How to Say Babylon

How to Say Babylon

Safiya Sinclair

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

With echoes of Educated and Born a Crime, How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author’s struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father’s strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet. Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair’s father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman’s highest virtue was her obedience. In an effort to keep Babylon outside the gate, he forbade almost everything. In place of pants, the women in her family were made to wear long skirts and dresses to cover their arms and legs, head wraps to cover their hair, no make-up, no jewelry, no opinions, no friends. Safiya’s mother, while loyal to her father, nonetheless gave Safiya and her siblings the gift of books, including poetry, to which Safiya latched on for dear life. And as Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under housework and the rigidity of her father’s beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a sharp tool with which to find her voice and break free. Inevitably, with her rebellion comes clashes with her father, whose rage and paranoia explodes in increasing violence. As Safiya’s voice grows, lyrically and poetically, a collision course is set between them. How to Say Babylon is Sinclair’s reckoning with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica. Rich in lyricism and language only a poet could evoke, How to Say Babylon is both a universal story of a woman finding her own power and a unique glimpse into a rarefied world we may know how to name, Rastafari, but one we know little about.'


From the Forum

No posts yet

Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update

Recent Reviews

Your rating:

  • Swiddles24
    Mar 09, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • Bmb3md
    Mar 09, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    Potentially the most beautiful memoir, or even book, that I’ve ever read. Sinclair is a poet and it definite shines through in her writing and her ability to capture her experiences and emotions in such a beautiful, empathetic, and poignant way. I admire her compassion toward her father, mother and desire to maintain their connection without sacrificing her own boundaries. I admire her courage in sharing the details of her upbringing with a world that will be quick to judge and share those opinions. As a UVA grad, I admire her unflinching assessment of Charlottesville and Virginia making her feel alien and alone, as I’m sure I unintentionally added to that pain through my own ignorance of the black experience. 

    This is the standard memoirs should be held to, and I don’t know if any others will ever come close. Thank you, Safiya, for sharing your story and these words with us. 

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • ladybaklava
    Feb 06, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    4.5 ⭐️Safiya Sinclair was born to write. Her voice is so beautiful and I love how this book really feels like a love letter to her mother, despite her mistakes and complexities

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • View all reviews
    Community recs if you liked this book...