Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

by Trevor Noah

The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime New York Times bestseller about 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.

• ISBN10: 0385689241
• ISBN13: 9780385689243
• Publish Date: 12 February 2019 (first published 15 November 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: CA
• Imprint: Anchor Canada
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9780385689243

Reviews

[thepunktheory]

Full review on my blog coming soon!

This was such a fascinating read!
I learned so much about South Africa and its history. In school, we didn't really hear anything about that country, so I was more than curious to find out more.
We get to follow Trevor Noah's life here. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's sad, but most of the time it's simply touching in some way.
Even though it had its sad moments, it was a delight to read the book.
All the little stories included are interesting and I had to laugh a lot throughout.
Even if you are not a fan of Trevor Noah, or don't even have a clue who he is, this is a great book to read. It's educating, provides a lot of food for thought, and will make both cry and smile. I rarely read non-fiction but Born a Crime was definitely a win for me.

[clq]

I think it’s probably impossible to dislike Trevor Noah. Perhaps there are people who don’t like him, but I can’t see how anyone could actively dislike him. I’ve seen him on the Daily Show, seen clips of some of his standup, heard some of his more serious musings and interviews, and have always had an impression of him as a curious, principled, funny guy. I’ve never looked into his background, and, apart from knowing that he was born in South Africa, not really heard anything about it either.

As it turns out, Trevor Noah has a background that’s well worth hearing something about.

Born a Crime is written as a collection of stories from Trevor’s childhood which all revolve around different formative events in his life. These stories have overlapping timelines and characters, often skipping or glossing over things that are covered in other stories. Even though the stories are different, pretty much all of them center around one of the two things that have formed Trevor Noah into who he is today: apartheid and the culture surrounding it, and his mother.

Trevor, being a mixed child, experienced apartheid from a perspective that I had never thought about. Too black to be white, too white to be black, and with a mother and cultural background that disqualified him from the accepted definition of coloured. To paraphrase the way he puts it himself, he didn’t belong anywhere, but did his best to fit in everywhere. Not only did this book teach me new things about apartheid in general (shamefully, probably more an indictment of my prior knowledge rather than a comment on this book), but it also covers some aspects of apartheid, and the social legacy and culture that resulted from it, that Trevor, due to the uncommon combination of his colour and cultural legacy, was forced to confront. As eventful and dramatic as Trevor’s childhood was in its own right, it also took place in front of a backdrop that amplified everything.

But as strong and as interesting as the sections revolving around apartheid, and the effect it had on Trevor’s childhood, is, the sections about his mother are absolutely the best parts of this book. Their relationship throughout the book is filled with friction, arguments, and physical punishment, but Trevor’s respect and love for his mother shines through in a way that feels completely unforced, and profoundly genuine.

Contrary to what one might expect from an autobiography written by Trevor Noah, Born a Crime is not a funny book. Sure, there is plenty of humour in it owing to Trevor’s ability to find, and brilliantly convey, the funny and absurd aspects of the trivial, the dramatic, and even the tragic, but to primarily call this a funny book would be to undersell it. It’s not a collection of funny stories, but rather an incredibly interesting, genuinely moving, story of a life.

Born a Crime would probably sell well regardless of what it contained. It’s written by and about Trevor Noah. Tonnes of people would certainly be interested in reading about the childhood of Trevor Noah, regardless of how interesting it was. However, Born a Crime is about a fascinating childhood which just happens to be lived by a guy who is now on television, and who, fortunately, is also a great storyteller. Everyone will learn something from this book. Everyone will think about things they didn’t think about before, and think about things they did think about before in a new way.

[lindsey]

I knew nothing about Trevor Noah before choosing this audiobook, but I'm a sucker for celebrity autobiographies, even if I'm not familiar with the author. Sometimes I get lucky and enjoy the story, and sometimes it's a miss. Fortunately, I got lucky this time!

Born a Crime was such a good book and I'm so glad I decided to give it a try. I also highly recommend the audio version because I don't think the book would have had quite the same impact if I'd read it instead of listening to Trevor Noah's narration. He's a fantastic narrator, and even when the subject matter is serious, he still infuses the story with enough humor to keep it from getting too dark. It was almost like sitting in a room with him as he tells his story. It's just effortless.

Not only is the book humorous and interesting, but it's also informative. I learned so much. Not only about his life growing up in South Africa, but about apartheid, of which I was, admittedly, woefully ignorant.

This is probably one of my favorite books of 2020 so far, and I would definitely recommend it. Smart, hilarious, and charming, Trevor Noah has written an incredibly captivating autobiography.

[Beth C.]

If you're at all into audiobooks - listen to the audio. Trevor Noah does a fantastic job narrating this. I loved the paper version, but the audio takes it to the next level.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

In his memoir, comedian and Daily Show host Trevor Noah doesn't talk about his rise to fame. Instead, he uses this platform to take his readers to his childhood in South Africa. It's difficult to imagine this charismatic man ate worms and slept in the cars as a kid, but he did. That and so much more.

This book was inspiring and eye opening. I don't know much about apartheid, and now that I've had a peek, it just seems like something that should be taught in schools? There are all kinds of racism and it's important we learn so we can be better. But apartheid is only a small part of this book. I felt like this modest peek into his childhood opened up a world that I hadn't seen before. It was enlightening, fascinating, and a bit heartbreaking. But it never seemed like he was trying to garner sympathy or anything like this - it's just his story.

I'm actually really struggling to review this, because while it is undoubtedly a five star review, it's a very powerful book. Trevor Noah has excellent storytelling, a lot of emotions, and explains things without ever sounding condescending. This book is so relevant to a lot of the issues we're facing today as a planet, and Trevor's voice is perfect. He's honest, raw, funny, and serious all at once. This book isn't "feel good" by any means, but it is enlightening and important. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to everyone. EVERYONE.

[chetofuor]

I recommend EVERYONE to read this.

[mitabird]

3.5 stars

[writehollydavis]

What an incredible memoir from Trevor Noah! I listened to the audiobook and was so glad he was the narrator because everything was said the way he'd meant for it to be read. This story was heartbreaking, laugh out loud, heartwarming, and thought-provoking. Trevor's humor in this memoir made everything come alive, and I'm so glad my sister raved about it and told me to read it! A must-read!

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Reasons to Listen to Born a Crime

• This is a novel that is enhanced by its audiobook.  Trevor Noah is an excellent storyteller and made this book highly listenable.


• His childhood is not all sunshine and roses, however, as should be expected Born a Crime is far from being a downer.


• I was laughing one minute and the next I was thinking WTF.  It is a roller-coaster for your emotions


• The ending literally had my mouth hanging opening listening intently to Trevor Noah's every word.

This review was originally posted on First Impressions Reviews

[Heather]

"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."

This book is amazing.  That is all.  Go preorder it.

I was reading this on my Kindle app and was highlighting like crazy.  Trevor Noah has been an outsider all his life.  In South Africa under apartheid there were four racial categories - white, black, colored, and Indian.  Colored people were the descendants of interracial relationships in the past.  There was no category for 50/50 black/white children because it couldn't legally happen.  He chose to identify as black because that's what his mother was but he wasn't accepted there either.



Growing up both defined by and outside of such a strict racial hierarchy sharpened his insights.

"That is the curse of being black and poor, and it is a curse that follows you from generation to generation.  My mother calls it "the black tax." Because the generations who came before you have been pillaged, rather than being free to use your skills and education to move forward, you lose everything just trying to bring everyone behind you back up to zero."
 

"British racism said, "If the monkey can walk like a man and talk like a man, then perhaps he is a man."  Afrikaner racism said, "Why give a book to a monkey?"

He talks about history when describing why having a friend named Hitler wasn't considered strange.

"Every country thinks their history is the most important, and that's especially true in the West. But if black South Africans could go back in time and kill one person, Cecil Rhodes would come up before Hitler.  If people in the Congo could go back in time and kill one person, Belgium's King Leopold would come way before Hitler.  If Native Americans could go back in time and kill one person, it would probably be Christopher Columbus or Andrew Jackson."

"Holocaust victims count because Hitler counted them.  Six million people killed.  We can all look at that number and rightly be horrified.  But when you read through the history of atrocities against Africans, there are no numbers, only guesses.  It's harder to be horrified by a guess."

This is the story of growing up illegally because his mother fought to make a place for him even before the fall of apartheid.  She was a visionary.  However, even after apartheid there wasn't a place for him to make a legal living as easily as it was to make an illegal one in the townships.  He talks about the saying about teaching a man to fish vs giving him a fish.  He points out that it doesn't work if you don't also help him get a fishing pole.

This isn't the story of how he became a comedian or how he ended up taking over for Jon Stewart as the host of The Daily Show.  That all comes later.  This is the story of the world that shaped him into the person he is today.  It is funny.  It is horrifying.  It is necessary reading.

I received this book from NetGalley.

 This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story