It's the way we never learn Robin's Chinese name. It's the way Kuang captures the immigrant dilemma of identity, Robin's internal struggle when he returns to Canton and feels nothing. It's the way him and Ramy never named it but we all knew. It's the way it describes languages and translation, its nuance and fluidity, how Robin slowly but surely forgot his Mandarin despite it being his mother tongue. It's like losing part of your home. It's the way their friendship was perfect and rotten from the inside, was doomed to fail, was the most beautiful thing Robin found. It's the way Robin never belonged anywhere except in Canton where his family died and in Babel where his family died. It's the way they loved Letty and she loved them but it was not enough. All that love and it wasn't enough. It's the way it toyed with desperation and anger and grief and despair and hope and hope and hope despite it all there's always hope there's always life there's always a future there's always a possibility.
