Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

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

124 reviews

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.

Content Warnings

madisonfrank's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

allapaz's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.5

I realize I'm in the minority on this, but this one didn't blow me away as far as memoirs go. It is an EXCELLENT discussion and depiction of real life in South Africa post-apartheid, and the parts that got real were really really good. What lost me in parts was Trevor Noah's humor in some places, and the jumping around in the timeline. I found it hard to keep track of what happened when when we'd get entirely new information/context like 3 chapters later. That last chapter about his mom though was 5000/5 stars

Content Warnings

enbeefinery's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

“The fact that I grew up in a world run by women was no accident. Apartheid kept me away from my father because he was white, but for almost all the kids I knew on my grandmother’s block in Soweto, apartheid had taken away their fathers as well, just for different reasons. Their fathers were off working in a mine somewhere, able to come home only during the holidays. Their fathers had been sent to prison. Their fathers were in exile, fighting for the cause. Women held the community together.”

one of the most quotable books i’ve ever read. witty (yes, can’t believe i’m calling a book -mostly- about apartheid witty), challenging, and eye-opening. i love it when books point out my ignorance and teach me things i’d never before thought about learning. the only reason i’m not giving this book 5 stars is the couple of paragraphs about women and pornography during the author’s teenage years, guess i’d been away from works written by cis men for too long. a must-read.

Content Warnings

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

Content Warnings

jacob_dion's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

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.

Content Warnings