Reviews with content warning for Racism - Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

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

387 reviews

cor_vus's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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remindmetoread's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

This was a beautifully written from Trevor Noah's perspective and wasn't just a recall of his life but of South Africa during apartheid. His accounts of his childhood were so funny. The way he used humor really helped to push the story and really drive home the more serious moments and history. I felt like I was getting primary source information and this is a great book to start if you want to learn more about apartheid, race, class. Trevor's upbringing is mostly spearheaded by his mom in his childhood, but i was disappointed to see that mention of his success, what he's mostly known for is barely a paragraph in this book. He mentions choosing to focus on comedy, he mentions how he was the funny guy in school, he mentions traveling all over Africa and Europe for comedy opportunities, but that's it and I was really disappointed with that. So if you're going into the book, wanting his Hollywood story, you're not going to get it. This is strictly about his time in South Africa. And it's also an ode to his mother. The way he loves her is woven throughout the book, which is beautiful up till the end. The memoir isn't chronological exactly. He bounces from different time periods but he doesn't tell you the time other than his age at times. Which I'm not a fan of. This book reads more like essays, which I'm now seeing the full title is "Stories from a South African Childhood", so all my quips are from my own lack of foresight. Speaking of the title, it grabs you right in. I loved the ending. It was absolutely incredible but I need a book 2.

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leahegood's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative sad medium-paced

3.5

Summary
The title is kind of all the summary this book needs. It tells the story of one boy with mixed parentage growing up in South Africa in the aftermath of apartheid.

My Thoughts
I read this book to fit a prompt in a reading challenge. "A funny memoir." Other reviewers had tagged this book as funny, and for sure there were funny moments (as one might expect from someone with a career as a comedian), but "funny" is not the first thing that comes to my mind immediately after finishing the book. There was a lot of insight and soul to this book. A lot of swearing too, unfortunately. And a lot of very complex relationships--the complexities artfully articulated. So yes. It was funny. As in, it had funny moments and often a comedic tone in the writing voice, but it was also sad and informative and hopeful.

Content
As mentioned, there was a good deal of swearing, including f-bombs.

There was mention of s*xual activity (not involving the author) and the threat of SA, but none of it is graphic or "on screen." Individuals dance in a provocative manner. Noah's mother also intentionally decided to have a child out of wedlock.

Violence and the threat of violence surround Noah throughout most of his childhood and young adult years. Though not described graphically, this is present throughout.

Noah's mother is deeply religious throughout the book. Noah seems skeptical, perhaps even dismissive, but is not derogative ... even ending the book with a begrudging acknowledgement of a miracle.

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ximajs's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.75

Like some have said, it might've been better if it was more chronological, but otherwise a great book. An interesting insight into Trevor Noah's life, but also the recent history of South Africa post-apartheid.

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