Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jan 03, 2018 Rincey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

See me talk about it briefly in my January wrap up: https://youtu.be/FXvc5r6ELYE?t=4m2s ...more

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Jun 20, 2021 Lucinda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Travelling about on public transport lately has given me lots of listening time. Up to chapter 10 and really enjoying this book.

I really enjoyed listening to Trevor Noah narrate his Autobiography as it gave me an insight into a life I had no experience with as a 6th generation Caucasian Aussie. Growing up in the 80s I had heard of South Africa & apartheid and knew it was a bad thing, but didn't really understand the implications of living within that system of governance. ...more

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Dec 05, 2018 Kristen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, non-fiction, politics, aoc, memoir, 2018, read-harder-2018

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Trevor Noah is known to most American audiences as the newest host and replacement for Jon Stewart on late night comedy. But this book chronicles his childhood in South Africa in the last few years of apartheid, through the years immediately after with their unrest and violence, and his own experiences with abuse. And yet, through it all, he kept his innate goodness and kind nature, despite seeing some horrific things. I don't know that I could have come through as happily as ...more

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Jun 06, 2022 Deb rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, nonfiction, bipoc

A truly excellent memoir—insightful, horrifying, funny, warm. It’s a love letter to Noah’s mom, a coming-of-age story, and a history lesson on South Africa all rolled into one. And what I particularly liked is that it ends before he became a famous comedian, so it’s unique in the famous person memoir genre—it has almost nothing to do with what ultimately became of Noah and everything to do with where he came from and the forces that shaped him.

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May 26, 2022 Katie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021, borrowed-from-the-library, memoir, audio-book, nonfiction

A perfect blend of humor and perspective, I loved every minute of this. The stories he shares give you incredible insight into the world he grew up in...family, poverty, race...but in a way that made you see the similarities at the same time you see the glaring differences (at least for me.) He also drops in these little "lessons" so seamlessly, that you just sit there going, "Wow." He makes you see bigger issues from a whole different tilt. And did I mention the laughs?!? You knew he was going ...more

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Jan 01, 2019 Donna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio, biography-memoir

What a powerful story. Trevor Noah is the son of a black mother and a white father coming of age as the apartheid system is being dismantled in South Africa. Although the laws are changing, attitudes are not and he never feels comfortable in the black, white, or “colored” worlds. His mother is one of the strongest women in literature with one blind spot—she can’t/won’t leave her abusive husband.

This book was especially moving as I read it right after “Disgrace” by Coetzee which looks at South A ...more

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Nov 01, 2018 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, 2018

2018 RHC task 12 celebrity memoir

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Sep 11, 2017 Maya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017

Trevor Noah is impressive as a person and a storyteller. He has grown on me as the daily show host, but now I see him on another level and I appreciate his style and perspective so much more. 100% worth reading even if you are neutral about him. There is much to learn from his first-hand account of growing up under apartide as a literal outcast and the unique perspective it gave him on race issues.

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