Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

7 reviews

karleeread's review against another edition

emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

corinth113's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Heartbreaking, poignant, and lovely. Raw, painful, bleak, abundant, a song, and a prayer. Beautiful prose, poetic and lyrical beats, this woman’s family’s story pushes and pulls at something deep inside of anyone who has ever had to deal with unsettling family dynamics and the  way we wrestle forever with forgiveness and reconciliation—not just with others, but with who we become because of our parents and who we want to be despite them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Bullying and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Self harm, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Drug use, and Sexual assault

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

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

znvisser's review

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