Born A Crime

Author: Trevor Noah

Read: 2/21/2017

Pages: 304

Rating: 4/5

Format: Audio

Book Description: 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 the 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.

Response: It took me about a month even though it was only a little less than 9 hours long. It was a good collection of stories from Trevor Noah's childhood. Some of the stories were cringe worthy, and some had me laughing so hard I was almost crying - like the poop story. I didn't like that he moved through time all over the place. At one moment he was 5, then 17, then 12 (Not literally those ages, but as an example of his time jumps). It was confusing and irritating. I'm sure there was a reasoning behind it, like the subject, I just hated it. Overall a good book that I'm glad I got, but I probably won't read/listen to again.