Born A Crime by Trevor Noah

Born A Crime by Trevor Noah – Audio

Book Blurb:

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.

My Review: 4.5 stars

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Born A Crime tells Trevor Noah’s wickedly arduous journey growing up in South Africa as a colored child, half white and half black. He was by law, born a crime, and knew he could be taken from his parents or they could be jailed as well. I don’t live under rock and I adore living in fiction, however, I must admit, I had NO IDEA who Trevor Noah was. I was repeatedly asked if I’d read this yet and after each no, I was told, “Good, you must listen to it because of his excellent narration.” So I did.

First and foremost, I learned so much about apartheid that I didn’t know before. I knew the basics, Mandela, the Dutch, the ANC, but this book taught me new information just from his storytelling. Isn’t that the best way to learn? Add to that his humor, smarts and charm, and I just wanted to drive all day to hear more.

His antics seem to fit the bill that the truth is stranger than fiction. From being thrown from a car, having to attend black church, white church and then black and white mixed church on Sundays, pushing his mom’s Volkswagen down the road, driving when he was 6, going to prom with the ‘prettiest girl in the world’ that wouldn’t get out of the car are just a examples of his hardships and sometime humorous trials. On top of this, he was poor, hungry, acne ridden, had low self-esteem and was lonely for friends.

His mom was a woman to be reckoned with and I’m certain her life lessons which were often arbitrary and sometimes cruel, were instrumental in making Trevor who he is today. I adored their letter writing back and forth. Honed his writing skills and required thought during an argument!

This memoir is not just about The Daily Show host, Trevor Noah, but also about South Africa’s tragic history being wrapped up inside him.

Quotes I liked:

Language, even more than color, defines who you are to people.”

-“We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and, depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited.”

-“We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most. Failure is an answer. Rejection is an answer. Regret is an eternal question you will never have the answer to.”

-“People love to say, “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” What they don’t say is, “And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.” That’s the part of the analogy that’s missing.”