Reviews

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

hilary314's review against another edition

5.0

Book 3/24 of 2024. Total = 250k words.
Consumed as a physical book.
2024/01/24-2024/01/29 289 pages 87k words.

Phenomenal. I don't know how someone can write about such a horrifying childhood with such humour but the author does. A topic I thought I was decently informed on.. I was wrong. I knew nothing. Highly recommend.

charliegirl21's review against another edition

5.0

I avoided this book for multiple years because celebrity memoirs are generally trash. Plus, every person I talked to told the same anecdote about how race impacted the family dynamics of his parents and him as a kid, which was interesting but not super intriguing. Well, my pretentious skepticism kept me from reading one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. It is a mix of adolescent childishness tempering powerful social commentary on education, history, racial constructs, and dysfunctional families. It’s weird to laugh out loud while also shaking my head at the injustice of it all. Plus, it really does a great job encapsulating this complex thing we call familial love. It is a love story to his mom in a lot of ways, and he brilliantly casts a complex woman succeeding and failing in very honest ways. Loved it.

messia's review against another edition

5.0

Fantastic read, I laughed a lot and I learned a lot, especially about the history of South Africa. It is also a very moving memoir, the anecdotes from Trevor Noah’s life are all quite spectacular and greatly told.

kelliwegner's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.0

I loved it but the jumping around in time was just so confusing and took away from all his stories. Like I never had any idea how old he was or what else was going on in his life at the time.

myraaaan's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

kiwi_247's review against another edition

challenging funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

antigravitybird's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

mcmorrdog's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.25

sarahb919's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

Really interesting book but a challenging read. Challenges a lot of preconceptions I had about South Africa and its people. Glad I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

rebeccaaelliott's review against another edition

5.0

I wasn’t a big Trevor Noah fan before reading this book, but I definitely am after. I laughed out loud multiple times. Easy read, nightly recommend.