Trevor Noah kam 1984 im Township Soweto als Sohn einer Xhosa und eines Schweizers zur Welt. Zu einer Zeit, da das südafrikanische Apartheidsregime „gemischtrassige“ Beziehungen weiterhin unter Strafe stellte. Als Kind, das es nicht geben durfte, erlebte er Armut und systematischen Rassismus, aber auch die mutige Auflehnung seiner "farbenblinden" Eltern, die einfallsreich versuchten, Trennungen zwischen Ethnien und Geschlechtern zu überwinden. Heute ist er ein international gefeierter Comedian, der die legendäre "The Daily Show" in den USA leitet und weltweit – ob Sydney, Dubai, Toronto, San Francisco oder Berlin – in ausverkauften Sälen auftritt.
In "Farbenblind" erzählt Trevor Noah ebenso feinsinnig wie komisch in achtzehn Geschichten von seinem Aufwachsen in Südafrika, das den ganzen Aberwitz der Apartheid bündelt: warum ihn seine Mutter aus einem fahrenden Minibus warf, um Gottes Willen zu erfüllen, welche Musik er für einen tanzenden Hitler aufzulegen pflegte, um sein erstes Geld zu verdienen, und wie ihn eine …
Trevor Noah kam 1984 im Township Soweto als Sohn einer Xhosa und eines Schweizers zur Welt. Zu einer Zeit, da das südafrikanische Apartheidsregime „gemischtrassige“ Beziehungen weiterhin unter Strafe stellte. Als Kind, das es nicht geben durfte, erlebte er Armut und systematischen Rassismus, aber auch die mutige Auflehnung seiner "farbenblinden" Eltern, die einfallsreich versuchten, Trennungen zwischen Ethnien und Geschlechtern zu überwinden. Heute ist er ein international gefeierter Comedian, der die legendäre "The Daily Show" in den USA leitet und weltweit – ob Sydney, Dubai, Toronto, San Francisco oder Berlin – in ausverkauften Sälen auftritt.
In "Farbenblind" erzählt Trevor Noah ebenso feinsinnig wie komisch in achtzehn Geschichten von seinem Aufwachsen in Südafrika, das den ganzen Aberwitz der Apartheid bündelt: warum ihn seine Mutter aus einem fahrenden Minibus warf, um Gottes Willen zu erfüllen, welche Musik er für einen tanzenden Hitler aufzulegen pflegte, um sein erstes Geld zu verdienen, und wie ihn eine Überwachungskamera, die nicht einmal zwischen Schwarz und Weiß unterscheiden konnte, vor dem Gefängnis bewahrte.
Pretty good! My biggest complaint is in the editing -- the time periods kind of jump all over the place, and not in an interesting, Christopher Nolan sort of way. Also, the transition from being a street hood in Johannesburg to host of the Daily Show was kind of not present at all; I guess we have to wait for the sequel to see how Trevor gets out of the country!
That said, the ultimate message of "holy shit Trevor Noah lived through some real abject poverty and abuse as a kid" was great, and something that all privileged kids should read. Also, I learned a lot more about street-level life in South Africa during the transition to post-apartheid, which was interesting and terrible.
Solid writing. Good organization, good pace. Great balance of humor, personal tragedy, and literal crimes against humanity: while certainly dark and disturbing, it was never unbearably so.
Trevor's voice shines throughout. I'd love to hear him read it.
I'd like to hear the omitted part of this story, which I assume is Trevor's meteoric rise to international fame. His (legal) career is mentioned hardly at all, and I find his success all the more interesting given his tough breaks and illicit activities as a youngster. (Host of the Daily Show? How's this kid not in prison somewhere?) I think there's one bit where he's like, "I did a little stand up" and another where he mentioned he had hosted a (television?) show. And that's it.
In retrospect, it was almost like the story he wanted to tell was that of his family and friends, and the politics that shaped their …
Solid writing. Good organization, good pace. Great balance of humor, personal tragedy, and literal crimes against humanity: while certainly dark and disturbing, it was never unbearably so.
Trevor's voice shines throughout. I'd love to hear him read it.
I'd like to hear the omitted part of this story, which I assume is Trevor's meteoric rise to international fame. His (legal) career is mentioned hardly at all, and I find his success all the more interesting given his tough breaks and illicit activities as a youngster. (Host of the Daily Show? How's this kid not in prison somewhere?) I think there's one bit where he's like, "I did a little stand up" and another where he mentioned he had hosted a (television?) show. And that's it.
In retrospect, it was almost like the story he wanted to tell was that of his family and friends, and the politics that shaped their circumstances. And he included himself only as much as necessary to tell that story.
Anyway. 10 out of 10. Recommended to everybody.
Oh, and, I'll quote @Mel here for you, because I didn't heed her warning, and I regretted it, and I don't want you to make the same mistake I did:
When you get the part where they're riding around on a bus looking for lunch, skip the next two paragraphs.
It's because of graphic descriptions of eating actual, literal goat heads. And it gets way gross from there. Gross enough that I squeezed my eyes closed really tight, but my book down in my lap, and whispered, "Ewwwwww," out loud to myself.
