"Impossible to put down. . .Each lyrical line sings and soars, freeing the reader as it did the writer."-People
"The book grabs the reader because of the beauty of its words, but it sticks because of the thorniness and complexity of its ideas."-The Washington Post
"[A] breathless, scorching memoir of a girlhood spent becoming the perfect Rasta daughter and an adolescence spent becoming one of Jamaica's most promising young poets."-The New York Times
"In this remarkable memoir, Sinclair, an award-winning poet, conjures coming of age in Jamaica with her father, a reggae musician who embraced a strict sect of Rastafari and sought to protect his family from the evil and pervasive influence of the
West-what Rastafari call Babylon-and coming into her own as a poet, a writer, and a young woman in charge of her own destiny."-
The New Yorker"This memoir is a melodious wave of memories and interrogations that illustrates Sinclair's skill as both a poet and a storyteller....The magical way she strings sentences together, on its own, is reason enough to indulge in this memoir 10 years in the making.... There were numerous attempts to silence her, but Safiya Sinclair came out on the other side, victorious against patriarchy and colonialization; roaring from the hills like the lioness that she is."-NPR.org
"A courageous memoir of breaking free from a father's oppression - and how poetry can be a salve against chaos....A story about hope, imagination and resilience."-
The Guardian"The strength of Sinclair's memoir lies partly in its refusal to assign simple, individualized meaning to hallmark coming-of-age moments....?
How to Say Babylon?also captures remarkable, intensely labored journeys toward forgiveness. Far from being a trite solution to traumas, Sinclair's striking memoir is a testament to her craft and her capacity for self-preservation." -
The Atlantic"Intensely candid, multidimensional, and altogether dazzling."-The Millions
"Sinclair recounts her harrowing upbringing in Jamaica in this bruising memoir.... In dazzling prose ... she examines the traumas of her childhood against the backdrop of her new life as a poet in Babylon.... Readers will be drawn to Sinclair's strength and swept away by her tale of triumph over oppression. This is a tour de force."-Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Sinclair's gorgeous prose is rife with glimmering details, and the narrative's ending lands as both inevitable and surprising. More than catharsis; this is memoir as liberation."-
Kirkus Reviews?(starred review)
"Sinclair's rich, harrowing memoir, "How to Say Babylon," is a story about home and its fragmentation."
-LA Times"Safiya Sinclair knows just how to make a reader feel the intensity of every word on the page."
-Shondaland"A true stand out."
-Good Morning America"I cried so many different kinds of tears reading Safiya Sinclair's
How to Say Babylon. In addition to the deep love, courage, intelligence and compassion of her writing, what caused me to well up repeatedly was the understanding that I was in the presence of an enormous soul."-Tracy K. Smith in the
New York Times
