Reviews

I read an excerpt of this memoir when it was published in The New Yorker earlier this year, and knew I had to read Sinclair’s whole memoir when it came out. With beautiful, lush prose, Sinclair tells her story: the eldest daughter in a strict and abusive Rastafarian family, suffering from generational trauma and poverty, seeking ways to get out of the cage her father locked her in. Sinclair shows early promise as a poet, and that becomes her path out, and her way to finding herself.

It’s a complicated family portrait, and Sinclair does not shy away from the pain, but also the humanity in all of her loved ones: it would have been easy to villainize her father, but she writes about their relationships with incredible compassion and tenderness, yet never letting him off easily. It’s wonderful to read such a brilliantly felt memoir.

blackcatkai's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

(CWs at end of review (its short) ♡)

this is gorgeously written and absolutely heartbreaking & amazing. if you like memoirs about individuals, their families, & their homelands history, intertwined? read this.

CW: abandonment, adult/minor relationship, abortion, classism, colonialism, sexual assault (against adults & children/teens), abuse (emotional & physical), grief, trauma, chronic illness, death, war, violence, suicide, police brutality, bullying, self harm, body/fat shaming, sexism/misogyny, blood, alcohol/drug use, gaslighting, forced confinement

heathero621's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

This is Safiya's story of growing up in Jamaica with a father that believed in the Rastafarian culture. I learned a lot about Rastafari that I didn't know anything about, which was interesting. I really love books written by poets because they have a really beautiful way with words and how they write. I do wish that I had listened to this book because I listened to a talk with Safiya and I loved her accent and her tone of voice and it would've been really good to hear her speak her history. I really look forward to reading some of her poetry.

peepmybookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

heathersparks's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

etulsk54's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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