Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

37 reviews

elisecavanaugh's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5


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katewhite77's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

A simply beautiful memoir

Safia Sinclair is a poet, and it shows in her wonderful prose style. Though the writing  style is beautifully poetic, the content is hard to read to read. Don't go into this expecting an easy ride, especially because the writing  is visceral. 

Safia grew up in Montego Bay Jamaica with her mother, father, and three younger siblings, who are all rastafari. This is, for the most part, a peaceful religion that believes Jamaica should be free from white colonial rule, also known as Babylon.

Over time however Safia"s father is over taken by religious furver and starts to follow a sect that believes in a very narrow interpretation of rastafaranism, particularly in regard to the role of women. This leads to him exerting tighter and tighter control over the females in the family. 

Safia finds an escape route out through education and poetry.  The book is dedicated to her mother, and it is easy to see why because she is amazing.

I fully expect this book to feature in my best books of the year, not least because it references the best band in the world. The Mighy Cranberries. 

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amy_park's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This book really solidified my love for poetic prose. I loved this book. I listened to it via audio which was lyrical and heart wrenching. A memoir about childhood within a Jamaican rastafari family. Going in I hardly knew anything about the rastafari religion and I learnt alot about this through Safiya's memoir. The misogynistic and strict household she lived in whilst growing up, especially her relationship with her father was hard to read at times, but the power of her words and expereince were so vivid, you couldn't help but connect with her.
I would definetly recommend to read via audiobook as you hear the authors words driectly from her which enhances the listening experience with her emotion and poetic voice.

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froon's review against another edition

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4.5

what a meditative, thoughtful book. the way that sinclair weaves the large with the small is so impressive⏤the larger history of the rastafari with the history of her family, a legacy of injustice with the injustice in her lineage. the care in which she approaches her parents without pulling punches is expert. 

i saw a goodreads review frustrated with the “lack of structural payoff,” and i find that so deeply annoying. this is one of the most satisfying endings of a memoir, especially one that spans such a range of time and history, that i’ve ever read. there is a distinct and emotional climax AND the payoff of the aftermath at the end. again, a sign of the skill that sinclair has.

my biggest issue, keeping this from a true five star read, was how slow the beginning was to get through. the pace was slow to the point that it felt dense and difficult to traverse.

there is nothing like a memoir written by a poet. i’ll chew on some of these sentences for some time. maybe i’ll really apply for grad school this time :)

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darcygabe's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0


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mmccombs's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

The writing was very well done and I really enjoyed learning more about Rastafari and the ways in which Sinclair navigated her family life. Making connections between the colonial past and present of Jamaica, the abusive control exacted by her father, and the long line of women who persevered and carried her was very well done. I did think it was fairly repetitive and slow, I most enjoyed the first few chapters and the last because that’s where she was able to round up and bring together her ideas. 

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internationalreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0


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melissamjc's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

5.0

I've never read a book that shared a story like mine before. I hadn’t realised how much I needed a book like this. It made my chest ache for my younger self and captured a conflict I've never been able to share. So beautifully written, will definitely be reading again

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caitlinxreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

4.25


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hellolucireads's review against another edition

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I read it for book club but didn’t finish by the time we met. Her writing was beautiful and a lot of it upset me. It was tough and challenging to read knowing it was a memoir! I’m not sure if it was for me, and very hard to rate!

It was engaging but I just got tired of reading it, to be honest. Maybe because it was challenging and upsetting for me.

I read a summary of how everything turned out at the end - just to see if there was a light at the end of it! 

I didn’t know about Rastafarian culture before, and learned so much from her lens. I’d still recommend it even though I didn’t finish! 

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