Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Jul 12, 2020 Amy Crehore rated it it was amazing

Love love LOVED this book and am so glad to have finally read it. Laughed so hard I cried. Funny, sad, smart, powerful.

3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 16, 2020 Graceann rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir, audio, popsugar-2020, aty-2020

Trevor Noah's experiences, what he's learned from them, and how he shares that information, demonstrate why he was an inspired choice as host of The Daily Show when Jon Stewart stepped down in 2015.

Firstly, and I cannot say this loudly enough. Get. This. On. Audio. I'm not normally a big fan of audiobooks, but in some cases, in memoir, they work really well. This is a case in point. Noah's facility with accents, languages, and mimicry is put to amazing use here. If I had only read this memoir, Trevor Noah's experiences, what he's learned from them, and how he shares that information, demonstrate why he was an inspired choice as host of The Daily Show when Jon Stewart stepped down in 2015.

Firstly, and I cannot say this loudly enough. Get. This. On. Audio. I'm not normally a big fan of audiobooks, but in some cases, in memoir, they work really well. This is a case in point. Noah's facility with accents, languages, and mimicry is put to amazing use here. If I had only read this memoir, I'm sure I would have come away informed, entertained and happy with my choice. Having listened, though, I was all those things and more. The listening experience is transformative.

The title of the memoir describes Trevor Noah's conception and birth quite literally. It was illegal for whites and blacks in South Africa to have a sexual relationship, and his birth was proof of the breaking of that law. His parents could have gone to prison for having sex and then having him. He was born in 1984. I'm having such a hard time imagining what it must have been like to be told that you must call your father by his name, rather than "Daddy," because to do the latter would be to endanger his freedom.

What Born a Crime becomes is a love letter to the immensely strong woman that is his mother. She did what she could to keep him safe, and to simultaneously teach him that there was a wider world in which he could take part. She helped him grow into a decent human being, and simultaneously cut him down to size when he got too big for his britches. Raising a human being of whom you can be proud is difficult enough; doing it while in abject poverty, which they were a lot of the time, is even more of a feat.

Noah is honest about the things he got up to, the trouble he got into, and the things he got away with that some of us might not want to have to mention in something a family member might read, much less a book that is likely to reach a worldwide audience of strangers. I marveled at his sharing of some not-so-savory details, even as I was laughing.

This is also full of things to think about, for those of us who thought we had faced poverty, but now realize that we were just "broke" on occasion compared to these experiences. I ended up putting some of the quotes in my book journal as excellent reminders of the prose, the experience, and the lesson. This is an excellent memoir, and given that, as of this writing, Mr Noah is only 36 years old (he was born in 1984), just think of what we might have to look forward to if he decides to update us in another 36 years or so. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 08, 2018 Gina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, audiobooks, debuts

Wonderful book, and perfect for listening - Trevor Noah reads the audiobook. His childhood as a “colored” person in South Africa and the end of apartheid is fascinating. More than anything, this book is a love letter to his mom. She is an amazing woman and the hero of this book. Highly recommend.

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 15, 2018 Korie Brown rated it it was amazing

Absolutely terrific.

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 27, 2018 Joanna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: passport, biography-memoir, nonfiction, audiobooks, 2018-read, rws-2018-fall

A really wonderful audiobook read by the author (who made a living as a comedian, so he has the timing down perfectly). Definitely a perfect way to experience these stories; it absolutely felt like I was just hanging out with the author at a cocktail party as he told me little stories from his childhood. But the stories are still heartfelt; he isn't just looking for comedy here.

He could also have called this book Ode to My Mother because much of the book centers around her willingness to ignore ...more

Like · see review

Apr 10, 2018 Larissa rated it really liked it

Shelves: top-favorites-of-all-time

This book was really really good! The stories Trevor tells really draw you in to how life was like for his little corner of the world and is fascinating. Cats beings strung in his front yard...people arrested for witchcraft when someone was struck by lightening....domestic violence issues...apartheid...and the ending...whew! So powerful! Dorothy we are not in Kansas any more! I really enjoyed this book and his story and I thought it would delve more into how he ended up where he was in his life/ ...more

Like · see review