How to Say Babylon

A Memoir

By: Safiya Sinclair

Narrated by: Safiya Sinclair

Length: 16 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Powerful

A beautifully written memoir that keeps your attention so gracefully you forget you aren’t sitting next to Safiya.

I cared, I wept, I learned a lot too.

The author’s words and narration were exquisite, melodic, poetic. The story is powerful, meaningful and important.

Powerful Story

A really great book. I was first introduced to Safiya’s work at Calabash Literary Festival in Jamaica, so I was really excited when I came across this book. She poured her heart and soul into this book. I experienced all the emotions listening to her story, anger, happiness, sadness. Really powerful story.

Powerful, at times hit too close to home.

Beautifully written and read. Learned much about Rasta beliefs. Vividly portrays women’s centuries old burdens and challenge to be heard.

Beautiful, sad, and moving!

This memoir was difficult to listen to at times. Her story is one of so much courage and her writing is beautiful! I’m so glad the author was also the narrator! Highly recommend!

Fabulous Imagery, Emotionally beautiful.

the imagery of her word choice, the power in the story, the connectivity, the vulnerability... just a beautiful listen with a beautiful story.

The ability of Safia to both tell a gut wrenching story while making beautiful art with her words.

I appreciated the authors ability to give us a glimpse into the impact of colonialism while not staying there to make the readers feel a lasting sadness, but hope. It also allowed us to understand the plight of a father trying with his very modest and inefficient tools to keep his family together oppressing in the manner of his oppressors. But in his reflection to realize the impact was so powerful. Safia you write beautifully - I stayed with you even through the acknowledgments. You are so strong. thank you for sharing your light with us and how even in the darkness it could not be undone.

everything

Those that seek to make a living for themselves often lose that vision after years of mistreatment and lose. It's then that their own love ones suffer the most, and often lead to trauma and pain. This story is about a girl who had to endure that pain, but who's pain helped shape her to be a powerful and successful woman. And while it's certainly a difficult journey to read, it's often the same story that countless other woman have to endure, and with a fate worse than Safiya Sinclair. Easily a modern classic that should be read by anyone, Hoe To Say Babylon definitely deserves all the praise it gets.

amazing 👏 🤩

Such a wonderful book. Beautifully written, and amazing narratoring. I would recommend this book to anyone such a moving story of her life experience, but hearing it through audible made it a even better experience listening to the authors beautiful voice.

Beautiful!

Sinclair is a gifted writer. Her words beautifully draw the listener into her world. Thank you for telling a story of the world of Rastafari. I didn't want to put this down! And now I'm drawn to look up her poetry.