Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood

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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gwenswoons's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Liked this a lot - lots of beautiful storytelling, tons of deep history about South African apartheid told in really personal ways, and an unusual balance of comedy and vivid, traumatic, clear information that Trevor Noah does so well. The structure, for me, wasn’t totally successful - I think the word “Stories” in the title is key, and it’s definitely built more like vignettes - to my reading, it was often not entirely successful from the extent of the non-sequitur - than like a traditional memoir (I’m not a major memoir reader anyway, so I was ok with this! But the timeline leaps and unrelated stories sometimes felt like they could have been built into a slightly more effective arc). I listened on audio, and can’t recommend it enough - he’s obviously such a great narrator, so funny, so inflected and beautiful (and, so amazing hearing him switch between different languages in different stories - I loved!!). Can’t imagine reading this NOT on audio! I’ll def read more of his books as he writes them 💜

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elyssajoh's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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nicdic's review against another edition

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funny informative inspiring sad fast-paced

3.5

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peachythi_books's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny inspiring fast-paced

4.0

The book itself is not linear in its story telling. As the quote on the book says “ It is a series of personal essays.” Trevor Noah’s life is so much more complicated and fascinating then I could have ever imagined. His ideas on race, gender, and hierarchical systems are incredible. He has such nuanced thoughts and ideas and he manages to write about his mother in such a beautiful way I actually cried. I would so I was shocked that such a hilarious person had such a difficult and traumatic childhood but that is probably the reason why he is so funny. His life has given him such a complex outlook on the world and loved reading more on his personal thoughts in this novel. It is exciting, and moving, and addresses so many cultural and social issues that he has personally come across. It is also extremely gritty, and honest. I love the fact that his comedy career and eventual rise to fame was not at all a subject of this book. Barely even a passing comment. They truly are stories of a South African Childhood.

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