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Reviews tagging 'Gore'
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
14 reviews
cornustella's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Child abuse, Gore, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
applesaucecreachur's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Gun violence
Moderate: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Blood, and Gore
Minor: Animal cruelty and Antisemitism
lectrixnoctis's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Trevor Noah's strange path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with an illegal act: his birth. Trevor happened to be born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother when such a union was criminal by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents' recklessness, Trevor was kept frequently indoors for the most prime years of his life, obliged by the extreme and often irrational measures his mother took to hide him from a state that could, at any moment, take him away. Eventually liberated by the end of South Africa's tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living fully and freely and embracing the chances won by a centuries-long conflict.
"Born a Crime" is the tale of a prankish young boy who grows into a wandering young man as he strives to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to live in. Additionally, it is the story of that young man's connection with his fearless, rebellious, and highly religious mother—his teammate, a woman settled to save her son from the circle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would eventually threaten her own life.
The narrative was written in the first-person point of view by the author himself, and it was said in the past in South Africa.
Moreover, the motives of this book, in particular about racism and how apartheid, one of the worst crimes committed in South Africa, has affected the country and its people, although the system never truly worked at all. By casting black people away from white people and having no room for mixed children, who by law did not exist. I am a massive advocate for constantly educating yourself, especially racism, even more, if you are white. For me, a woman who has never lived outside of Germany and is broad, it is important to recognise my privilege and think about the system my ancestors have created and how I stop thinking that favours the system and even breaking out of it.
Not to forget to mention the love of Noah's mother was impeccable, and although I disagreed with her tough love method, I know it came from the heart, and I know she only wanted to do the best for him, which she enviably did. I loved reading about the relationship between the author and his mother throughout his whole childhood and his early 20s. Although I do not know these people personally, I felt connected with them because of the writing style, which hit me very hard and was witty at the same time.
A friend bought this as a gift for my 19th birthday, and I cannot be happier to read this book finally. I did not imagine it to hit that hard but in the best way possible. I laughed out loud because of it, and I cried at the end of the book. I did not think that autobiographies could make you feel something this deep like this one does. I highly recommend this book to anyone. You're probably going to cry, but you will love this book, and it will give you extreme joy.
"Born a Crime" is the tale of a prankish young boy who grows into a wandering young man as he strives to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to live in. Additionally, it is the story of that young man's connection with his fearless, rebellious, and highly religious mother—his teammate, a woman settled to save her son from the circle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would eventually threaten her own life.
The narrative was written in the first-person point of view by the author himself, and it was said in the past in South Africa.
Moreover, the motives of this book, in particular about racism and how apartheid, one of the worst crimes committed in South Africa, has affected the country and its people, although the system never truly worked at all. By casting black people away from white people and having no room for mixed children, who by law did not exist. I am a massive advocate for constantly educating yourself, especially racism, even more, if you are white. For me, a woman who has never lived outside of Germany and is broad, it is important to recognise my privilege and think about the system my ancestors have created and how I stop thinking that favours the system and even breaking out of it.
Not to forget to mention the love of Noah's mother was impeccable, and although I disagreed with her tough love method, I know it came from the heart, and I know she only wanted to do the best for him, which she enviably did. I loved reading about the relationship between the author and his mother throughout his whole childhood and his early 20s. Although I do not know these people personally, I felt connected with them because of the writing style, which hit me very hard and was witty at the same time.
A friend bought this as a gift for my 19th birthday, and I cannot be happier to read this book finally. I did not imagine it to hit that hard but in the best way possible. I laughed out loud because of it, and I cried at the end of the book. I did not think that autobiographies could make you feel something this deep like this one does. I highly recommend this book to anyone. You're probably going to cry, but you will love this book, and it will give you extreme joy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Moderate: Antisemitism, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
empathephant's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
This book was different than I expected it to be (in a great way). I thought it would be more of a linear story that focused a lot on how he got to be a comedian/TV personality, but after reading I still have no clue about his early career. What it did talk about was his childhood. I knew it would discuss the effects of Apartheid, but each chapter was organized somewhat topically, string together personal stories examples and jumping in time to illustrate concepts of what South African life was like more than "his life story." I learned so much that I hadn't known previously about South Africa as an American. I highly recommend the audiobook. It is narrated by Trevor himself and he tells his story emotionally and powerfully, speaking many languages and even singing at one point. He made me laugh and feel sorrow and fear in the same book, making it easier to approach the heavy topics found within.
I think what another review said is a perfect description: "I...admired how he [told] his story as it is. He had every chance to glorify the life he lived in South Africa and he did not. To me, it was more like he wrote the book to shed light on the circumstances that kids like him grew up in rather than talk about his own life."
I think what another review said is a perfect description: "I...admired how he [told] his story as it is. He had every chance to glorify the life he lived in South Africa and he did not. To me, it was more like he wrote the book to shed light on the circumstances that kids like him grew up in rather than talk about his own life."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Police brutality, Rape, and Slavery
The last chapter contains the most graphic descriptions of violence.
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