Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Prohibido nacer: Memorias de racismo, rabia y risa by Trevor Noah

75 reviews

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Antisemitism, and Fire/Fire injury

niamhellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Colonisation

remy_licked_my_book's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

This is hands down the best book I've read this year. This book should be read by everyone. I loved that it was a mix of personal stories of growing up in apartheid south Africa as well as the history of apartheid. This is truly an homage to Trevor's incredibly resilient mother who raises him as a single mom for a lot of his life. Trevor presents the facts without it feeling too traumatic. What I mean is that he manages to tell these stories in a way that make it so anyone can read it without becoming too triggered by anything.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Police brutality

dorakathryn's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Police brutality

milliebrierley's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, and Kidnapping

Minor: Slavery and Suicidal thoughts

nafennessy's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

yavin_iv's review against another edition

Got about 2/3 through. Mostly a fine introduction to life in South Africa during/right after apartheid but there's a story around that 2/3 mark where like--(cw antisemitism)

after Trevor explains that Black people in South Africa mostly understood Hitler as one of history's many strongmen, which led to people picking "Hitler" as their sons' European name, he tells a story about how he DJ'd at a Jewish school with his dance hype friend of that name he and the 90s/00s dance chant of "go [name]! go [name]!" for said friend, and a MASSIVE misunderstanding ensued. Trevor and his friend thought the Jewish people were upset about sexualized dances and were being racist, and like doubled down on the chant before cursing them out and leaving. The white Jewish people did go into "you people" territory in confronting them, but it was a bad situation all around between two marginalized groups of people who didn't understand each other or how they were each inflicting hurt. Most of the stories Trevor tells in this book are done so in a humorous light, but this one is just--it's more sad than anything!

I found the attempted humorous framing of this story to be super distasteful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Excrement

Moderate: Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Violence, and Antisemitism

adoras's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Police brutality

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Xenophobia, and Vomit

Minor: Drug use, Rape, and Antisemitism

jessicayoungdesigner's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

The fact that Trevor Noah can come from such a rough past and have faced so many challenges and heartbreak and still be such an optimistic, funny person is a huge testament to his own character and his mother's.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Medical trauma

emakay's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts