els4lp's review against another edition

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5.0

read the Finnish translation by Jaana Iso-Markku

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maddiearthur's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative tense fast-paced

5.0


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rkhill's review against another edition

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funny hopeful informative fast-paced

4.5


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jess_always_reading's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

5.0

An amazing read. Noah's book is a brutally honest depiction that doesn't shy away from raw topics and experiences. An ode to his incredible mother, Noah's narrative is engaging and reflective.  Political events, race, oppression, family violence and abuse are all laid out in his wry and honest way of writing. 

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miranda_graham's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

5.0

Trevor Noah is an excellent story teller, evidently a talent you have or quickly build up as a comedian. This book is written in piece-wise stories so you can read one chapter, then pause and reflect before moving on to the next. There’s a lot of dark and graphic content, and there are many content warnings for this book. None of it was ever written to shock the reader but it is matter-of-fact as he talks about his childhood and early life. Even if you don’t know or enjoy his comedy, Trevor Noah’s book gives a lot of insight into how race and the aftermath of apartheid play into recent- and modern-day Africa. 

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sarahschuster's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective sad

3.0

Heavy. Hard to read but I’m glad I did.

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norcalchris's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.75

Well written and performed (audiobook). Trevor Noah has a really surprising and rough story that I had no awareness of. He explained a lot about apartheid and South African cultures; it was very informative. 

Some of the book got a little repetitive and the organization of the last third felt odd. Rather than continuing chronologically like the rest of the book had, the last part jumped around in time. The ending also felt quite abrupt. 

The first half of this memoir was incredibly strong, but my interest dipped over time which affected my rating. My interest dipped due to the inclusion and lengthy amount of time dedicated to stories where it wasn’t clear why those moments had impacted him or his life (the different dates he had in his adolescence, and the mishaps of his dance group in particular). I would’ve enjoyed exploration of the aftermath or post-reflection of these stories, but it was absent. 

I also would’ve enjoyed more continuity of story into his current life. He mentioned university and starting to be a comedian off hand, but without explanation as to how that came about. 

Overall, a very eye opening memoir and I really value the knowledge it imparted. 

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miratass's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5


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saskiahill's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective medium-paced

4.5


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noahsingh's review against another edition

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4.0


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