I’ve been meaning to read this book for years. I’ve tried it a few times, and liked it, but not gotten absorbed into it. I finally decided that audiobook was the way to go. Which was the perfect choice since it’s narrated by Trevor Noah, and everything’s better when it’s read by Trevor Noah.
This is a memoir of Trevor Noah’s childhood in South Africa during apartheid. At that time, relationships between people of different racial groups were illegal. His mother was Black, his father was White, hence the title of the book. As you can imagine, being an illegal child caused some complications. His mother couldn’t be seen in public as his mother, so going for a walk with her meant either walking at a distance or pretending she was his nanny. And yet she seemed to find a way to make this all seem normal, and if not okay, so ridiculous as to not be taken seriously.
Trevor’s early life wasn’t easy. He grew up in a weird middle ground with a feeling of never belonging anywhere. But rather than limiting him, he used this to his advantage. He knew different languages, and learned to employ them to gain an upper hand or an instant insider status in an otherwise threatening situation. He couldn’t blend in, so he found a way to drift between social groups, never quite fitting into any, but also tacitly accepted by them all. He became a chameleon, and a keen observer of the people around him. Talents that would serve him well in later life, and that probably contributed to his success as a comedian and a performer.
Nothing about Trevor Noah’s life has been straight forward or simple. He has had to fight an uphill battle from day one. He became resilient in a way few have the opportunity or necessity to be. He learned to reach for things that should, by all accounts, be well out of reach. But he ignored the social rules that would contain him and found a way to become one of the most recognizable comedic personalities in the world. And he also seems to be a smart, interesting person with a strong moral compass and a mischievous character. His personality is impossible to resist, and his story even more so.
A lot of what is discussed in this book is not easy to read. He discusses apartheid, what it was like to grow up as a biracial child during that point in South African history. He discusses the measures his mother had to take to avoid being arrested for being his mother (or rather, for how her pregnancy had come about), the weird categories that were created for races (and how they were so contradictory), and the financial and social challenges he experienced growing up. He discusses poverty, domestic violence and what it’s like to have no hopes or expectations for the future. But he also discusses his mother’s fierce determination to overcome any obstacle in her path, her staunch refusal to conform to social (and legal) rules she found preposterous, and her forward thinking parenting choices (teaching Trevor English, raising him to expect more than the narrow horizons of those around him). His love and admiration for this remarkable woman are palpable, and his success is a testament to her influence. It’s a great book, and a perfect mix of serious topics and humour. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
The memoir 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. – Goodreads
Book Title: Born a Crime
Author: Trevor Noah
Series: No
Edition: Paperback/Audiobook
Published By: Doubleday Canada
Released: November 15, 2016
Genre: Non-Fiction, South Africa, Racism, Poverty, Humour
Pages: 289
Date Read: June 28-29, 2021
Rating: 9/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.46/5 (486,781 ratings)