Reviews tagging 'Grief'

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

17 reviews

litliz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Animal death, Body horror, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Classism, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Slavery, Grief, Stalking, Mental illness, Infertility, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Colonisation

lanayagraham's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

This is an absolute MUST READ. It was honest, funny, hearbreaking, interesting and easy to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Excrement, Cursing, Sexism, Racism, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Colonisation, Misogyny, Gun violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, and Grief

alisonannk's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Cultural appropriation, Physical abuse, Animal death, Alcoholism, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Sexism

Minor: Genocide, Kidnapping, and Addiction

kiwichill's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Cursing, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Colonisation, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, and Physical abuse

gwenswoons's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Medical content, Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Child abuse, Murder, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Classism, Sexism, Stalking, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Alcohol, and Blood

elyssajoh's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Alcohol

Moderate: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Slavery, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Medical content, Misogyny, Blood, Grief, Classism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Bullying

Minor: Vomit, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

filipa_maia's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Police brutality, Grief, Child abuse, Racism, Physical abuse, Sexism, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Hate crime, Gun violence, Classism, Violence, Genocide, Domestic abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Blood, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Excrement, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

jnl00700's review

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Bullying, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Alcohol, Cursing, Xenophobia, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal death

diananat's review

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, and Sexism

Moderate: Racial slurs and Rape

Minor: Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug use

moiracampbell23's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Animal death, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Child abuse