Reviews tagging 'Grief'

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

21 reviews

filipa_maia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

I'm such a huge fan of Trevor Noah and this book was on my TBR list for so long... I was really excited about this read. I'm usually not a fan of autobiographies (biographies in general) but I could not pass this one.

I really enjoyed this book. Is so effortlessly written, almost like a conversation.  The story goes back and forth with such grace and detail that the reader feels like its actually a one-on-one talk with Trevor.

Trevor as a very unique way of describing whats around him. Its a very funny, but serious way of telling us what was like to born and live being someone who does not belong. But this book is so much more that just a story about Trevor's life. Is all about a time period that changed an entire country and its people forever. Its very interesting the way this book describes such dark times through the eyes of a child and, later, with the proper interpretation of an adult. More than 30 years after the end of apartheid people still live surrounded by its "ghost"... its not there anymore but its presence is still felt.

Everyone, no matter what your race is, your age, where you are from, should read this book. We all should learn what happened during (and after) apartheid, because when we forget the past we are bound to repeat the same mistakes.

P.S.: I believe there is a quote very similar to this by a philosopher, but this is a saying that I really like.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Blood, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

jnl00700's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death

diananat's review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Racial slurs and Rape

Minor: Drug use, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Fire/Fire injury

moiracampbell23's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

lectrixnoctis's review against another edition

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

5.0

Trevor Noah's strange path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with an illegal act: his birth. Trevor happened to be born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother when such a union was criminal by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents' recklessness, Trevor was kept frequently indoors for the most prime years of his life, obliged by the extreme and often irrational measures his mother took to hide him from a state that could, at any moment, take him away. Eventually liberated by the end of South Africa's tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living fully and freely and embracing the chances won by a centuries-long conflict.

"Born a Crime" is the tale of a prankish young boy who grows into a wandering young man as he strives to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to live in. Additionally, it is the story of that young man's connection with his fearless, rebellious, and highly religious mother—his teammate, a woman settled to save her son from the circle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would eventually threaten her own life.

The narrative was written in the first-person point of view by the author himself, and it was said in the past in South Africa.

Moreover, the motives of this book, in particular about racism and how apartheid, one of the worst crimes committed in South Africa, has affected the country and its people, although the system never truly worked at all. By casting black people away from white people and having no room for mixed children, who by law did not exist. I am a massive advocate for constantly educating yourself, especially racism, even more, if you are white. For me, a woman who has never lived outside of Germany and is broad, it is important to recognise my privilege and think about the system my ancestors have created and how I stop thinking that favours the system and even breaking out of it.

Not to forget to mention the love of Noah's mother was impeccable, and although I disagreed with her tough love method, I know it came from the heart, and I know she only wanted to do the best for him, which she enviably did. I loved reading about the relationship between the author and his mother throughout his whole childhood and his early 20s. Although I do not know these people personally, I felt connected with them because of the writing style, which hit me very hard and was witty at the same time.

A friend bought this as a gift for my 19th birthday, and I cannot be happier to read this book finally. I did not imagine it to hit that hard but in the best way possible. I laughed out loud because of it, and I cried at the end of the book. I did not think that autobiographies could make you feel something this deep like this one does. I highly recommend this book to anyone. You're probably going to cry, but you will love this book, and it will give you extreme joy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Antisemitism, and Fire/Fire injury

kenziewol's review against another edition

informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Alcohol

charvermont's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racism, and Grief

purplelake's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

Wow. Just wow. Born a Crime might be the best book I’ve read in the last couple years.
While novel centers around Noah’s childhood in South Africa, he and his mother are a binary star system, revolving around each other. The amount of respect Noah has for his mother, for all her strengths and weaknesses, charms and faults, is apparent in every word. And Noah’s mother is truly an incredible woman, providing wisdom and opportunity even during apartheid.
The story unfolds through witty vignettes, weaving the timeline back and forth, both non-sequential and somehow the way Noah’s tale is best told. Noah’s candid and irreverent voice is what truly puts this book over the top, guiding his audience through the race struggle of post-apartheid South Africa with grace and humor.
It comes as no surprise that Born a Crime is a comedic masterpiece, but it is the heart of the novel that makes it worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Blood, and Medical content

repunzee's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty

grei's review against another edition

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

5.0

So, so worth anyone's time if you can read it. Even if you don't get the audiobook you can hear him telling the story in your head.

I don't know a better way to describe this book, it is absolutely an amazing read that defies categorization, other than to say it is the story of Trevor Noah growing up as the son of a black mother and white father during apartheid, when it was illegal to have such a child.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

If you want to skip the part about excrement, once Trevor starts talking about needing to go to the bathroom just skip to the end of the chapter. The last few paragraphs provide enough context and a good punchline for you to skip all the graphic detail and embarrassment of it.