Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood

Trevor was born from a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time where that could be punishable by law for five years in prison. As he was living evidence of his parents “crime”, he was kept indoors most of his childhood. His mother hid him as well as she could as the government could take him away at any time. Finally when that era ended, did Trevor and his mother able to live freely. And it was then that he had to set foot into the ocean of possibility only made possible have a long struggle. The book takes you through a journey about a imp child who turns into a man in a environment where he wasn’t suppose to even exist. He is accompanied by his fearless, passionately religious mother, who is determined to keep her son safe from the cycle of poverty, cruelty, and brutality of the world.

This book was so beautiful and humorous. I have watched his shows before with my family online and its focused on race, police brutality, prejudice, hate speech, and many other important topics that needs to be discussed. He really brought the book to life and the audio book was even better. There is so much dark humor in there and he manages to talk about those topics that usually makes us feel uneasy. And I have to say, I love his mother. She is hilarious as well, strong minded, and basically amazing. She taught him many important lessons and guided him gently along the way through his dark and daunting life.

“She taught me to challenge authority and question the system. The only way it backfired on her was that I constantly challenged and questioned her.”

Even though I laughed a lot throughout the story it still was really emotional, ruthless, and an educational story of a life who managed to survive and evolve in a surrounding where all odds is staked against him. Its a book about a life in a culture where fear is what will threaten everything dear to you, paralyze you and yet motivates you no other way. It is a funny, powerful, touching, and thought provoking. I would rate it 10/10 and recommend it to everyone. Although the overall topic is quite dark and dense the humor intertwined within really helps keep it lightweight. I read and listened to this book with my mom and she even cried at the end. This book is definitely a must read. His audio book is available on YouTube ( I think ) and the way he narrates it really brings the book to a whole other level.

Born a Crime and Trevor Noah’s other works can be found here.