Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

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

82 reviews

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Police brutality, Hate crime, Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

litliz's review

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

alisonannk's review

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

bookishchelle's review

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Snippets of Trevor Noah's life in South Africa as mixed children before & after the apartheid. Funny, emotional, and filled with little bits of information about what it is like living as mixed child and the differences of rights of his mother, African and his father who is white.  We also get a look at how his mother survived an abusive relationship with his half-brother's father. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Racism, Police brutality, Colonisation, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

tayrod4594's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Classism, Misogyny, Child abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Racism, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Addiction, Sexism, Car accident, and Child abuse

gwenswoons's review

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

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

zoegupta's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, Violence, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gore, Drug use, Addiction, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Colonisation, Animal death, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexism

rubbertree14's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Murder, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Violence, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, and Colonisation

mondovertigo's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Gun violence, Child abuse, Police brutality, Violence, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Classism, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Excrement, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury