empathephant's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This book was different than I expected it to be (in a great way). I thought it would be more of a linear story that focused a lot on how he got to be a comedian/TV personality, but after reading I still have no clue about his early career. What it did talk about was his childhood. I knew it would discuss the effects of Apartheid, but each chapter was organized somewhat topically, string together personal stories examples and jumping in time to illustrate concepts of what South African life was like more than "his life story." I learned so much that I hadn't known previously about South Africa as an American. I highly recommend the audiobook. It is narrated by Trevor himself and he tells his story emotionally and powerfully, speaking many languages and even singing at one point. He made me laugh and feel sorrow and fear in the same book, making it easier to approach the heavy topics found within.

I think what another review said is a perfect description: "I...admired how he [told] his story as it is. He had every chance to glorify the life he lived in South Africa and he did not. To me, it was more like he wrote the book to shed light on the circumstances that kids like him grew up in rather than talk about his own life."

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milliebrierley's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative medium-paced

5.0


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befreckledbookworm's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Wow.
Just wow.
This book was absolutely amazing.
I’m not a huge nonfiction reader, but I love Trevor’s comedy specials and I’d heard good things about his book, so I picked it up from my school library. 
He’s a mama’s boy, but not in the way where he’s thirty-something and living in his mom’s basement. Their relationship is like Lorelai and Rory from Gilmore Girls, kind of. They fight and yell at each other, but in the end, they love each other and can always make each other laugh. 

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whattaylorreads's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0


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adoras's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0


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emakay's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75


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shannonxvx's review against another edition

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4.0


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grei's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

So, so worth anyone's time if you can read it. Even if you don't get the audiobook you can hear him telling the story in your head.

I don't know a better way to describe this book, it is absolutely an amazing read that defies categorization, other than to say it is the story of Trevor Noah growing up as the son of a black mother and white father during apartheid, when it was illegal to have such a child.

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