Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

18 reviews

randisworld's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

This was an excellent memoir and may be the best of the year. The language and writing is divine. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual harassment

ooo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

kyladjamila's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

znvisser's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Beautiful memoir that taught me a lot while drawing a picture of the authors life: Safiya Sinclair manages to interweave personal memories seamlessly with Jamaican and Rastafarian history, making her story a whole. Her childhood memories are detailed and lively, drawn poetically with childlike wonder, shamelessness and parental worship, after which you feel complexity grow and doubts creeping in as she gets older. Sinclair is so proficient with language and I loved taking this in through audio as well, because her voice is gorgeous and she had great melody to her storytelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Misogyny, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Racism, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Colonisation, Pregnancy, and Blood

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Miscarriage, Drug use, Racial slurs, Body shaming, and Cancer

samuriah's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, and Confinement

amyjo25's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Child abuse

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

 How to Say Babylon is a memoir about the author growing up in a Rastafarian family in Jamaica, suffering at the hands of an increasingly abusive father, and then finally figuring out who she is, developing her own voice, and finding a way out. The story was interesting, particularly the insights into Rastafarianism which is a belief system I know little about, and has some obvious parallels to Educated. Definitely a hard read in places with physical and emotional abuse, controlling behaviour and gaslighting. What really stood out though was the writing which was phenomenal - lush, lyrical and evocative. I went into this book blind but within the first paragraph it was obvious that that author was a poet. The audio, narrated by her, was also excellent with the rhythm of the language really coming through. The book was a real pleasure to listen to but it also left me with plenty to think about - things like the intersections between religion and men trying to control women, the difficulty of escaping a traumatic upbringing, the factors that enable some people to succeed in a world that they’d been led to belief was evil, the ability to forgive, and the healing power of writing and of poetry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

sapphire's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual assault

mondovertigo's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Child abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racial slurs and Death

emzireads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry