How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2024; 352 pages; Published by Fourth Estate 03/10/23; Dimensions: 15.9 x 3.1 x 24 cm

An interesting read into one person’s experience of growing up in Jamaica under the rule of her authoritarian father. I could tell from the way the book was written the author has a background in poetry and understanding of foreshadowing.

I found the book addictive and I read it in one evening. I believe this memoir is of a high standard and worthy of making the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist. The narrative is all very readable and straightforward. I didn’t find any other subjects covered too difficult or particularly distressing, the amazing imagery makes this book a very powerful story of hope and resilience.

I knew very little of Rastafarians and this has certainly opened my eyes and made me want to learn more. I found this is a physically quite a large hardback book of 352 pages.

I noticed this book does have rather a long acknowledgements section with several pages with a text filling the whole page, this is interesting to see how the book came together and just how many people are involved.

I enjoyed the information down the front and back inside dust cover along with the author’s photo. The front cover is green, which I am naturally drawn to as one of my favourite colours. I am a mother of four daughters and one son so I maternally I love the cute image of the author on the wicker chair as a young girl. This cover has a smooth matte feel to it.

As I read in one evening I kept the dust cover on it did tend to slip up and it was quite hard to get back in place. The text is quite full on, full pages side to side, there are indents for new paragraphs.

The text pretty much fills the whole page it is central but not much empty space, however the little floral embellishments throughout the chapters I did find to be a nice addition. The text felt that it is a standard size.

Each year I like to read the complete long list of the Women’s Prize and try and complete this before winners announced.  It has been a pleasure to read this as part of one of the book clubs selected to read and review to help with a Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2024.