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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - 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 followedNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BYMichiko Kakutani, New York Times - Newsday - Esquire - NPR - BooklistTrevor 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.Praise for Born a Crime " A] compelling new memoir . . . By turns alarming, sad and funny, Trevor Noah's] book provides a harrowing look, through the prism of Mr. Noah's family, at life in South Africa under apartheid. . . . Born a Crime is not just an unnerving account of growing up in South Africa under apartheid, but a love letter to the author's remarkable mother."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times" An] unforgettable memoir."--Parade "What makes Born a Crime such a soul-nourishing pleasure, even with all its darker edges and perilous turns, is reading Noah recount in brisk, warmly conversational prose how he learned to negotiate his way through the bullying and ostracism. . . . What also helped was having a mother like Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah. . . . Consider Born a Crime another such gift to her--and an enormous gift to the rest of us."--USA Today" Noah] thrives with the help of his astonishingly fearless mother. . . . Their fierce bond makes this story soar."--People… (more)
User reviews
But please don't think this memoir is all doom and gloom and fear. After all, Trevor Noah is a comedian, and he finds plenty of humor in his own story. And that's a very good thing: we need it, as he did, to endure the sadness and nearly intolerable constraints under which he grew up. There are the usual stories of teenage angst: falling in love, trying to find a date for the prom, falling in with a "bad crowd," trying to pull a fast one on his mother or stepfather, etc.
And behind it all is his mother Patricia. Her strength and wisdom, and the love between her and her son, come shining through.
I recommend the audio version, perfectly read by the man who lived it and wrote it.… (more)
Favourite Quotes
"it's easy to be judgmental about crime when you live in a world wealthy enough to be removed from it"
"My mother didn’t believe in self-pity. “Learn from your past and be better because of your past,” she used to say, “but don’t cry about your past. Life is full of pain. Let the pain sharpen you, but don’t hold on to it. Don’t be bitter.”
“In society, we do horrible things to one another because we don’t see the person it affects. We don’t see their face. We don’t see them as people. Which was the whole reason the hood was built in the first place, to keep the victims of apartheid out of sight and out of mind. Because if white people ever saw black people as human, they would see that slavery is unconscionable. We live in a world where we don’t see the ramifications of what we do to others, because we don’t live with them. It would be a whole lot harder for an investment banker to rip off people with subprime mortgages if he actually had to live with the people he was ripping off. If we could see one another’s pain and empathize with one another, it would never be worth it to us to commit the crimes in the first place.”… (more)
In fact, his fame might hurt it a little -- everyone I recommend it to seems to think Trevor Noah is this mild mannered man with a cute accent.
He provides an incredibly fascinating first personal account of growing up under the insanity of apartheid and the intersection of black, white, and colored communities, cities and townships. Well told and deeply insightful. I learned a ton about South Africa.… (more)
This is a great memoir -- informative about race in South Africa during and after apartheid; interesting about the mixed-race comedian’s growing up and coming of age there; and inspirational about how his mother stepped ‘way outside societal and legal bounds to have him and raise him. It’s upbeat and often humorous. It’s also reflective, and the passages about domestic violence by his stepfather are among the most harrowing I’ve read.
{T}he highest rung of what’s possible is far beyond the world you can see. My mother showed me what was possible. The thing that always amazed me about her life was that no one showed her. … She found her way through sheer force of will.… (more)
Noah is a terrific writer, and he grabs your attention right from the beginning. He grew up when apartheid was ending, after Nelson Mandela was freed from prison, but things didn’t get easier for South Africans right away. There was a strict caste system, and black Africans were pitted against colored Africans, and since Noah was half-white, he didn’t fit in anywhere.
“Born A Crime” gets its title from the fact that it was illegal for blacks and whites to marry, so his parents had to hide their relationship, and Trevor was never allowed to walk next to both of his parents.
The book is a really a love letter to his mom, who pretty much raised Trevor alone, although Trevor spent a lot of time with his grandmother. His stories of childhood are touching, funny and sad.
Anyone who likes a good memoir will enjoy “Born a Crime”. It gives the reader a look at a place many of us are unfamiliar with, yet his story of a mother who worked hard to give her son a better life is universal.… (more)
The book is full of deeply personal recollections that make the reader feel like you are having a one on one conversation with the author. At times very funny, it is also in turns informative, eyeopening and unnerving. Over and above all, this book stands as a tribute to his mother, who is an amazing and brave woman. Choosing to have a bi-racial child during the dark days of apartheid was dangerous and difficult as this very act violated many of South Africa’s laws at that time. She deliberately chose his name of Trevor as it has no African meaning so that he could grow up to be free to be, go or do whatever he wished. Her valuable life lessons were delivered to her son along with firm discipline and fierce religious values.
Hearing these stories in the author’s own voice gives both the humorous situations and his social observations a feeling of authenticity as he takes you on this journey of his early years. Born A Crime was an excellent listening experience that I highly recommend.… (more)
As a black woman growing up in racist America, even I cannot imagine what it was like to grow up like Trevor did. Apartheid... I just can't imagine. I've experienced racism, but DAMN! I thought this was a brilliant story about his life and the fact that he was unapologetic made it that much better. Why should he apologize? And no wonder he turned to comedy. Yikes! His life was fully a humor, but sadness and fear were very prevalent. I cried when he spoke about his mother being shot and how he thought he had lost her. I was so angry that nothing was ever done about his waste of space step-father. The only parts I skipped were anything with the dogs being abused, or if/when they died. I cannot do animal abuse or death even if the death is just of old age.
Excellent listen.… (more)
Noah is not a writer, so it's not a literary, gripping, flowing book.
Noah is not THE GLASS CASTLE, so it's not "OMG how I survived my crazy childhood". There is racism and domestic abuse out the wazoo and worm-eating poverty. But it's not a shock book.
Ultimately it is a story: the story of his mother. Noah knows what material he's got, and that his mother's story is the Big Story in his life, and he tells it simply and effectively.… (more)
When his fiercely independent mother decided she wanted a baby, she picked her best friend for the father. It didn't matter to her that he was a white foreign national. However, it did matter to South Africa. It was a crime for whites and blacks to have sex – much less a baby. If discovered, Trevor's mother would have been imprisoned and Trevor taken away to live in an orphanage.
Throughout her life, this strong woman bucked the system in many ways, finding ways to live in the better neighborhoods where it was illegal for her to live, and getting the best education for her son.
Trevor spent his earliest years being hidden- not allowed to venture from his family house and yard. Once apartheid ended, and Nelson Mandela walked out of prison, things became different – but the deeply ingrained racist system remained.
Trevor identified himself as black since he lived within a black family. To the casual observer, he was much lighter skinned and so labeled as mixed – but the mixed bloods, who were the result of mixed bloods marrying mixed bloods for generations, had their own culture as did the whites, the Indians and the Chinese. The race that you belonged to determined who who were, where you lived and whom you hung out with in the school yard. Trevor was the odd man out – not belonging to any of the predetermined groups.
This is Trevor's story of finding a place for himself in a society.
Like others with painful childhoods, Trevor overcame with humor, and is now a well-known South African comedian. The stories he tells are deeply saddening but achingly funny at the same time. It's a vivid picture of growing up in an absurd time with an absurd and unjust system where white policemen armed with automatic rifles and tactical gear still arrived to break up noise complaints in black neighborhoods.
Highly recommended!… (more)
1 like… (more)
While Noah is a comedian, and his stories at times are humorous, the overall tone of the book isn't. He broke up the stories wonderfully, giving us a lighter side to his experiences, in between the tougher moments. I'd recommend this to anyone, especially if you like memoirs. A must read for sure!… (more)
This is an interesting, heartfelt and funny book to read. It deals with Noah's early years and his growing up in apartheid South Africa. He compares his country to America's and how absurd apartheid was and why it failed. Noah has had a difficult early life and has had tragedy and heartbreak, but his ability to find the silver lining in dire circumstances is inspiring. And his rise out of a South African which keeps its poor down is commendable. I only ever saw Trevor Noah on BBC's Qi show. And I'm glad I have been given the chance to learn more about him. He seems a down to earth block.
Well worth reading. Recommended.… (more)
Noah was born to a black mother and a white father. In South Africa, a person of mixed race is called colored. Under apartheid, it was illegal for a black person to have sex with a white person. Having a colored child was concrete evidence that this had occurred. Thus, Trevor was “born a crime.”
Born a Crime is not a chronological time line of Noah’s childhood. Rather, it’s organized of snippets related by themes such as going out in public with his white father, church with his ultra-Christian mother, school life and so-on.
I was constantly amazed at the events Noah recounted from his childhood – the extreme poverty, his abusive step-father, life during apartheid. Through all of this, his mother remained a steadfast source of unconditional love and support – the kind of mother who would literally take a bullet for her child.
Noah’s memoir ends when his childhood ends and young adulthood begins. He briefly mentions that his traveling the world performing as a comedian but only because it was essential to understanding a story about him and his mother. He makes no mention of any details about why he chose comedy, how he got his start, nothing. Don’t go into this expecting to get any scoop on his career. But here’s the thing: Even if Trevor Noah wasn’t famous, his memoir would still be extremely compelling as a glimpse into growing up as a colored person in South Africa. It’s a miracle that he turned out to be as successful as he is with everything he went through growing up. I was thinking about him for days after I finished this book.
I listened to the audio version of this book which made me feel like I was having a conversation (albeit one sided) with him. I love his accent and the accents he did of all the people in his life. Hearing him speak in his mother’s accent was delightful. I also liked knowing the correct pronunciation of all of the unfamiliar African words.
Born a Crime is one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read and I predict it will have a high spot on my best of picks for the year. I highly recommend it to all.… (more)
The author does a great narration (which is not always the case).… (more)