Book Review: Into the Uncut Grass

Into the Uncut Grass

Trevor Noah

HarperCollins Publishers

Review: Carmen Jacobs

Playful. Entertaining. Witty with a charm reminiscent of old childhood classics I loved. These all come to mind when describing Trevor Noah’s new book.

As a huge fan of his comedic brilliance, l struggled to remain objective for this review.

Since reading his book Born a Crime and following his career, I’ve realised how wide and deep his pool of talent stretches, not only in comedy, but seemingly in everything he puts his time and energy into.

This book did not disappoint. It had a light-hearted, playful tone with traces of emotional intelligence lessons carefully woven into the storyline.

The underlying message on tolerance, grace and understanding towards those whose convictions or ideas are different to your own was unmissable, but also not overly emphasised.

Much like his comedy, the book does not try to hard; and feels like just another natural outpouring of the author’s creativity.

The beautiful illustrations, by Sabina Hahn were subtly and delicately blended into the book, in contrast with the bright, boisterous, overbearing or overpowering illustrations one sometimes finds in children’s books.

As this is in essence a children’s book, my 12-year-old daughter, Tamzyn was delighted to have a read. She writes: “This book is a great book about the imagination inside of all of us. It takes you to a story where a boy has this crazy imagination that takes him into the uncut grass. It is such an easy book to read, intriguing, funny and full of imagination.”

And I cannot agree with her more.