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A review by nadia
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I can't remember the last time I had a reading experience like this. I was NEVER bored. I laughed out loud — including on public transport — sooo many times. I learnt so much about South Africa and apartheid. And when there were tone shifts from the funny to the serious, it hit me.
There was one thing that struck me as strange about this book and it became increasingly (but still only slightly) jarring the closer I got to the end: it's like the book is trying to be standalone essays and a book with one narrative arc running through it at the same time. Sometimes, bits of information were repeated. You think: But Trevor, you already told me this! Then you remember: Oh yeah, standalone essays. Then within the same chapter something is referred to from a prior chapter. So, what the reader is supposed to know already within any given chapter seemed to change each chapter.
Like I said, kinda jarring, and I almost took half a star off of my rating, but then I just thought back on the whole reading experience and I just couldn't. It was magical!
By the way, I knew pretty much nothing about Trevor Noah before reading this book. I'd listened to one podcast episode which features him being interviewed about The Daily Show's creative process and then I've watched a handful of short Daily Show clips.
There was one thing that struck me as strange about this book and it became increasingly (but still only slightly) jarring the closer I got to the end: it's like the book is trying to be standalone essays and a book with one narrative arc running through it at the same time. Sometimes, bits of information were repeated. You think: But Trevor, you already told me this! Then you remember: Oh yeah, standalone essays. Then within the same chapter something is referred to from a prior chapter. So, what the reader is supposed to know already within any given chapter seemed to change each chapter.
Like I said, kinda jarring, and I almost took half a star off of my rating, but then I just thought back on the whole reading experience and I just couldn't. It was magical!
By the way, I knew pretty much nothing about Trevor Noah before reading this book. I'd listened to one podcast episode which features him being interviewed about The Daily Show's creative process and then I've watched a handful of short Daily Show clips.