Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

24 reviews

ireanirean's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Infertility, Death of parent, Drug use, Colonisation, and Self harm

Minor: Sexual harassment, War, Slavery, Pregnancy, Cancer, and Miscarriage

malackalharaizeh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Racism and Racial slurs

creativerunnings's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Violence, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Slavery

Minor: Cancer

wfrench09's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Sinclair is so adept and precise with her prose and use of language. She weaves important elements about Rastafari history and culture into the story, so the reader learns a lot not only about Rastafarianism but also how those elements inform the setting Sinclair grows up in. The words she uses in her memoir to describe her experiences also develops in a similar progression as she develops from a young girl into a woman.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming and Suicidal thoughts

thecriticalreader's review against another edition

dark inspiring slow-paced

4.5

Context: I chose How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair as an add-on to my Book of the Month box in October 2023. 

 

Review:

 

Safiya Sinclair delivers a beautifully written and powerful memoir of her life growing up under the tyranny of her abusive father, who uses his interpretation of the Rastafari faith to control Safiya, her siblings, and her mother. Although Sinclair got her start as a poet and frequently uses metaphor and figurative language in How to Say Babylon, her memoir is immensely readable and pulls the reader in with its literary quality. Sinclair is a master of language, but her memoir also reveals her mastery of storytelling structure, as each chapter feels like a cohesive whole that seamlessly builds upon the story of her life, her family, and her roots. Her retrospective on her upbringing demonstrates a keen awareness of the forces and personalities that shaped her life—nurturing and destructive, fleeting and abiding. She reminds us that above all else, courage and empathy are necessary to free ourselves from people and situations that work to keep us silent. 

 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Drug use, Sexism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Child abuse, Classism, Racism, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, and Bullying

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Colonisation

Minor: Miscarriage, Abortion, Cancer, and Deportation

sillyduckie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Drug use, Confinement, and Blood

anniesbookpicks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Misogyny and Religious bigotry

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

shay43geek's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Confinement, Body shaming, and Infidelity

Minor: Abandonment