Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, Jens Rösener

91 reviews

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Infertility, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Colonisation

alisonannk's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Genocide, and Kidnapping

bookishchelle's review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Snippets of Trevor Noah's life in South Africa as mixed children before & after the apartheid. Funny, emotional, and filled with little bits of information about what it is like living as mixed child and the differences of rights of his mother, African and his father who is white.  We also get a look at how his mother survived an abusive relationship with his half-brother's father. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

tayrod4594's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This memoir is absolutely stunning. It's an unflinching, honest portrait of South Africa, of how the various influences might combine to create a man whose greatest quality is his empathy. He makes no bones about the harsh realities of poverty, racism, domestic abuse, and crime; however, he doesn't position himself or his loved ones as victims or martyrs. It's simply the reality, and humor and hope are an ever-present thread weaving together his history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Police brutality, Car accident, and Alcohol

gwenswoons's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Liked this a lot - lots of beautiful storytelling, tons of deep history about South African apartheid told in really personal ways, and an unusual balance of comedy and vivid, traumatic, clear information that Trevor Noah does so well. The structure, for me, wasn’t totally successful - I think the word “Stories” in the title is key, and it’s definitely built more like vignettes - to my reading, it was often not entirely successful from the extent of the non-sequitur - than like a traditional memoir (I’m not a major memoir reader anyway, so I was ok with this! But the timeline leaps and unrelated stories sometimes felt like they could have been built into a slightly more effective arc). I listened on audio, and can’t recommend it enough - he’s obviously such a great narrator, so funny, so inflected and beautiful (and, so amazing hearing him switch between different languages in different stories - I loved!!). Can’t imagine reading this NOT on audio! I’ll def read more of his books as he writes them 💜

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

elyssajoh's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit

zoegupta's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

rubbertree14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Learned so much both about colonialism in South Africa and its history as well as Trevor Noah. He is so funny and has an excellent balance of seriousness as well as humor. Very enjoyable read, though sad and eye-opening. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

mondovertigo's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury

pomoevareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Trevor Noah’s voice came shining through in this book of essays about his life growing up in South Africa as a mixed race child. It is clear from this book that Trevor Noah became the intelligent, thoughtful and the critical thinker he is, in large part due to his mother and her careful way she imbued Trevor with reason and love. 

Growing up in the waning years of apartheid, Trevor was isolated from society because his mother was a black Xhosa woman and his father was a white Swiss German man. At the time it was illegal for races to mix. With the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid and the beginning of democracy, Noah still struggled to find where he belonged. He was a child with an unruly Afro and pale skin. He identified as black but was seen as other. 

At many points Noah’s sense of humour burns through the instances of racism, abuse, and poverty he experienced. He tells stories of being a bit of a grifter and a troublemaker with an innocence of someone who doesn’t want to hurt others. He shares what it was like having an abusive step father and moving between times of leanness and poverty. 

Told together, the stories make up a memoir of sorts for the period of Noah’s life up until the time he is beginning to really get noticed for his comedic talent.

Overall, this book of stories feels genuine and honest. I have been a fan of Trevor Noah’s comedy and see him as a modest, smart thinker who has surpassed the life of many who have had more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Gun violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Police brutality, and Medical content