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Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood

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Trevor Noah's memoir, "Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood," offers a unique perspective on growing up during and after apartheid in South Africa. Through a series of vignettes, Noah intertwines seemingly unrelated stories to illuminate the forces that shaped his childhood. The book delves into the complexities of race and culture in South Africa, providing insights into the author's upbringing, his family dynamics, and the societal norms that influenced his life.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is humorous and conversational, merging comedy with profound reflections on race and identity.

Plot/Storyline:

The memoir features Trevor Noah's experiences growing up mixed race under apartheid in South Africa, exploring personal anecdotes that highlight absurd laws and the significance of his mother's influence.

Setting:

The setting is late 20th century South Africa, particularly during apartheid and its transition.

Pacing:

The pacing is brisk, featuring quick, engaging anecdotes that maintain interest throughout.
Sometimes in big Hollywood movies they’ll have these crazy chase scenes where somebody jumps or gets thrown from a moving car. The person hits the ground and rolls for a bit. Then they come to a stop ...

Notes:

Trevor Noah was born during apartheid in South Africa, where his mixed-race birth was considered illegal.
He was hidden indoors during parts of his early childhood to avoid being taken from his mother by the government.
His mother, Patricia Noah, played a significant role in shaping his identity and was a strong influence throughout his life.
Apartheid in South Africa involved a complex system of racial classifications, dividing people into categories: White, Black, Coloured, and Indian.
Trevor learned multiple languages, which allowed him to navigate different cultural groups and reflect on his complex identity.
The relationships between different racial groups in South Africa are explored through stories of his childhood and experiences growing up.
Noah recounts incidents of domestic violence from his stepfather, Abel, highlighting the challenges in his home life.
He often felt like an outsider, struggling to fit into any of the racial categories defined by apartheid: not fully accepted by whites, coloureds, or blacks.
Noah ventured into entrepreneurship at a young age, selling snacks at school and pirating CDs, showcasing his entrepreneurial spirit.
His life story serves as a microcosm of the effects of apartheid, mixing humor with serious themes of race, identity, and resilience.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings include discussions of racism, domestic violence, and poverty, as these themes are integral to the narrative.

From The Publisher:

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

More than one million copies sold! A "brilliant" (Lupita Nyong'o, Time), "poignant" (Entertainment Weekly), "soul-nourishing" (USA Today) memoir about coming of age during the twilight of apartheid

"Noah's childhood stories are told with all the hilarity and intellect that characterizes his comedy, while illuminating a dark and brutal period in South Africa's history that must never be forgotten."-Esquire

Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and an NAACP Image Award

Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Time, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Esquire, Newsday, and Booklist

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 stories 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.

Ratings (181)

Incredible (53)
Loved It (81)
Liked It (31)
It Was OK (12)
Did Not Like (4)

Reader Stats (325):

Read It (181)
Currently Reading (5)
Want To Read (83)
Did Not Finish (5)
Not Interested (51)

7 comment(s)

Loved It
1 week

If is often said that the best comedians are born from a place of pain and after reading “Born a Crime,” this statement is proven to be tragically accurate.

“Born a Crime” is part history into life in South Africa as well as a biography that gives a first person account into life growing up on the fringes of South African society since he is the mixed race son of a black mother and a white German/Swiss father.

The book begins with a image of the South African Immortality Act of 1927 which prohibits intercourse between Europeans (white people) and natives (anyone non-white.)

Following the image of image of the Immorality Act, the book is divided into three parts. Part one covers Trevor’s early life, his mother’s life and his mother’s devotion to church, how Trevor’s birth was a visual sign of a law being broken which lead to years of him living in hiding, and ends with Trevor reconnecting with his estranged father.

Part two shows a hard life for Trevor being that as a child who is neither black nor white and the isolation he felt due to bullying. This part of the book is funny at times but also challenging to read since it discusses his lack of romantic relationships, including his first Valentine’s Day at public school as well his experiences with crushes and his senior prom.

Part three of the biography shows Trevor as an adult and making a living by burning CDs, working as a DJ and operating a payday loan business. After a short stay in jail, Trevor realizes that a life of crime is not for him. This part of the book ends with a tragic situation occurring between his mother and stepfather. Although the tragic situation could’ve ended in death, Trevor’s constantly optimistic mother continues to count herself lucky since she had a son who could take care of her.

“Born a Crime” is entertaining at times but is more tragic than anything else since it brings to attention how deeply apartheid has impacted the people of South Africa in the past, present, and future. Despite Trevor and his mom’s strained relationship, at the end of the book, they are able to laugh through their pain and accept that life is something to happens to you, sometimes things good good, sometimes things go bad by regardless, the goal of life is to survive.

 
Incredible
1 month

Absolutely amazing book! I loved that he included so much history in there - unfortunately, we don't learn a lot about apartheid in the US.

 
Incredible
1 month

I feel like this book could've been organized a little better, chronologically or subject speaking, but that's my only very minor quibble with it. A fascinating autobiography, although, man, little Trevor was such a pest. XD

(Also, I cannot believe that

Abel got away with it

. JFC.)

 
Loved It
1 month

I listened to the book on Audible, and this was a great way to experience it. There was an intimacy to hearing Noah tell his own story, and I marveled at his ability to drop fluently into a variety of different African languages and accents. His life was extraordinary and his observations on how injustice and poverty act on people's choices and characters are apt. I found the sequence of events confusing -- he jumped around in time -- but all in all, I feel I've broadened my perspective on the world from this book.

 
Incredible
3 months

****5.0*****

Till date I have never heard about "Apartheid" and I am wondering how many stupid rules still exist. And which are the ones the we are still unknowingly following , never questioning and living along.

A wonderful memoir of a very interesting person. It was fun despite the violence, abuse, poverty , racism and I know it might have been immense struggle for this boy who had to see so much and consciously decided not to get effected by any of it. I laughed a lot at Noah's childhood stories (at dead of the night I was laughing like a maniac). And a huge respect for the woman who raised such a son.

Loved this book :)

Happy Reading!!

 
Liked It
5 months

This book was good but it didn’t seem very organized. I wanted to know how Trevor nouh got to be where he is today and I didn’t get that. Maybe I’m being harsh because this book is held in such high regard that my standards going into it were too high.

 
Loved It
8 months

Very funny

 

About the Author:

TREVOR NOAH is the host of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning The Daily Show. Noah rose improbably to stardom with The Racist, his one-man show at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He made his US television debut that year on…

 
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