Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Laiton lapsi - Värikäs nuoruuteni Etelä-Afrikassa by Trevor Noah

26 reviews

alisonannk's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0


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dragonmagic's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

4.5


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maddiearthur's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative tense fast-paced

5.0


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kiwichill's review against another edition

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

5.0

This was one of the best memoirs I have ever read.  I have never seen Trevor Noah on TV, I'd never heard of him.  I just kept seeing this book come up in Facebook groups etc.  At times shocking and disturbing,  other times humorous,  it opened my eyes to what life is like in South Africa, both during apartheid and after.  Poverty, domestic violence, crime, racism and government laws that support these ideals are a way of life over there. Noah's mother must be commended for the strength of character and resilience she displays.  I recommend listening to the audiobook as it is excellent 

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gwenswoons's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Liked this a lot - lots of beautiful storytelling, tons of deep history about South African apartheid told in really personal ways, and an unusual balance of comedy and vivid, traumatic, clear information that Trevor Noah does so well. The structure, for me, wasn’t totally successful - I think the word “Stories” in the title is key, and it’s definitely built more like vignettes - to my reading, it was often not entirely successful from the extent of the non-sequitur - than like a traditional memoir (I’m not a major memoir reader anyway, so I was ok with this! But the timeline leaps and unrelated stories sometimes felt like they could have been built into a slightly more effective arc). I listened on audio, and can’t recommend it enough - he’s obviously such a great narrator, so funny, so inflected and beautiful (and, so amazing hearing him switch between different languages in different stories - I loved!!). Can’t imagine reading this NOT on audio! I’ll def read more of his books as he writes them 💜

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danileah07's review against another edition

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Animal cruelty involving cats 

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mondovertigo's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

4.5


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taibreakfast's review against another edition

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funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Somehow manages to be massively funny and easy to read while delving into serious topics with incredible clarity and insight. Highly recommend!

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voicenextdoor's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny medium-paced

4.0


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filipa_maia's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

I'm such a huge fan of Trevor Noah and this book was on my TBR list for so long... I was really excited about this read. I'm usually not a fan of autobiographies (biographies in general) but I could not pass this one.

I really enjoyed this book. Is so effortlessly written, almost like a conversation.  The story goes back and forth with such grace and detail that the reader feels like its actually a one-on-one talk with Trevor.

Trevor as a very unique way of describing whats around him. Its a very funny, but serious way of telling us what was like to born and live being someone who does not belong. But this book is so much more that just a story about Trevor's life. Is all about a time period that changed an entire country and its people forever. Its very interesting the way this book describes such dark times through the eyes of a child and, later, with the proper interpretation of an adult. More than 30 years after the end of apartheid people still live surrounded by its "ghost"... its not there anymore but its presence is still felt.

Everyone, no matter what your race is, your age, where you are from, should read this book. We all should learn what happened during (and after) apartheid, because when we forget the past we are bound to repeat the same mistakes.

P.S.: I believe there is a quote very similar to this by a philosopher, but this is a saying that I really like.

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