Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

8 reviews

honeyvoiced's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism

Minor: Cancer, Colonisation, Racial slurs, and Infidelity

deen734's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Gaslighting, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death, Slavery, Grief, Infidelity, Racism, Mental illness, Bullying, and Drug use

Minor: Suicide attempt, Self harm, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, and Cancer

ireanirean's review against another edition

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

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

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

ittywitty's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Bullying, Drug use, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Racism, Abandonment, Body shaming, Classism, Confinement, and Racial slurs

Minor: Cancer

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

bookdragon217's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

"There is an unspoken understanding of loss here in Jamaica, where everything comes with a rude bargain—that being citizens of a 'developing nation', we are born already expecting to live a secondhand life, and to enjoy it. But there is hope, too, in our scarcity, tolerable because it keeps us constantly reaching for something better." 

There are not enough words to describe the beauty that is found within the pages of How To Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair. She cracks herself open to show us the deep roots of her family trauma but still manages to hold the ones she loves tenderly with her poetic prose.  Her words are captivating & in true poet form, she delivers magical sentences that dance off the page & stick with you. She interrogates the misogyny of the Rastafarian lifestyle her father subjected their family to while at the same time connecting it to the history of colonialism in Jamaica. She calls out the mental abuse she was subjected to but also gives greater context & explanation about how her father could also be viewed as vulnerable to a corrupt system that is fueled by patriarchy. 

What struck me deeply was how Sinclair explores such deep themes through a child's perspective. She places us in her stream of conscience and allows us to see her observations and how she comes to make sense of her world in order to save herself. You see Sinclair develop an astute emotional intelligence that allowed her to survive her circumstances on a daily basis. Sinclair's mother offers poetry & literature as a form of liberation & this was so beautiful to see, especially since her own choices were limited by her own father. The books she read opened doors to understanding the world & provided the keys to free herself from her circumstances. This act of love from her mother is what ultimately helps her find her voice in the midst of chaos. 

I can still feel the power of Sinclair's narrative voice. This memoir is not only a testimony but an indictment on the systems of oppression that enforce & perpetuate patriarchy. It also serves a reminder that the consequences of colonialism are still being felt today. Sinclair is an author to watch in the future.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Body shaming, Cancer, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Colonisation, Classism, Infertility, and Pedophilia