Published by Doubleday on Nov. 15, 2016
Genre(s): Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Cultural, Adult, Humor, Historical
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 304
The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime story of one man's coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.
Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents' indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa's tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.
Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man's relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother: his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.
The eighteen personal essays collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother's unconventional, unconditional love.
I never really had much interest in Trevor Noah. I wasn’t even aware of him until he replaced Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. Once I saw a couple episodes around the 2016 election, I started to like him, so once I saw that he was releasing a memoir, I knew I had to read it.
By now, it’s probably obvious that I love a good memoir, and a humorous one nearly always makes for an enjoyable read. I listened to Trevor Noah's book during the peak of the semester when I was too busy to be able to actually read, turning it on each time I got in my car. As I said, I never really knew much about him as a person before picking up his book, but now, I definitely have a new respect for him.
He starts out his story by discussing bits of his childhood, growing up in South Africa, born to a black, South African mother and a white, German father, making him a product of interracial relations, a crime punishable by law under apartheid. His story moves mostly chronologically throughout his life, with the exception of tales he inserts about his mother's past prior to his birth.
Integrating his wit whenever possible, Noah tells a beautiful story about a young man's journey through a life plagued by racism & poverty, and how the bond between a mother and child can withstand all of that and worse.
Even if you've never heard of this comedian before (catch his show weeknights on Comedy Central), his tales of a South African childhood will leave you laughing, crying, and in awe of the beauty in human differences.
