Nonfiction: How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

The credit for helping me discover today's selection goes to the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards, as Safiya Sinclair's How to Say Babylon was a nominee in the Best Memoir & Autobiography category. It may not have won, but the description interested me as it promised the story of young woman's life in a Rastafarian household.

Genre, Themes, History: This book is a memoir in which Sinclair tells the story of her life growing up in Jamaica. Her father, a devout and strict Rastafarian, forbid anyone in his family from eating meat; his wife and daughters could not wear pants; and what he seemed most concerned with was his daughters' purity, as he did his best to make sure they stayed far from the influences of Babylon: the corrupting influence of the Western world. As Sinclair gets older, she would come to understand exactly the kind of woman her father was trying to make her to be. But with the help of her mother, she finds freedom and a voice in poetry, and believes her way out of Jamaica, and away from the grip of her father, to be through education. Sinclair will eventually have to decide for herself how she feels about what she has always been taught to believe.

My Verdict: This book provides readers an opportunity to gain knowledge of Rastafari, first-hand, from someone who lived it and grew up adhering to the some of its strictest rules. From the first few pages, it is clear that the book will detail the tension between what the author's father believed she should be, and what she would eventually decide she wanted for herself. Sinclair even goes back in time, before her birth, to when the emperor of Ethiopia, and the man many in her country believed to be a god, visited Jamaica. Sinclair tells the story of her parents' early life, along with her own - full of all of its difficulties and many moves - with an honesty, openness, and courage that should be applauded.  

Favorite Moment: The first chapter in which Sinclair details her discovery of poetry feels different from the ones that came before. The story is far from over, and the tensions are still present, but the chapter feels lighter, and more hopeful, and also full of wonder. It is the feeling of knowing that you are about to go on an adventure (a good one), or be presented a mystery to solve (a fun one).

Recommended Reading: For nonfiction, I recommend They Called Us Exceptional by Prachi Gupta. For fiction, I recommend Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson.