A review by happiestwhenreading
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
4.0
I wanted to like this book more than I did. The writing was beautiful and captivating in some places, but just way too long and drug out in others. I started reading this one and evenutally switched to audiobook, and I will say the audiobook was a much better (and more enjoyable) format for me. I also think by the time I made the switch, I was around halfway, and that's when the story became much more interesting to me.
Sinclair spent a lot of time in her early years...like younger than ten years old. While I know there was a lot of impactful content in those years, I appreciated her story more with her maturity and the reflection she was able to lend to experiences. I don't know if that makes sense, but I get a little skeptical about early childhood memories because, overall, I think we mostly lack the worldview necessary to afford those recounted memories with the truth and honesty they should have.
Regardless, I learned a lot about the Rastafarian culture - things I had no idea about at all! There were also some interesting parallels to the Rasta view of Western civilization and what's currently happening in the Isreali/Palastinian war.
Sinclair spent a lot of time in her early years...like younger than ten years old. While I know there was a lot of impactful content in those years, I appreciated her story more with her maturity and the reflection she was able to lend to experiences. I don't know if that makes sense, but I get a little skeptical about early childhood memories because, overall, I think we mostly lack the worldview necessary to afford those recounted memories with the truth and honesty they should have.
Regardless, I learned a lot about the Rastafarian culture - things I had no idea about at all! There were also some interesting parallels to the Rasta view of Western civilization and what's currently happening in the Isreali/Palastinian war.