OVERALL REVIEW: 4.0 stars
Writing: 4.0 stars
It was beautifully written - Geena comes across as warm, kind, and real. She seems very authentic and a true New Englander, especially with politeness as a personal issue.
Narration: 4.5 stars
Geena is a beautiful narrator. She was engaging, personal, and emotional when discussing her family.
Character Arc: 4.0 stars
It was written in a fairly chronological order, but it did diverge at times. However, it was not difficult to follow.
Memorable: 4.0 stars
I loved how Geena talked about the gender disparity in television and movies. Hopefully, her foundation will help end this type of disparity.
Entertaining: 4.0 stars
Geena was very entertaining and fun. However, if you want a typical gossipy Hollywood tell-all, this is NOT it!
Book cover: 3.0 stars
I thought it was a little too quirky.
Book title: 4.0 stars
It was very appropriate.
DEFINITE recommend
STATISTICS
7 hours, 36 minutes
Listened to as an audiobook from the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL)
Release date of 10/11/2022
INFORMATIONAL LINKS
Happy reading,
Dorothea 💜
Hi, everyone!
This is booksbydorothea INAUGURAL Book of the Year! If you have been reading my blog since I restarted it in April 2023, you may have known which book would be my favorite. From the moment that I finished this book, I knew it would be my personal book of the year.
Of course, I do not want to re-review this book, the original review link is just above. But if you want to increase your worldview, this is a great start with a beautiful book journey and just a fascinating read. This memoir was written by an incredible Black woman (BIPOC) who was raised by a Rastafarian family in Jamaica. Safiya’s writing is poetic, beautiful, and consciousness-raising.
Full disclosure: I have never been to Jamaica, nor has it
been on my radar as Hawaii is closer to the West Coast. Sadly, there are many
similarities in the endemic issues in Jamaica and in Hawaii due to the former colonization
of both islands (both are now colonized by tourists).
Read this book – I cannot recommend it more!!!!
5.0/5.0 stars
HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION
My December Monthly wrap-up AND my Annual Wrap-up will be posted at the end of the year (or maybe a little earlier as I am not reading much which was to be expected during the holidays)!!
Happy reading,
Dorothea 💚
P.S. Notice the green heart (instead of my purple heart) in honor of this beautiful book!
OH. MY. GOD!!! This book ARC was AMAZING!!
There is so much to unpack that I wish that I could just think about it for weeks. But life doesn't, unfortunately, work that way so I will press on!
This was the memoir of Safiya Sinclair who is the eldest daughter of a Rastafarian family. There are so many intense, deep, and painful layers in this book. There is white colonialism, Caribbean and Jamaican dependence on tourism, lack of upward mobility, patriarchy, and Rastafarianism. But the biggest and most convicting important part to unpack is that the author is a Black female.
Many readers, bloggers, and reviewers are going to compare this book to Educated by Tara Westover. Yes, both were poor women trapped in a patriarchal religious family. But, Tara Westover is white and Safiya Sinclair is Black. That is an enormous difference between the two authors. Being born Black made every aspect of her life so much more difficult for Safiya and then add in all of the other issues it is beyond incredible that she and her family have accomplished so very much.
The saddest and most depressing part for me is that if Safiya was born in the United States, she would have STILL faced the same obstacles. Plus, Safiya may have had a worse life as the United States is not a leader in its treatment of BIPOC folks and women.
This breaks my heart and scares me for the future of Black women and our country. As a personal aside, my bi-racial daughter's best friend (and my "niece") is Black so this book touches me deeply and personally.
Please note that I will be careful as I don't want to give any spoilers! So some of this review will be a bit vague on purpose.
YES, this memoir is in the running for my book of the year for 2023.
REVIEW: 5.0 stars
Writing: 5.0 stars
How to Say Babylon was such a well-written memoir. It was painful and difficult to read at times because of the many incidents in the book that triggered me about my family of origin. No, I do NOT compare my life to Safiya's at all, but some of the horrific scenes made me flashback to my younger life. That to me, is the sign of a very good writer who reaches into your heart and soul and pulls HARD!
Safiya is a poet which I did not realize until about halfway through the book. However, while reading this book, her beautiful, descriptive, and lush writing reminded me of poetic writing. Then she adds in the Jamaican patois and her 3rd person accounts and the writing is masterful and perfect.
Beautifully written!
Character development: 5.0 stars
The main characters were Safiya, her parents, and her three siblings. These six individuals were thoroughly developed with intense backstories for all of them. The memoir begins when her parents meet and ends with her poetry reading in Jamaica which was a significant amount of time. The amazing part is that Safiya was able to continue the detail of the characters throughout this long period of time.
There were many secondary or supporting characters including Jamaica and a whole host of friends, family, and acquaintances. All of these characters were important to keep the story moving forward and none were throwaway characters. Of course, Jamaica was an integral secondary character in the storyline.
Character development is the whole deal for me with ANY good book and the character development is STRONG in this memoir.
Storyline: 5.0 stars
As this was a memoir, the storyline was based on people's lives which is an important detail to be aware of. The life that these characters lived are not just fictional characters but real-life people. It was painful to realize the difficulties that all of them went through physically, mentally, and emotionally were based on true stories. Horrific!
The core of the memoir is the life of a Black woman born in Jamaica to a poor Rastafarian family controlled by her patriarchal father. What a soup of hardship for the author to overcome, but she did it!
Book cover: 4.5 stars
The cover needed a bit of red in it to have all of the Rastafarian colors. But very good!
Book title: 5.0 stars
Excellent! It becomes clear as you read the memoir!!
Gut feeling: 4.0 stars
I wasn't sure about this book, but I so wanted to learn more about Jamaica and Rastafarianism. I was wrong about it as I loved this memoir!
Suggestions:
I would have liked a glossary for Jamaican patois and a map of Jamaica.
Highly RECOMMEND
INFORMATION/LINKS
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
352 pages
6 days to read it (I stayed up until 2:00 am to finish it this morning)
Read it as an ARC ebook
Release date of 10/02/2023
https://www.safiyasinclair.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5699353464
https://www.simonandschuster.com/search/books/Imprint-37-Ink/_/N-1z0yfqy/Ne-ph4
Happy reading,
Dorothea 💜
OVERALL REVIEW: 3.0 stars
Writing: 2.5 stars
It could have been written and edited to make it less repetitive. This memoir could have been so much more with a deeper dive into the friends, lovers, and big terrible things.
Narration: 2.5 stars
Matthew had a horribly slurry voice which is probably due to all of his health problems. Also, his true self just doesn't come through at all.
Character Arc: 2.5 stars
This character arc was a complete and total mess. It was all over the place and was horribly repetitive.
If it had been edited to chronological order, it would have been so much stronger. Matthew mentions 14 surgeries, 59 detoxes, and a multitude of rehabs - getting into these issues would have been so very powerful!
Also, why was he allowed to be on television and movie sets hung over, high, and/or drunk? Why was he enabled by so many people?
Memorable: 3.0 stars
Kind of. It is a memoir that I would recommend for a HUGE Matthew Perry, but not a big FRIENDS fan as there is little about it in the memoir. I would recommend it to someone who is fighting addiction if they are open to reading it.
Entertaining: 3.0 stars
Matthew was a funny and spontaneous person, but none of that came through in this memoir. He was also beloved by his friends, lovers, and family with none of that really explored at all.
Book cover: 3.0 stars
Just okay.
Book title: 3.0 stars
It was somewhat true and somewhat untrue.
LUKEWARM recommend
STATISTICS
8 hours, 49 minutes
Listened to as an audiobook from the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL)
Release date of 11/1/2022
INFORMATIONAL LINKS
Happy reading,
Dorothea 💜
This was a VERY short novelette or even short story about the passing of her mother-in-law. It got into a lot of family dynamics that we all deal with with our in-laws.
It was a sad, but easy read. I do really think that this could have made a short novel - there was so much more to be explored. As most people know, Cheryl wrote Wild which I have never read as hiking the Pacific Crest Trail or reading about it holds no appeal to me.
I liked this novelette but didn't love it.
OVERALL REVIEW: 4.0 stars
Writing: 4.5 stars
Cheryl writes so well. It is not lyrical and poetic writing like my favorite authors, but frank and matter-of-fact. It was a perfect style for this type of story.
Character development: 4.0 stars
There were three characters - Joan (the mother-in-law), Brian (Joan's son and Cheryl's husband), and Cheryl (daughter-in-law and wife).
The relationships could have been explored more if the book was longer. I feel like a lot was missing from the story including Cheryl's relationship with her deceased mother.
Storyline: 4.0 stars
This really is the story of the passing of Joan. From living in assisted living to hospice care in only a short time. The heartache is brutal for a family to go through this with a loved one.
Joan and Cheryl had a tenuous relationship, but they seemed to have come to understand each other before Joan passed away.
The main location was Portland, Oregon.
Memorable/Informative: 4.0 stars
It was heartbreaking and made me realize what I do NOT want to do when my final journey begins. I want to make everything easy for my daughter.
Book cover: 4.0 stars
Very obvious juxtaposition of the relationship between Cheryl and Joan.
Book title: 4.0 stars
Very appropriate.
DEFINITE recommend
BOOK INFORMATION
Amazon First Reads Kindle ebook
Two Women Walk Into A Bar by Cheryl Strayed
31 pages
Amazon Original Stories
Release date of 01/24/2024
INFORMATIONAL LINKS
Amazon First Reads - December 2023
Happy reading,
Dorothea 💜
CONGRATULATIONS to:
