank the TH-cam algorithm for bringing you to my feed. I immediately subscribed 🖤
Thank you for validating my 3.5 stars for the Secret History! I was worried that I was crazy. The book was entirely way too long and I also loved the beginning but didn't love the second part. It was just so boring in the middle, lol. Thank you! 💕
That mental health check in was absolutely beautiful. This is the first time I've seen you, and I love you.
I'm 6 minutes in the video, and I must say that The Secret History is a masterpiece for me! I need to get back to work so I'll probably leave other comments (or update this one) because I LOVE dark academia! I loved The Secret History so much ! And yes, pure Dark Academia genre always includes a critic of society and academia and privilege. So it is absolutely normal that you feel like this book critiques its characters and Richard's longing to be part of this exclusive group of students. You'll notice the same thing with the other books you'll read, I'm sure :)
I adore The Secret History 🖤
This video convinced me to read If We Were Villains bc I am a massive Shakespeare nerd. And let me tell you, you were totally right. When you understand the context that book bangs. I absolutely adored it. But I can 100% see how, if you were less familiar with Shakespeare it wouldn’t feel as impactful. Now I have every other one of these books on my TBR (I went out and bought Babel after this video) and I’m so hyped for them.
I ordered secret history and I am SO scared about the long chapters. Very few things put me in a reading slump more than long chapters
stay strong 😤
If you like audiobooks I really recommend the The Secret History audiobook. The long chapters get lost in the audio (most of the time) and it's narrated by Donna Tart (the author). I find audiobooks a good way to combat the whole long chapter thing
If you haven’t read this yet, please know the chapters are broken into very short sections. This makes it SO much easier to read.
If you haven’t already, this video made me think you’d LOVE the Simon Snow series. It’s got a magic system based around words, fun banter between the romantic interest and the main character, and it’s a very fun read. The first book especially had a really excellent use of different perspectives to elevate your understanding of the characters
I have majority of these books on my tbr. I really loved your breakdown of Babel ✨
I absolutely love all your outfits here. I cannot wait for it to finally get cold enough for me to start wearing dark academia esq outfits again
not pictured was me sweating through all of my clothes (it was definitely not cold enough to do this video but i manifested it anyways)
The tangent you went on toward the end was great!! Really felt seen ya know!! :)
was just going to quietly watch and savor this video, but that lil brief academic validation-related breakdown made me tear up :") thank you truly
If I ever actually meet Rebecca Kuang, I will 1) freak out cuz she’s my favorite author and 2) ask if we get a follow up book or novella about what happens after Babel. You can’t just leave an Epilogue like that about Victoire and not pick it back up.
This is a huge mood, I am DYING to know what happens to Victoire after the events of Babel. Does she find Robin and Griffin's brothers? Does she make it back to Haiti? I just need to know.
Rebecca said in an interview somewhere that if she were to write another Babel book, it would be a prequel/sequel that follows both Griffin and Victoire simultaneously. And that if it were to happen, it would be in like 10 years bc she would need to be better at French and more knowledgeable on the American Civil War, while also doing her other projects 😮💨
@@ashileylee7507 well 10 years is enough time for me to heal from babel...i think