A review by intensej
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

5.0

Sinclair's visceral and lush descriptions of her childhood in Jamaica blew me away. She is fearless as she unpacks her family history. I really loved the poetry of Sinclair's writing. The phrase "my heart was a bursting mango" made me smile (p. 82). Sinclair's focus on her relationship with her mother and her siblings reminded me of The Yellow House and Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir. How to Say Babylon is a must read for lovers of memoirs, poetry, and strong women. If you are ever thinking of visiting Jamaica, I highly recommend this book.

"Beyond the hazy light of the veiled world lives this moment of my life diverging--I went one way, and the other girl, the girl I never became, went the other, with all her mysterious possibilities, all her unknown and possible worlds" (p. 122).

Content: graphic descriptions of suicide, violence 
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