Zakiya Daniel > Recent Status Updates

The feeling I get from reading this is very complex to describe. Like the characters, I feel a sense of looming dread/apprehension accompanied by an uncanny awareness of mortality. 😬

We should never forget how fragile interconnected and interdependent lifestyles are… People can be unpredictable.

Dread, fear, nightmarish desperation all around. This situation is unfathomable. 😬

It's baffling how much we don't realize our dependency on things like electricity, refrigeration, automobiles, medicines, etc. until those things either don't work or are gone... It's actually pretty worrisome, I think. Makes me wonder what I could do in a situation like that.

That eerie, unsettling, chilly feeling you get when an unlikely hypothetical situation suddenly becomes a reality - that's what I'm experiencing with this book. Ironically, the power went out on several blocks in the city today, and the effects were actually quite terrifying (i.e., all restaurants and traffic lights for several blocks went out at lunchtime, and there was nowhere to get food...).

Things are getting serious! We’re pushing them to the brink, holding out until the end! 😬 Bated breath!

This book is crazy! 😭 In a strange, conflicting, tumultuous way. I love it and hate it, but I can’t stop reading!

My anxiety is through the roof, but ai can’t stop reading! 😵‍💫

I might have to file for worker’s comp or something for the number of times my jaw has been hitting the floor these last few chapters!! 😩

P.S. I’m simultaneously listening to and reading along with this book, and the narrator is PHENOMENAL.

The secrets, the gaslighting, the lying! I don’t know which side to take because I don’t know who to trust, who to believe anymore! 😩

Something’s going on at Babel… (with Griffin’s class???) but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Makes me a little uneasy. I’m curious, but also wary of finding out. 😬

Whew! 😮‍💨 This last chapter had me reliving the terrors and anxieties of grad school comprehensive exams!

I think these past few chapters really captures the nature of universities as their own sort of isolated institutions—circumstances and political climates change around them and yet they (mostly) remain steadfast. It also captures very well how college students can fall out of love with their institutes once the “new-car smell” from freshman year wears off.

Take a moment to comprehend the magnitude of loss that you’d feel if you could no longer speak, think, or even dream in your mother tongue—the disconnection from your culture, your history, an expanse of knowledge that you might never regain access to... Really gives more tragic weight to the phrase “use it or lose it” when it comes to language-learning.

I never played Ocarina of Time, but after just finishing Breath of the Wild, I couldn’t resist a good story. It’s already very intense!

I feel like a student at Babel—I go to lectures, eat at the buttery, and think about the intricacies of language as I’ve never thought of them before!

Academic debates always pique my interest. I’m especially intrigued by how this chapter incorporated some discussion of “affirmative action” and injustices of imperialism.

The self-assessment part where you can establish a baseline for yourself is a nice touch! Helps me to feel like the author is actually coaching me.

It’s getting pretty intense and raising lots of questions for me! 😬

My face was like 🤨🫢🫣😲🤯😧😬😵‍💫😳🥺 throughout this whole chapter. Long lost relative? ✅ Mysterious conspiracy? ✅ Massive confusion? ✅ This chapter was definitely an emotional rollercoaster. My head was spinning like Robin’s and I ain’t even drank no ale. 😩

I’m suspicious of everything, and assuming everybody has an ulterior motive they’re not telling Robin (or me) about. 👀

The school description kind of gives me Harry Potter vibes. 😂

To describe the feeling of walking through a university campus at night, and the lingering feeling of being an outsider in a place you have the right to be in, was very cleverly written and SO ACCURATE. I could feel Robin’s unease through the whole chapter.

It’s off to a great start! Can’t wait to jump back into this alternate historical timeline!