els4lp's review

Go to review page

5.0

read the Finnish translation by Jaana Iso-Markku

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

zoegupta's review

Go to review page

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

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

melissabristol's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

Brings incredible joy and humor to a tale containing smoke hardship. A remarkable storyteller and writer. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

saskiahill's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging funny reflective medium-paced

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

clarabooksit's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.5

This is good—not as good as the hype claims, but enjoyable. If you like Noah’s comedy and especially his delivery style, you’ll like this.

Noah is clever, nerdy and funny and this memoir showcases that. His love of South Africa, where he came from and his mother are apparent on every page, even as he’a cracking jokes about them. I especially enjoyed learning a lot about South Africa.

Where the book let me down is in its lack of emotional resonance. That and it was very obviously written for a U.S. American audience, which felt confining even if I’m a part of that audience.

Noah has lived a fascinating life full of sticky, incredible and awful moments, but his voice remains distant like the person at a party who tells wild and traumatic stories for laughs without registering how deeply personal they are. While there’s a great deal of reflection in the book, it all felt anecdotal to me. The format of the book also makes every story feel like a lesson and that didn’t quite work for me.

To be fair, that may be more of a reflection on me than the book. I did like it: it’s zippy, I learned a lot, it made me laugh and at the very end, it made me cry. But it didn’t thrill me. Would still recommend.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

nastia_abubakar's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Full of jokes and humor, I love it.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

popiloey's review

Go to review page

funny informative lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

dalek_caan's review

Go to review page

emotional tense medium-paced

5.0

I feel a bit weird reviewing an autobiography, because it is the account of someones life, so most adjectives feel a bit empty to use. But what I will say is that I'm grateful to Trevor Noah for having the courage to share these pieces of himself with the world, and I feel like I learned a lot about his home country and his family.I'm very glad I read this book and would highly recommend to other readers.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lindasoderlundd's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sabrina_d_arcy's review

Go to review page

emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings