How to Say Babylon

A Memoir

De: Safiya Sinclair

Narrado por: Safiya Sinclair

National Book Critics Circle Award Winner
A New York Times Notable Book
Best Book of the Year for The Washington Post* The New Yorker * Time * The Atlantic * Los Angeles Times * NPR * Harper’s Bazaar * Vulture * Town & Country * San Francisco Chronicle * Christian Science Monitor * Mother Jones * Barack Obama
A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick

“Impossible to put down...Each lyrical line sings and soars, freeing the reader as it did the writer.” —People

With echoes of Educated and The Glass Castle, How to Say Babylon is a “lushly observed and keenly reflective chronicle” (The Washington Post), brilliantly recounting the author’s struggle to break free of her rigid religious upbringing and navigate the world on her own terms.

Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair’s father, a volatile reggae musician and a militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, was obsessed with the ever-present threat of the corrupting evils of the Western world outside their home, and worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure. For him, a woman’s highest virtue was her obedience.

Safiya’s extraordinary mother, though loyal to her father, gave her the one gift she knew would take Safiya beyond the stretch of beach and mountains in Jamaica their family called home: a world of books, knowledge, and education she conjured almost out of thin air. When she introduced Safiya to poetry, Safiya’s voice awakened. As she watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under relentless domesticity, Safiya’s rebellion against her father’s rules set her on an inevitable collision course with him. Her education became the sharp tool to hone her own poetic voice and carve her path to liberation. Rich in emotion and page-turning drama, How to Say Babylon is “a melodious wave of memories” of a woman finding her own power (NPR).

©2022 Safiya Sinclair (P)2022 Simon & Schuster Audio

My words cannot describe

This memoir was beautifully written. It was like, and ongoing poem. I was immediately drawn in by her tone, details and delivery. Once I was getting towards the end, I found myself spacing out the time that I would listen because I didn’t want it to end.

excellent read

I cannot stop sharing this book with my friends, hoping they will listen and experience a great story. I am very excited and cannot wait to start a second time very wait to read a 2nd time

Amazing life of resilience and strength

I was sweep away by Safiya’s gifts and her ability to share the deeply intimate story of her family. Such intelligence such a talent.

Insightful. Heartbreaking triumph. All words that come to mind when thinking of her story

I hope as her time in “foreign” continues. She sees that not all “bald heads” are the same. Not all are racist and driven by things. That ending paragraph really bothered me. The rest was true poetry but that seemed so one dimensional compared to the rest. I do love her story and would love to hear her in person. She survived a trauma few can and her resilience is what can bring hope to others in similar circumstances

Best book of 2023

I read more than 100 books this year, and HOW TO SAY BABYLON is hands down the best one. This is read so beautifully by the author, whose poetic talent flies off every page. She uses just the right amount of words in each sentence so as not to overwhelm the reader. This book is so, so, so good.

A 16 hour poem

Beautifully written, it is a human story above all else. A story of overcoming the past to learn to be present. A story of a single woman that tells the story of all women. A gift of insight for men, and women and teenage girls coming of age. Thank you for this beautiful story and reading. Thank you for bringing me back to beautiful Jamaica. Thanks for the reflection and tears and joy I felt while listening. The telling of your story is a rare gem.

Stupendous! Amazing!

I didn’t want this book to end! Safiya Sinclair’s autobiography should be a number one best seller and required reading for all young people, and old ones too, in particular Jamaicans, or really anyone who enjoys a well written, no holds barred book. I can’t say enough good things about this coming-of-age story which has layers and layers of humanness. In some ways her upbringing is typical of the era in Jamaica, but in others it is not. She is a bonafide poet and it shows in her very lyrical writing. Her talent for prose and for telling her truth leaves the reader with no questions about where she stands and how she perseveres. I hope she keeps writing stories in addition to her poetry. If I could have given this book 10 stars, I would have!!!

Beautiful, wrenching and redemptive

Remarkable story, beautifully told and read by the author. Unlike anything I’ve ever read in many regards. Will stick with me for a long time.

Brave. Bold. Beautifully wrought, written, told.

You don’t want to miss this. Poetic. Epic. Sweeping. Sensitive. Compassionate. Honest. Safiya you are brilliant! I couldn’t put it down.

Excellent. The book was riveting and inspirational.

The storied flowed and the reading from the author was poetic. I thoroughly enjoyed it.