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Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood

Trevor Noah

Start date: March 1, 2017

Finish date: March 31, 2017

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: March's topic/theme is ethnicity/race. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah …more
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What Members Thought

Mar 06, 2017 Maya B rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, memoir, non-fiction, africa

"Why teach a child white things?" "Why show him the world when he's never going to leave the ghetto?"

Definitely one of my favorite reads for the year. Trevor Noah had so much to say in this beautifully written memoir. I first heard of him from his tv show The Daily show. He was very open and honest about his life. It read like a conversation with his readers. A joy to read from beginning to end. never a dull moment. ...more

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Mar 08, 2017 Jeanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir-biography, read-2017, read-around-the-world

Trevor Noah is a South African comic. I have seen his funny segment comparing Trump to an African dictator, but haven't seen much else of his (maybe nothing). As a result, I probably came to his memoir of his childhood growing up in South Africa, Born a Crime, from a different vantage than most readers (having only heard him interviewed on NPR). His memoir is sometimes funny, but if that's what you're looking for – I wasn't – you probably want to look elsewhere.

Noah's memoir is an often-insight Trevor Noah is a South African comic. I have seen his funny segment comparing Trump to an African dictator, but haven't seen much else of his (maybe nothing). As a result, I probably came to his memoir of his childhood growing up in South Africa, Born a Crime, from a different vantage than most readers (having only heard him interviewed on NPR). His memoir is sometimes funny, but if that's what you're looking for – I wasn't – you probably want to look elsewhere.

Noah's memoir is an often-insightful exploration of the relationship between a mother and son, love, domestic violence and physical abuse, racism and color in South Africa, the effects of poverty on the impoverished, and more. I have friends who are "colored" in South Africa who have in the past attempted to explain the color system and their place in it – and I didn't get it. It makes sense now – as much as their system makes sense. (When my friends visited last summer, they asked for Trump stickers so as to put their own government's problems in context.) Noah's descriptions of the decisions one might make when poor – from my perspective, desperately poor – explains why he and others flagrantly skirted the law (e.g., often because that was the only available option).

Noah named people, some of whom probably would have preferred to not be named. (view spoiler) Noah was as brutally honest about himself, describing a range of embarrassing behaviors and illegal acts, as well as smart and savvy ones.

Noah offered nuanced views of his world: You want to live in a world where someone is good or bad, where you either hate them or love them, but that's not how people are (Loc. 3868). He described the good in his abusive stepfather. He saw his mother's "hidings" as coming from a place of love (Loc. 3808). He allows his world to be as complicated as it is.

This is a man to watch. ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2017 Alana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: foreign-culture, biographical, educational, memoir, political, comedy

"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.'"

"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 eve "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.'"

"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...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."

I admit it, I'm one of those out-of-touch people who had no idea who Trevor Noah is. I did watch a YouTube video of his show the other day because I was curious what accent he has (since he describes being able to switch between languages and accents at about the drop of a hat) so I can picture him now, at least.

I just finished Nelson Mandela's autobiography a few weeks ago, and my boss had just finished this and recommended it to me. While I enjoyed Mandela's account, this was another side of South Africa: not an alternate view, exactly, because Noah was still among the oppressed peoples, but while Mandela was firmly from a specific recognized tribe of region, the Xhosa, Noah, being a blend of Xhosa and Swiss, was basically a no-man's land of ethnicity. No one wanted to claim him. Being what is referred to as "colored" in that region (being a mixture of white and black parentage) he was viewed as white by the blacks and as black by the whites, and felt culturally black among the colored groups, etc.

I loved his tidbits about some of the ridiculousness of apartheid. One of the most interesting moments is in one of the side thoughts between chapters, where he explained that persons of Chinese ancestry were classified as black, but Japanese were classified as white, because South Africa wanted to keep better business dealings with Japan at the time. The whole thing shows the utter ludicrousness of the entire system.

His life, while difficult, was certainly very colorful and entertaining (if more dark comedy than really laughable at times). Some of his exploits made me chuckle at the similarities to all young boys everywhere, but so many were unique to the time, place and culture in which he grew up. There are heart-wrenching and shocking moments, with strong moments of family, dreams, and honest looks at various caste-type groups and how everyone was affected by the evils of the system. It's a lighter (physically and emotionally) read than Mandela's book, but they are interesting to read as companions. (Situationally appropriate) language warning, but well worth reading.
4/5 ...more

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Mar 28, 2017 Carol rated it really liked it

I loved this book. I knew very little about what life was like in South Africa after apartheid; only what I saw on the news. I would never know what it would be like to be of mixed race in all that change and animosity and distrust between the cultures. But this is one of the reasons I read - to learn and empathize with other's lives. Trevor does a great job of expressing the pain and humor of his childhood in the midst of terrible circumstances. He's a good writer and analyst of the times into ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 08, 2017 Heather rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, 2017

This was SO entertaining. I loved the audiobook. There were truly so many great stories about life in South Africa that I had never known about, and the storytelling in this book is phenomenal and SO interesting. Trevor Noah makes his childhood humorous, and I would highly recommend this book if you are looking to just get a different point of view on what it might have been like to grow up in a country very different from ours in North America.

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 13, 2022 Kate rated it really liked it

This is Trevor Noah’s memoir about growing up as the child of a black mother and white father during the apartheid in South Africa. He tells some horrific stories, but is able to entwine humour throughout.

1 like · Like · see review