maddiearthur's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative tense fast-paced

5.0


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kiwichill's review against another edition

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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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e11en's review against another edition

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challenging funny inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0


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voicenextdoor's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny medium-paced

4.0


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_0_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.75


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nomonbooks's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

 
This was a fantastic book. You know that Trevor Noah is exceptional from his humour and knowing even a part of his story. His mother really is the root of that, to the exception of the world and some much of this book is about her through him; everything she gave him and everything she believed. I learned a lot of specifics about South Africa and the apartheid. I learned about the experience of black people and coloured people at that time, the power and control racism has over a country and an individual. So many of these memoirs are stories of domestic abuse. I guess because so many people’s stories are those of domestic abuse, by a parent or step parent; sibling, grandparent, aunt or uncle. I don’t know why I would think celebrities are removed from that reality.


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sabrina_d_arcy's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0


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gorg_j's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny informative inspiring fast-paced

4.25

My mom likes his show and I read this for class. I really liked it- it made me laugh and taught me some things, a new perspective on the the world.

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megsmagiclibrary's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative fast-paced

3.75


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applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

Not many books have the power to make me grin openly, laugh out loud, or choke/tear up. This one did. Trevor Noah's coming-of-age love letter to his mother jumped from story to story of his youth. Some were amusing, some were absurd, and others were downright tragic. All of them, though, masterfully combined comedy with reflection and made cultural and political South African concepts easy for a foreign reader to understand. The cast of characters is vibrant and made three-dimensional with only a few well-thought-out phrases. I wish it had not taken me so long to read this book; I feel that I am a more learned person now, and appreciate my own family all the more. 

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