Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood in KAXE/KBXE What We're Reading

Jun 11, 2020 Amanda up North rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, essays-short-stories, africa, favorite-memoir

Trevor Noah is someone with a story to tell.
Born a Crime gives a brilliant, brutally honest, first hand account of cultural, race and class issues of South Africa during and after Apartheid, where racism was encforced by law and poverty and crime have been the way of life for generations of oppresssed people.
It did everything I expect from a memoir; it tells a story of surviving and overcoming difficult situations. It's written with purpose, intelligence, grit and grace. It allowed me to see p Trevor Noah is someone with a story to tell.
Born a Crime gives a brilliant, brutally honest, first hand account of cultural, race and class issues of South Africa during and after Apartheid, where racism was encforced by law and poverty and crime have been the way of life for generations of oppresssed people.
It did everything I expect from a memoir; it tells a story of surviving and overcoming difficult situations. It's written with purpose, intelligence, grit and grace. It allowed me to see places and people that I wouldn't otherwise have access to, through eyes that aren't my own. It also offers gratitude and credit where it's due. It's a tribute to his mother, Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah. And it is written with fairness toward his father, and fairness overall.

I requested this book several weeks ago while our library was closed due to Covid-19.
Little did I know how timely the content on race and policing would be once it ended up in my hands during the protests and riots that started in my home state and spread throughout the country and the world following Memorial Day 2020. Trevor Noah's perspective is relevant and powerful.

I was moved most by Noah's candid descriptions of being alone, feeling like an outsider, and being bullied due to not being black enough or white enough, never fitting in. He has a unique perspective worth listening to.

Speaking of.. I have never listened to an audio book, old school reader all the way, but this is one I think I would've enjoyed. I love listening to Trevor Noah speak. As it is, I've listened to him enough that his voice could really be heard through his writing.

Last, my criticism.. I just wish he'd left out the brief mention of internet pornography. It did nothing for the book or the story, and was a detriment to my reading experience.
There is crude language and a lot of rough content in this book. I don't mind that when it serves the story. This didn't.
I would love for writers to stop normalizing the objectification of women and mainstreaming the use of pornography.
A few things, but that in particular, made me not feel nearly as good as I should about giving this book 5 stars.

As it is, it's important and his perspective is powerful. It hits all imof my marks for an effective memoir. ...more

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Jul 02, 2020 Susie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobook

Highest recommendation for this book, even higher if you choose to read the audiobook, read by the author. I’m embarrassed about how little I knew/know about apartheid-era South Africa. This was a good start.

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Jul 18, 2019 Cheryl Winter rated it really liked it

As I know nothing about South Africa-what a childhood he had. His mother was such an influence on him but he suffered at the hand of his step father. Very inciteful and I enjoyed this book even though I did not know who he was.

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