Black Coffee discussion

Here is where we'll discuss How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair.

Synopsis: With echoes of Educated and Born a Crime, How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author’s struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father’s strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet.

Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair’s father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman’s highest virtue was her obedience.

In an effort to keep Babylon outside the gate, he forbade almost everything. In place of pants, the women in her family were made to wear long skirts and dresses to cover their arms and legs, head wraps to cover their hair, no make-up, no jewelry, no opinions, no friends. Safiya’s mother, while loyal to her father, nonetheless gave Safiya and her siblings the gift of books, including poetry, to which Safiya latched on for dear life. And as Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under housework and the rigidity of her father’s beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a sharp tool with which to find her voice and break free. Inevitably, with her rebellion comes clashes with her father, whose rage and paranoia explodes in increasing violence. As Safiya’s voice grows, lyrically and poetically, a collision course is set between them.

How to Say Babylon is Sinclair’s reckoning with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica. Rich in lyricism and language only a poet could evoke, How to Say Babylon is both a universal story of a woman finding her own power and a unique glimpse into a rarefied world we may know how to name, Rastafari, but one we know little about.'

Will you be joining us?

I'll be here!

Me too, it sounds like a good one.

If I can get it in time. Reserved at the library!

I already started it and I’ve learned so must about Rastafari. Good writing too.

Oh wow this book is in high demand. All the places I go for ebooks are completely loaned out. Hopefully I get the book this month 🤞🏾🤞🏾

I am ordering my book off Bookshop.org I found a local black owned bookstore on there. That way I can read at my own snail’s pace and support a Black owned, Woman owned, local business

I’m number 114 on the waiting list.

Cool...

I’m in! I’ve wanted to read this for awhile.

What exquisite writing!

I love the audible version. Her voice is so soothing.

BernieMck wrote: "I love the audible version. Her voice is so soothing."

Indeed! I have the text and the audio. At only 15’% , I love this book! 😊

I hope I can read this book with the group. I am on a long waiting list at the library.

Waiting for my book to arrive.

The ebook waiting list is very long for me but my local library had a physical copy that I picked up Thursday. I haven’t started it yet, I’ll probably begin reading Monday or Tuesday. I can’t wait

“Pauline”!!!!!

My book came today! I work tonight and tomorrow night. Will try to get it started.

I’ve learned so much about her way of life. Her writing is beautiful - very poetic yet informative

I wonder if she’s related to the late great actress, Madge Sinclair, who was also from Kingston, Jamaica?!

Oh Myyyy!! This book….. I absolutely love it! 💕
Her writing is beautiful, brilliant and musical.
Her story is mesmerising.
I’m at about 75% and will probably finish tomorrow. So excited to talk about it.

I still haven’t started it. My library has the physical copy and it’s so hard to pick that book up 🤦🏾‍♀️. It’s like I have to sit down and make time to read it. Ebooks are so much better for me

I need audiobooks in order to accomplish reading. It is hard to find the time to hold a book and read.

I don't think I'll be able to join the discussion this time. I'm still don't have the book.

I don’t have my audiobook from the library yet either. I am on a very long waitlist. This group will most likely have finished it by the time I get it, but I will read it regardless. As a matter of fact, when I get my credit from audible, I might purchase it.

I’m broken! 💔

I’ll probably still be reading it! And like the other books we’ve read we can always comment!

I hope to start the audio this weekend. Looking forward to this.

This was one of the best books I’ve ever read! I would give it more than five stars if I could!
Safiya Sinclair’s words are purely magical and her sentences absolutely sing!
I am in complete awe of her writing talent. This writing was a gift from the ancestors!

She shows us another side of Jamaica which exists right alongside the Jamaica of tourists.

“Next to the airport, looming along the borders of our village, were hotels with high walls made of pink marble and coral stone, flanked on top by broke-glass bottles, their sharp edges catching the light in cruel warning: To live in paradise is to be reminded how little you can afford it.”

Rastas make up only about one percent of Jamaica’s population. Even though they are often used as one of the great tourist attractions, off stage they are often persecuted being denied jobs any many times shut out of society because of their dreads.

“ The Rastafari, though still shunned and outcast by their own people, became the living mascots and main cultural export of Jamaican tourism, with barely any profit to the Rasta community.”

Growing up a strict Rasta female was no joke. Silence and obedience were seen as female virtues and horrific punishment was swift and brutal.

“ And when a Rastaman said daughter, he meant both his wife and his child, as my father called my mother his “dawta” when speaking to his Rasta bredren, who also called their partners their dawtas. For the men of Rastafari, the perfect daughter was everything a woman was supposed to be. The perfect daughter was whittled from Jah’s mighty oak, cultivating her holy silence. She spoke only when spoken to. The perfect daughter was humble and had no care for vanity. She had no needs, yet nursed the needs of others, breastfeeding an army of Jah’s mighty warriors. The perfect daughter sat under the apple shade and waited to be called, her mind empty and emptying. She followed no god but her father, until he was replaced with her husband. The perfect daughter was nothing but a vessel for the man’s seed, unblemished clay waiting for Jah’s fingerprint.”

This is the story of a young woman who courageously found her power and pushed herself out of crippling oppression to be a “force”.

“ I saw them—all the women who had put one foot in front of the other and pushed their hands into the dirt. Women who had survived. The women who made me.”

Highly Recommended!

I’m 20% in on the ebook! I am very much enjoying this.

I'm going to extend the group read until the end of May because so many of us weren't able to get the book or finish the book.

We'll still vote on a book for May.

🤓🤓

I am glad you extended it to May, Shayla! April
Has flown by and I have had so much going on with work and personal issues that I haven’t been able to read in several weeks. I seriously just started to read this book 3 days ago!

I am down to 73rd in line from 112th. I obviously will not be able to read it with the group but I look forward to reading it when I do finally get it. I’ve heard positive things.

I am up to page 57. Howard has changed his name to Djani. I am running to Google quite a bit because I don’t know anything about Rastafarians. I guess I always thought it was about Ganja and Reggae music. I’ve gone down a few rabbit holes reading about Haillie Selassi and the beliefs.

Is anyone else still reading this book? I’m learning so much. I have been running to Google and the dictionary frequently to look up words and phrases that I’m not familiar with. I’m up to chapter 9: Hydra (page 102). Safiya’s baby sister Shari has just been born and her father, Djani is very bitter about being betrayed by his band mate, Juju. He seems to be going off the deep end, restricting the kids and locking everyone down under his new rules.

Hey Angel, I have tried and tried to get into the book but it’s really hard for me to follow her writing. I’m going to keep trying because I don’t want to DNF the book, it just won’t be this month.

Is everyone else still waiting for their books loans to come through??

I am still waiting for my loan. I am now number 52, down from 112. Sigh

I think I’ll do better with the audio version. Libby says it’ll be about 25 weeks before I get it. I’m number 114, started at 151 🤦🏾‍♀️. This book is in very high demand lol

I am waiting on the audio also. I have heard great things.

I just finished this book, and it was INCREDIBLE. The prose here could ONLY have been written by a poet. Her words are music. I often had to pause and turn over a particular phrase again and again.

This book was not an easy read, and it is definitely not all lollipops and rainbows, but I am so glad I read it. I knew little to nothing about Rastafarians, and I'd like to read more.

I enjoyed this book so much that I may get brave and venture into poetry because I want to read more by her.

I highly recommend the audiobook. It is read by the author, which takes it to the next level.

I have not had my coffee yet, so I have no better words.

Heather wrote: "I just finished this book, and it was INCREDIBLE. The prose here could ONLY have been written by a poet. Her words are music. I often had to pause and turn over a particular phrase again and again...."

Heather, I totally agree with everything you said. This is one of my favourite books! Her writing still has me spellbound !
I couldn’t get enough of her after I finished this book so I went in search of Author interviews. They did not disappoint. 😊

I am STILL reading it. Up to page 117. 🤭I have slowed down with my regular reading as it’s gotten nicer out. I will be finishing it before the end of June hopefully.

I’m still waiting, but I will be listening to the audiobook. I understand it flows better than the text.

I FINALY got the audiobook! Yahoo - it is very easy to listen to. It already is beautiful and horrifying in equal parts.

This book was haunting. It resonated with me on many levels and there were a few times I teared up. I don't know how she was able to read it and not relive it and keep it together.

Yes, she is having a horrible time of it in the section I am in and I suspect it is only going to get worse. She is not as close to her brother after the tooth accident and the kids are mean to her at school. The nail in the board was horrific. She needs some loving help. Hopefully mom is going to come to the rescue.

Dosha I'm at the same part. At times I can't stand her mom not saying anything but . . . it's a lot. I stopped reading this for a time and am finishing it now.

I had to put it down too. I was very worried when dad went to Japan. Things turned out better (family wise) than I expected. Now I am worried that dad is being too much. I worry about the oldest child. I think I am going to have to listen to this in small sips instead of big gulps.

I am not a reader of poetry, but I need more of her. She has an original voice and does not flinch from the hard stuff.