Who Would Like This Book:
Trevor Noah's memoir is a vibrant, eye-opening look at growing up mixed-race in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. It's equal parts hilarious and heartfelt, blending sharp social insights with laugh-out-loud childhood tales. The real star, though, is his fierce, loving, and endlessly resourceful mother. If you enjoy memoirs, love stand-up comedy, want to learn about South Africa beyond the headlines, or appreciate stories about resilience and family, you'll find this book hard to put down. The audiobook, performed by Trevor Noah himself, is especially a treat!
Who May Not Like This Book:
Some readers found the non-linear storytelling and jumping between timelines a bit confusing, and wished for more details about how Noah rose to fame. Others, especially those looking for a deep-dive into his comedic career or only wanting a light, joke-filled read, might feel the heavier moments around race, poverty, and domestic violence make it less of a traditional funny memoir. The book's structure as themed essays rather than a strict chronology isn't for everyone.
About:
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.
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Notes:
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.
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9 comment(s)
Noah's storytelling ability is phenomenal. He offers short stories from different parts of his past in South Africa growing up, during and after the Apartheid. These stories paint his mother as an intense woman of faith, smart, steadfast, resourceful, full of energy and insightful. His depiction of her is a great back drop to Noah learning about how he is viewed by others in his situation, as well as how his mother differs from the norm and perseveres through authoritarian segregation and its associated violence. Noah's stance throughout offers immediate identification with family life, bullying school children, and high school crushes. But his slant is always seeing different perspectives, showing how his perspective changed, and making it that "funny" that's more internal empathy than a long chortle. There are plenty of those as well.
Excellent memoir. Well crafted prose and language. Trevor Noah explains much about the political system and climate as he came of age in South Africa through his personal memoriesand life stories. Having been to SA, including Soweto, Johannesburg, and Cape Town, I found it very interesting to hear an insider view. Highly recommend.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
****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!!
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.
Very funny
What can you read after
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood?
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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