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darcygabe's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Abortion, Colonisation, and Classism
salemander's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Colonisation
awebofstories's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Colonisation
not_another_ana's review against another edition
4.0
After more than nineteen years, my father still could not see me. To him, nothing I wrote would ever matter. Poetry was the voice I had forged because for so long I had been voiceless; I had written every word because I wanted him to hear me. Now I knew he never would.
I find it tricky to cast judgement on a memoir. How can I sit here and judge what happens when it's not just plot but someone's actual life and experience, it feels voyeuristic. At the same time the author is handing me their life on a platter, is asking me to come and see and experience. In How to Say Babylon Safiya Sinclair presents us the story of her life growing up in Jamaica under the control of a domineering abusive father who used Rastafarianism to control and terrorize the family. We're taken on this journey to her childhood, her struggles and how she persevered and became an award winning poet. She also explains what Rastafarianism is, how it got started, what are the practices and beliefs, and how that affected her.
I could not put this down, I read it in four days. The prose is beautiful and fluid, you could probably infer her background as a poet. If you don't enjoy purple prose, this might not be a good fit for you, for me it worked because I felt like I was right there in her head with her as the events happened. And boy did things happen to her, this is a book that deals with such complex and heart wrenching abuse. Verbal abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, spiritual abuse, at times it felt so heavy and anxiety inducing. I was at a roller coaster right before the drop, or a balloon inflating with no sign of stopping and then... Well the drop didn't happen, the balloon never popped.
That was my only real issue with the book. The pacing brught us to this dazzling height only to gently let us down. To me it felt like perhaps she could have waited to write this memoir, there were a lot of painful memories she had to face and put to paper and the more recent ones just didn't come across as robust as the past. By this I mean I felt like she's too close to the point in time where her book ends to have been able to pull it apart and analyze it, process it. There's a lot of silence at the end, like the story was cherry-picked in some spots.
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
solenodon's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Classism
Moderate: Suicide, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Sexual content
your_true_shelf's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
Minor: Animal death
rae477's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Colonisation
honeyvoiced's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Racial slurs, and Colonisation
erickaonpaper's review against another edition
part love letter to jamaica, part good-bye letter to her rastafarian upbringing, part forgiveness letter to her parents (particularly to her father), part prayer, part poem, this memoir from safiya sinclair moved me to tears multiple times over the course of journeying through everything mentioned earlier. every time i finish a memoir, i'm grateful for the writer who delivered, and this time is no different. although i refuse to rate a memoir, i will effusively thrust this one into many readers' hands. bear in mind: some of the writing is so obviously coming from a lauded poet, and if poetry isn't your jam, some of the long, meandering sentences and narrative throughlines may ward you off. but do not let that deter you from wading through churlish moments, as safiya herself did not. to face your upbringing, to face your oppression in this way... what a gift. what a gift!!!
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
ireanirean's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexism, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Miscarriage, Slavery, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and War