Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

64 reviews

tayrod4594's review

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emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This memoir is absolutely stunning. It's an unflinching, honest portrait of South Africa, of how the various influences might combine to create a man whose greatest quality is his empathy. He makes no bones about the harsh realities of poverty, racism, domestic abuse, and crime; however, he doesn't position himself or his loved ones as victims or martyrs. It's simply the reality, and humor and hope are an ever-present thread weaving together his history.

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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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elyssajoh's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5


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jess_always_reading's review

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emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

5.0

An amazing read. Noah's book is a brutally honest depiction that doesn't shy away from raw topics and experiences. An ode to his incredible mother, Noah's narrative is engaging and reflective.  Political events, race, oppression, family violence and abuse are all laid out in his wry and honest way of writing. 

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zoegupta's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0


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cristinavisu's review

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emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

3.5


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rubbertree14's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Learned so much both about colonialism in South Africa and its history as well as Trevor Noah. He is so funny and has an excellent balance of seriousness as well as humor. Very enjoyable read, though sad and eye-opening. 

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miggyfool's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0


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sydneylmeyer7's review

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emotional funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5


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saskiahill's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective medium-paced

4.5


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