Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

7 reviews

litliz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0


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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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andylpzgal's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0


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ruthiethetoothie's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0


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purplelake's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

Wow. Just wow. Born a Crime might be the best book I’ve read in the last couple years.
While novel centers around Noah’s childhood in South Africa, he and his mother are a binary star system, revolving around each other. The amount of respect Noah has for his mother, for all her strengths and weaknesses, charms and faults, is apparent in every word. And Noah’s mother is truly an incredible woman, providing wisdom and opportunity even during apartheid.
The story unfolds through witty vignettes, weaving the timeline back and forth, both non-sequential and somehow the way Noah’s tale is best told. Noah’s candid and irreverent voice is what truly puts this book over the top, guiding his audience through the race struggle of post-apartheid South Africa with grace and humor.
It comes as no surprise that Born a Crime is a comedic masterpiece, but it is the heart of the novel that makes it worth the read.

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emberthestylesage's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

4.75


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empathephant's review against another edition

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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."

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