Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, Jens Rösener

35 reviews

kiwichill's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This was one of the best memoirs I have ever read.  I have never seen Trevor Noah on TV, I'd never heard of him.  I just kept seeing this book come up in Facebook groups etc.  At times shocking and disturbing,  other times humorous,  it opened my eyes to what life is like in South Africa, both during apartheid and after.  Poverty, domestic violence, crime, racism and government laws that support these ideals are a way of life over there. Noah's mother must be commended for the strength of character and resilience she displays.  I recommend listening to the audiobook as it is excellent 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

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

voicenextdoor's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Alcohol, and Classism

ashleycmms's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, and Police brutality

Minor: Sexual violence and Medical content

noahsingh's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Rape, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, and Classism

Minor: Slavery and Suicidal thoughts

crazytourists_books's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative sad tense medium-paced

3.0

An interesting book about growing up in South Africa before and after the end of Apartheid.. I could never imagine that Noah went through so much on his life; enough to break him, but he managed to step away, and that's remarkable. 
There was a lot of going back and forth in time that made it hard(er) to follow and gave a feeling of being a tad inconsistent. Not bad, just not great... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Excrement, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

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

clarabooksit's review against another edition

funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.5

This is good—not as good as the hype claims, but enjoyable. If you like Noah’s comedy and especially his delivery style, you’ll like this.

Noah is clever, nerdy and funny and this memoir showcases that. His love of South Africa, where he came from and his mother are apparent on every page, even as he’a cracking jokes about them. I especially enjoyed learning a lot about South Africa.

Where the book let me down is in its lack of emotional resonance. That and it was very obviously written for a U.S. American audience, which felt confining even if I’m a part of that audience.

Noah has lived a fascinating life full of sticky, incredible and awful moments, but his voice remains distant like the person at a party who tells wild and traumatic stories for laughs without registering how deeply personal they are. While there’s a great deal of reflection in the book, it all felt anecdotal to me. The format of the book also makes every story feel like a lesson and that didn’t quite work for me.

To be fair, that may be more of a reflection on me than the book. I did like it: it’s zippy, I learned a lot, it made me laugh and at the very end, it made me cry. But it didn’t thrill me. Would still recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Slavery, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty and Rape