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

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Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

104 reviews

kayfab's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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dalek_caan's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

5.0

I feel a bit weird reviewing an autobiography, because it is the account of someones life, so most adjectives feel a bit empty to use. But what I will say is that I'm grateful to Trevor Noah for having the courage to share these pieces of himself with the world, and I feel like I learned a lot about his home country and his family.I'm very glad I read this book and would highly recommend to other readers.

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skilletsnail's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative fast-paced

5.0

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andra_mihaela_s's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

4.5 stars!

This book was as great as I expected!
Trevor himself narrates it and it truly does add the necessary emotions! I highly recommend listening to this book!

Content Warning: the horrors of apartheid, abuse, rasism (on a whole other level than what I've read before!..both systematic and individual); police brutality, attempted murder, organised crime;etc

As beautiful this book was with it's moments about Trevor's shenanigans as a child, his first crush on a girl, the banter with his mom, Patricia, and his whole family, as heart wrenching it was when he moved to his strained relationship with his dad due to distance, the absolute appalling ways in which apartheid divided people and induced rasism in them towards others; how unfair and completely mindblowing it was to be anything but white in South Africa - from work available to you, education (don't get me started on that one...I find it disgusting how ignorant people usually blame natives or just all black people of Africa for their countries not 'progressing as it used to'...>..>); how all these affected him and how differential that can be based on skin shade and centuries of indoctrination 0_0 .

I also loved his view on what criminality means to people with and without means and how easy lines can be erased based on what options you have. The courage to speak about that...0_0..once again...amazing audiobook!

The only reason this book isn't a 5 star for me...it's the few moments in which the events change without a clear denomination...even with him reading to me, I still had a hard time figuring out that we change subjects/ events.

I highly recommend you to read this book if you want to learn a bit more about South Africa through the eyes of a child, a mixed South African child. You won't regret it!

Trevor acknowledges the small privilege he had growing up as a child of a white man, and gives such a depth and needed context why he is the way he is, why comedy is such an important part of his life and more or less, he gives you, the reader, basis in understanding his material...as you find out so much more than a basic story about some celebrity!

Enjoy

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