Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

123 reviews

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

dani_reis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

linnylionheart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, and Pregnancy

Others: minors consuming alcohol

outofthepinksky's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Racism, Violence, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

tflinn98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Police brutality

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

almodine's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

Trevor is a mixed race man who partially grew up living under apartheid in South Africa, which might make it seem like his would be a story that’s tough to relate to. On the contrary, this is a collection of stories for anyone who has ever felt like they don’t fit in anywhere. At times tough to read, at times laugh out loud funny, at times both simultaneously, I respected him before but I adore him now.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Domestic abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty

wrensandroses's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Sexual assault, Slavery, and Antisemitism

jstarshine16's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

ada_elisabeth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.75

This was my second time reading this: I skimmed through it a few summers ago out of sheer boredom and found it decent, but we were assigned it as summer reading for AP Lang this year so I'm writing it a proper review now. 

I'll start out by saying that I did enjoy this book. I thought the storytelling was good, I thought the way mother-son relationships were highlighted, and I liked that it featured three of my favorite things: race, class, and masculinity. Noah did a fantastic job of balancing the deeper, less funny moments of his childhood with lighthearted stories and memories, which kept this from being too depressing. I also appreciate how short and segmented it was: making non-fiction accessible and interesting is very difficult, but the way this read like a collection of short stories rather than one connected text made it a more enjoyable reading experience.

However, there were a few things I didn't like. It often felt that stories would end without resolution and then the topic would switch to something entirely different, which was a little annoying. Some parts of the story and the usage of certain phrases also struck me as being somewhat misogynistic. I understand that Trevor Noah is a man, and therefore the book centers around his experiences as a man, but there were some parts that felt a little sexist to me. Also, I wasn't always a huge fan of his writing style: I know that he's primarily a comedian, so I wasn't expecting incredible writing or anything, but I still felt like there were certain chapters that fell a little flat. 

I also really liked the final chapter. Although it was heartbreaking and painful to read, I think it was so necessary. Trevor's mother not being able to press charges against her abusive husband because the police told her it would 'ruin his life' was so infuriating to me because it happens to so many women across the world: the minimizing of a woman's fear and pain and suffering to protect a man's ego and reputation.

 

I always appreciate reading about something I don't know much about, and overall, I really enjoyed this, so I'll give it a 3.75 rounded up. Not my favorite, but when is assigned reading ever my favorite? 

“You want to live in a world where someone is good or bad. Where you either hate them or love them. But that's not how people are.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gun violence

Minor: Rape

cbingen520's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Mental illness, Suicide, and Antisemitism